MINISTER of Health Renward Wells.
By KHRISNA RUSSELL
Tribune Chief Reporter
krussell@tribunemedia.net
HEALTH Minister Renward Wells has said the spike in COVID-19 cases that helped to launch the country into a third wave can be attributed to Easter holiday festivities.
The day after the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention advised its citizens not to enter The Bahamas, the minister told reporters that health officials are deploying the same strategies that were used to beat back the second wave of the virus months ago.
Asked by The Tribune if additional restrictions were being discussed as a tool to fight this wave, Mr Wells said there “are no further restrictions at this point”, but reiterated this could change.
However, he expressed certainty that the stringent lockdown measures will not be used again.
Meanwhile, the government continues to focus on its vaccination strategy, which also involves continuing to work toward receiving the Pfizer brand of jab in the country.
The brand requires cold storage equipment which the public sector expects to receive soon.
While he shied away from revealing a definitive timeline, the minister said the private sector has the cold storage needed should the vaccine arrive soon.
“I’d just like to say that we all know that there is an increase in cases of COVID and at the end of the day, the ministry is engaging in those things that we would have done during the second wave, both to mitigate and to bring down the incidents of COVID-19 in the country,” Mr Wells said outside of Cabinet yesterday.
“We’re obviously about two weeks out from the Easter holiday and as we all know this virus has a 10 to 14 day incubation cycle. So, some of the increases we are seeing is really from the gatherings that may have happened during the holiday, but at the end of the day we would have already seen the three weeks prior to that, that there was a trend in increasing cases and so we are doing all that we have done in the past in the ministry in order to continue to keep our hands around the COVID-19 menace and pandemic that the globe has been experiencing.”
He also said: “Let us remember this is not our first rodeo. This is the second time around and we would have seen what we did during the first wave. We made adjustments. The whole system evolved during the second wave, so we’ve been through this.
“We understand what to expect in circumstances and so at the end of the day we are back at it doing the things that we did to bring down the numbers. We’ve had five months of relative calm in the country in regards to COVID and we are going to do what is necessary to ensure that that takes place again.”
On the issue of further restrictions, Mr Wells said the government has decided to make a great push toward vaccination. More than 20,000 people have received the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
“There are no further restrictions at this point in time,” Mr Wells said. “As I would have said previously, that does not mean that there may not be because the response in regards to any sort of restrictions and even just a change in the curfew time frame would be a change in the existing protocol, but at the end of the day those things were contingent on what we are experiencing in the country in regards to the increase.
“As I would have said previously we are in the business of seeking to deploy the vaccine, get as many Bahamians vaccinated as possible. I have always said this: there are only two ways to herd immunity - everybody in the country is exposed to the disease or the vast majority of us become vaccinated.
“… We have had an awful lot of Bahamians who’ve come forward. You would have seen the lines outside of Loyola Hall and the other sites of folks being vaccinated.
“I think we probably would have vaccinated somewhere around 20,000 or 20,000 plus persons.”
On Monday the US’ chief public health agency increased the country’s health notice from level three to level four.
The nation had remained at level three since late January, after previously being listed at level four by the Centres for Disease Control last year due to virus infections.
In response, Mr Wells said he believed the advisory change related to the increase in cases and not the rate of vaccination.
“On a weekly basis we are opening sites, opening islands where we are actually deploying the vaccine,” he said.
“The CDC’s alert I think it has more to do with the increases of cases and the CDC would put that out on any particular where they see there is a rise and your positivity rate is changed.
“They see it as their duty to be able to inform their citizens that cases are rising in a particular country, but as it has been shown in both the UK and Israel with the deployment of the vaccine with the instituting of the health protocols, while the vaccine is being deployed Israel would have seen its own transmission rate go down to some 70 or 80 percent I believe and it’s gone down even further and as I said we know what we need to do in country to continue to keep our hands around this disease and the Ministry of Health is in full engagement in ensuring that that process is taking place,” Mr Wells said.
Comments
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
We don't live in Israel which just now swore to never use your astrazenica. But you are stupidly quoting them. Check your facts minister. Trust Bahamian nurses who tell you let's wait a while to see the true impact after a year of us being forced guinny pigs.
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
https://www.rt.com/news/521699-astrazen…
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
Did the numbers guys buy the cold storage system or currupt politicians who will bilk our poor pockets of new normal new robbery billions. Come clean Mr clean come clean. Tell us what's going on along with the money flow. We must follow the money I'd mins New And Evolving Technology millionaires who want free land also.
John 3 years, 8 months ago
The fact is a third wave was coming, regardless. That is the nature of this virus. It moves across the world and once it can find a cluster or population that it can infect rapidly it then moves through that population and mutates, creating new strains. Then it moves back to other parts of the world that has not yet experienced those strains. And if they are caught off guard, then the effects can be devastating. Now some experts are not sure exactly how the vaccines are playing into the severity of the virus or the time it will linger. So despite all the hype about vaccines, the best defense is still social distancing, wearing of masks sanitizer etc. Remember the vaccines have not been proven to prevent the virus or prevent it from being transmitted. It only reduces or suppresses the symptoms. And there is no proof of how effective it will be against the new strains.
