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Bahamas placed on Level 4 ‘do not travel’ list by US

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Robert Sands

• Advisory: Even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk

• August worst reported COVID numbers of the year

• Sands: ‘Very regrettable position to find ourselves in’

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) president called it “regrettable” that the US has placed The Bahamas on its Level 4 “do not travel” list.

Yesterday, the US State Department placed The Bahamas on its Level 4 (Very High) travel advisory, warning Americans to not travel here due to the high cases of COVID-19 infections.

The advisory explicitly said: “Because of the current situation in The Bahamas, even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” despite there not being a confirmed case of any new COVID-19 variant in country.

This comes at a time when the economy was seeing a minor rebound, with Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar noting that 440,000 stopover visitors have already spent some $875m in The Bahamas in the first six months of 2021.

BHTA president Robert Sands, told Tribune Business: “It is a very regrettable position to find ourselves in. I remain hopeful that Bahamians will take up the cause to become vaccinated and also to engage in the proper protocols so that we can continue to work towards reducing the number of positive COVID-19 cases.

August is being reported as the worst month of the year for COVID-19 as cases for the month already are on track to surpass last year October when a record 2,612 cases were recorded.

So far the cases confirmed over this past weekend include 317 on New Providence; 32 on Abaco; 24 on Grand Bahama; 23 on Eleuthera; 10 on Long Island; 10 on Exuma and Mayaguana, Bimini, Cat Cay and Andros with one each respectively with another four locations listed as still pending.

These new cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 17,386, of which 3,200 are still active. There was a total of eight additional deaths with 47 more deaths under investigation.

Mr Sands added: “I can’t say that I was aware that the US was going to do this, but certainly The Bahamas has high numbers. August has been exceptionally high.”

The see-saw effect of the US changing its advisory for The Bahamas has been ongoing for the past year now. It was just last year August the US issued the same warning about The Bahamas, but then in January of this year they lowered it to a Level 3, where tourism officials were anticipating a steady decline in the advisory down to at least a Level 2, which would have been seen as a good indication that the country was managing the COVID-19 pandemic successfully.

Comments

TalRussell 3 years, 3 months ago

Comrade Robert, say it — The Colony has been Minnis set-up be ranked alongside states of Mississippi, Florida, and Haiti. - How long before US battleships blockade us sea waters, — Yes?

ThisIsOurs 3 years, 3 months ago

As long as we have tourists and COVID is active somewhere in the world this is bound to happen.

Lets stop being surprised.

Its up to us to enact the "more than" word-parsing token controls that will protect us from the threat of infected persons crossing the border and lessen the frequency and severity of outbreaks

carltonr61 3 years, 3 months ago

523 days of one competent genius has seen the results of his arrogance. vaccinated or not the CDC has placed us with Israel and other vaccinated nation. what a competent disaster.. Not everyone full of grease with plenty tool and slick talk is a good mechanic.one touch and your car becomes Humpty Dumpty. I think our good doctor is a pathologist. because we are set for the grave after his touch. The UBP and Sir Pindling must be rolling in their graves the massive cannibalism in self declared Royal failed competency.

John 3 years, 3 months ago

As Pfizer has received its full approvals in the US to be used by the public, it has also put out a disclaimer about mass administering of third doses of the drug as Joe Biden plans to start doing to Americans on September 20 on the advice of Dr Anthony Fauci. The Pfizer company, along with Oxford, manufacturers of AstraGenica Vano, say they do not recommend using the vaccines in this fat. But desperate people do desperate things.

KapunkleUp 3 years, 2 months ago

Level 4 = Super Secret Double Probation.

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