The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE government has not yet decided if it will extend the current state of emergency beyond next month, Health Minister Renward Wells said yesterday.

The country has been under a state of emergency since March 2020 and the latest emergency proclamation expires August 13.

The House of Assembly, however, is not expected to meet until September.

“I don’t have an update on that as yet,” he said when asked about the issue. “Those decisions really are collectively for the entire Cabinet to make. Obviously, as I would’ve said on Friday, this is not a static situation. It’s a very dynamic situation and in dynamic situations that means decisions are made as we go along based on the initial conditions and the circumstances that we find ourselves in.”

In June, Attorney General Carl Bethel told reporters the Minnis administration wanted to remove the COVID-19 emergency restrictions by August, but noted that doing so will heavily depend on infection rates and the behaviour of residents.

However, since then, COVID-19 infection rates have skyrocketed in the country, with more than 1,500 cases confirmed for this month alone.

The surge in virus cases and hospital admissions prompted health officials on Friday to re-implement new restrictions on New Providence, Grand Bahama along with North and Central Eleuthera.

The restrictions include tighter curfew hours, social limitations and strict travel guidelines for those islands.

Yesterday, Mr Wells said as the deadline nears, the government will assess the country’s COVID-19 situation and also look at the nation’s current economic conditions among other things when making a final decision.

He told reporters: “So as we approach August 13, the government will assess, re-assess, look at where we are, where we want to go economically, where we want to go nationally in our social sphere and in the mental health of the Bahamian people, how do we see ourselves from a legal standpoint being able to move forward and still have rules, regulations that keep our people safe.

“So, we’re going to look at all of that in the sphere of the context of continuing to maintain the health and safety of the wellbeing of the Bahamian people as best as we can.

Mr Wells further assured Bahamians that the Minnis administration will not make any decisions that will hamper the progress the country has made in its fight against COVID-19.

“We are aware that other countries who would’ve relaxed restrictions have not necessarily gone back and imposed all of the restrictions that they’ve had before,” the health minister said. “The United States no longer has a mask mandate but there’s a discussion that perhaps indoors they should require folks to wear masks.

“Israel had moved away from its mask mandate and had completely opened up its economy. With the experience that it is now having with the delta variant, it has not gone back to masking indoors so we’re assessing our national circumstance and we’re not going to do anything that’s going to hold on to the benefits and gains that we have achieved in this country in our response to COVID as an administration and for the Bahamian people.”

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is expected to address the country at 8 o’clock tonight regarding his administration’s continued fight against COVID-19.

Dr Minnis will announce a series of measures to assist with care of people in hospital with COVID-19, steps to limit the further spread of the virus and an update on the country’s efforts to secure more vaccines.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst crisis in our country’s modern history. Throughout, the government has instituted a variety of measures, focusing on saving lives and livelihoods,” Dr Minnis said in a statement Sunday.

“As the fight continues, we must remain focused on prevention, preparedness and the future.”