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
Putting our lives at stake we are cattle in your rodeo games. After us your elite cattle you are calling us. We are your rodeo. It is us Bahamian cattle in your rodeo you have caged now we must be branded as cattle you called us. You rounded us up in lockdowns and restrictions. We the cattle been through this your masterful fkn rodeo Bahamians in a cattle pen must receive your branding of vaccine for freedom. We are not your cattle. We are humans. We have lives. We had independence. Like a herd of cattle line up and that is all we are to you. A rodeo of cattle. Your dumb cattle you are taking to the slaughter Bahamians in a rodeo.
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
New strains is a new invented script line used by all elitest gov from Macron to to our poodle here in the Bahamas.
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
Where is KB. Every day a new strain. Keep us in house jail. Fear no jobs while kickback money 30pieces of silver, these killing Med elites tumble us in a hot coal dryer. You'll want us dead so you'll could collect travel ins and vaccine kickbacks. Labour leaders have warned of Burma Road. Enough is enough. Pompay's spirit will awaken these rodeo cattle.
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
France, Germany and the Bahamas are preaching from the very same script given to them by billionaires. I guess the Bahamas Covid strain next. Afterall we dont know which strain of Vax was sent here and inoculated into our innocent population. . But they know. Just listen in silence to her whisper as she curse this nation to bend, but never. Unions are marching.
ohdrap4 3 years, 8 months ago
The tribune spared him, but the guardian printed it:
“We have what most folks consider to be a cure for what ails us, which is the vaccine. So, we’re deploying that at the same time that we’re deploying measures that would have assisted us to get through the second wave.”
Better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Even the text above is frightening.
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 8 months ago
it is frightening. Because they've vaccinated .05% of the population to date and their unrealized vaccination plans target another 60,000 individuals, total of 22% of the population. That still leaves an immunity gap of 60%. Do we believe that many are naturally immune to the variants? But theyre wholesale exposing us to potentially thousands of asymptomatic vaccinated travellers, that by policy, they're saying its unnecessary to test on entry.
I say thousands but you only need one infected vaccinated person with a variant strain to start the domino effect. Think of it, the world is where we are today because one person got infected and they or someone they contacted got on a plane, a cruise ship or some other motor vessel
carltonr61 3 years, 8 months ago
We, myself and the workers of this nation hired them that have become our elites. We are the masters of them. They must have heard 200,000 workers will be on the March against their threats. Who are they?
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 8 months ago
Here we go again with this deliberate attempt at misinformation.
Cases started spiking BEFORE the Easter holiday. And all of us know by now that the virus spreads exponentially.
So we could have been locked down all Easter and the virus would have still spread. All the while people was being hospitalized and they were saying the variant wasn't Here, common sense said something different was happening.
You don't have to make things up, put on tin foil hats or create conspiracy theories, just look at what actually happened. Internationsl travel brought the variant here. It didnt appear out of nowhere. That means somrone"s" got past their protocols. How many? and its spreading exponentially.
When they allow vaccinated US visitors to come without tests it will spread more. They'll be asymptomatic or feel mild symptoms and we wont know if they infected . Its just common sense. Watch what they gonna say then.
TalRussell 3 years, 8 months ago
Fear, not comrades, is comforting to know that as long as Renward, keeps his hands in full engagement - wrapped around this COVID thing - is a reliable insurance policy to have, knowing there is an experienced rodeo rider, of sorts. at the helm of the realm's health.
Oh, the wisdom Thee Mr. Minnis, displayed over the sacking the gifted heart surgeon?
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 8 months ago
"*response, Mr Wells said he believed the advisory change related to the increase in cases and not the rate of vaccination."
Huh? Did they ask him that question? Because its a very odd statement. The CDC released a very brief statement. That says they chose their words very carefully. Message: "COVID variant. Bahamas. stay away"
WETHEPEOPLE 3 years, 8 months ago
Beware The 5th Wave. Ive seen the movie
happyfly 3 years, 8 months ago
I can't wait to vote these Donkey's A.. out of office. Whilst these clowns play medical scientists and desecrate our constitutional rights, dealing with the public service has never been worse. They promise change but all end up devoted to enriching themselves rather than serving the people. Independents take heed of what just happened in the Cayman Islands. Your time is coming.
FreeUs242 3 years, 8 months ago
The lies of politicians brought in the third wave.
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 8 months ago
very very true. they positve propogandered us into the July spike and now they repeating the same mistake again
tribanon 3 years, 8 months ago
Utter rubbish! Most of us know for a fact that the Easter Bunny wore three-masks the entire time he was hopping about New Providence on Easter Sunday delivering colourful chocolat filled eggs to the privileged children and/or grandchildren of our elitist political ruling class.
Sign in to comment
OpenID