The Tribune

• Supermarket chief: ‘We can’t go back to lockdown’

• Bahamas ‘at risk of losing last 12 months’ progress’

• Infection ‘explosion’ follows ‘very brutal’ early 2021

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Super Value has warned its 1,000-strong workforce they “will face termination” if caught disobeying COVID-19 protocols, its principal warning yesterday: “We cannot go back into lockdown.”

Rupert Roberts told Tribune Business that “business is bad enough without any further hiccups” as he and other private sector leaders voiced growing alarm about a surge in COVID-19 cases they fear is reaching levels where it is “out of control”.

While all agreed that health, and saving lives, comes before the economy, Mr Roberts warned that the potential reimposition of restrictive measures employed last year to suppress the pandemic will only result in “further unemployment” among a workforce where a significant percentage - possibly 20-30 percent or even higher - are still jobless or on furlough.

He spoke out after the Ministry of Health yesterday disclosed that a further 63 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, including 51 in New Providence and 11 in Grand Bahama. This added to the 50 cases detected on Monday, and another 158 recorded between Friday last week and Sunday, taking the total for the five-day period to 271.

With 613 COVID-19 cases said to be active, the so-called “third wave” as described by public health officials is again slowly but steadily increasing the pressure on The Bahamas’ hospital system. However, while 52 patients are hospitalised, just three of those are in intensive care.

The outbreak prompted Super Value to do its part to head-off new health-related restrictions. In an “urgent warning to staff”, dated April 22 and bearing the name of Debra Symonette, Super Value’s president, the 13-store chain - which also trades under the Quality Supermarkets brand - warned workers about the penalty for “deliberately” failing to follow the mandated health protocols.

Listing these as social distancing, mask wearing, washing hands and avoiding unnecessary travel, the note told staff: “We are in the third wave of the pandemic, and are at risk of losing the progress that we have made over the past 10-12 months.

“Any employee caught deliberately disobeying protocol, resulting in sickness or death to family members, co-workers or the community will face termination.... If uncontrolled, the virus will create mass unemployment and destroy our economy.”

The Super Value memorandum said public health officials believed “the increase in community spread is the result of people carelessly letting their guard down” and travelling abroad.

Encouraging staff to become vaccinated, and help The Bahamas achieve “herd immunity” by having 70 percent of its population inoculated, it added that persons who take the vaccine were 83 percent less likely to catch COVID-19 and, if they did, symptoms will be mild.

Explaining that Super Value was trying to drive home the message that “the job and the life you save may be your own”, Mr Roberts described it as “a severe warning” but argued that it was necessary because “this latest uncontrolled outbreak is very serious for the country’s health and that of the economy”.

“We look like we’re running parallel to India,” he argued. “It’s growing out of control, and we warned the staff it was from personal contact. Personally, I think it’s people clubbing.” Media headlines yesterday detailed how the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) shut down a Sunday night party, said to have attracted 300 persons, and issued a $92,000 fine to the organisers.

Mr Roberts, meanwhile, voiced concern that government ministers and public health officials “don’t seem to be saying parallel things” over the latest COVID-19 outbreak. He added that the officials appeared to be more concerned, and several have privately voiced to this newspaper their doubts about allowing fully vaccinated visitors to enter The Bahamas without a negative COVID test from May 1.

Asked whether he feared the reimposition of more restrictive measures, including possibly the lockdowns seen last year, the Super Value chief replied: “All I can say is: I hope not. If they don’t bring this under control, it’s going to close the economy back down.

“We cannot go back into a lockdown. That wouldn’t work for businesses. I’m not putting the economy over the medical, as the medical always has to be first. We’ve done what we’re supposed to do, and I hope we don’t lose what ground we’ve gained and the lessons learned, and we can move ahead and squash this increasing number of cases, go on to attract tourists and open businesses.”

While taking some comfort from the fact both the Prime Minister and Renward Wells, minister of health, have indicated that the Government is not presently considering a lockdown, Mr Roberts added that “anything could change” especially since he saw little action yet from the Government to control the latest COVID surge.

“Business is bad enough without any further hiccups,” he told Tribune Business. “We cannot do what business we did last year. We cannot allow it to get any worse. I hate to say any deterioration could result in further unemployment, but that’s a fact.

“What we’re trying to do with that warning to staff is say that they can contribute to the spread and bring it to their business and bring it home to their families. This is the message we are trying to get across.”

Sir Franklyn Wilson, the Sunshine Holdings and Arawak Homes chairman, echoed Mr Roberts by warning that any new lockdowns or severe restrictions to curb COVID-19’s spread would be “so devastating” for businesses and the wider economy given signs that the tourism industry is continuing its slow but steady recovery.

Warning that such a revival could be shut-off by the current infection wave, he said: “The explosion, and I don’t think that is too aggressive a term, in the number of cases is very concerning. I just pray that somehow there can be an increased level of discipline in our society if they think that is part of the problem....

“I just appeal to everyone to stay the course a little longer. We just need to be a little more patient. In terms of the prospect of shutting down the economy, it would be so devastating. That’s a very tough call for policymakers to shut down the economy again. That would be really problematic.

“I think the Government is doing everything it can to resist that, and I think they’re to be commended. We’re only just climbing out. For businesses with which I’m involved, January was really, really brutal for a lot of companies; very, very brutal. February was sort of a bit less brutal, and then for April, with the numbers by and large in, the signs are it’s turning around. To interrupt that now would be really, really problematic.”

Fred Albury, the Bahamas Motor Dealers Association’s (BMDA) president, yesterday called on the Government to extend New Providence’s curfew from its present 10pm start to an earlier 8pm launch as a means to curb the weekend partying and socialising that many believe is leading to COVID-19’s rapid spread.

“I’m fearful about another lockdown,” he told Tribune Business. “Business is bad enough as it is, and it would probably impact staff considerably because we’ve done all we can do as for as supporting them in past lockdowns. I don’t know what we can do further.

“It will have a serious impact on the economy; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. As much as I think the Government doesn’t want to do it, I think they’re going to have to do it.....I have no reservations if the Prime Minister and government say we’ve got to tighten up, allow people to do the necessities of life, but as far as partying and carrying on, it is what it is.”

Mr Albury agreed that health considerations must take priority, adding: “If you’ve got your health, you’ve got your wealth. We’ve got to look out for the health.” He added that, when he took this newspaper’s call, he was in a Family Island restaurant where only himself and the staff were wearing masks. The other 50 patrons were not.