The Tribune

TWO Progressive Liberal Party senators are calling on the government to act urgently to protect the health and well-being of the residents of Spanish Wells amid rising COVID-19 cases.

Senators Clay Sweeting and Dr Michael Darville acknowledged the fact that Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has sent an investigative team to Eleuthera to look into the high numbers of COVID-19 cases, but counts this action as coming “late to the table”.

“After a person tested positive for COVID-19, mass rapid testing was conducted at the Food Fair grocery store where they worked,” Senator Sweeting said.

“We believe about a third of the staff were found to be positive, even though they displayed only mild or no symptoms.

“Several of my family members who work there have also since tested positive, but so far no-one from the Ministry of Health has contacted them or me in regards to contact-tracing.

“In a small community such as ours, the virus will continue to spread rapidly with potentially fatal consequences for some in our community. Once again I beg the government to act urgently to secure the health of family islanders.”

The PLP is pressing the government to change course urgently and implement the opposition party’s ten-point action plan, which it says is based on internationally-recognised protocols.

A part of that plan calls for free mass testing and expanded contact tracing.

“It is to avoid exactly this kind of situation that the first point on the PLP COVID action plan calls for widespread free testing,” said Dr Darville, co-chair of the PLP’s task force. “We cannot wait until people are symptomatic to test them, because we know that the virus is spread by people with mild or no symptoms.

“Because the pathology of this virus is so different from person to person, we are unnecessarily risking the lives and health of the people. Family Island communities which do not have adequate medical resources to look after people, are especially vulnerable.

“As we have said since the beginning of this pandemic, we have to deal with the health crisis, before we are able to fully deal with the economic crisis. We cannot re-open safely to tourists, and the local economy will not be revived, until the health crisis is dealt with.”

The PLP said it is madness to continue to enforce “this chaotic hodge-podge of Emergency Orders, curfews and lockdowns”, and expect a different result.