The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

WITH the reopening of the jet ski sector set for next week, officials are urging stakeholders to work within established protocols to minimise any potential COVID-19 clusters arising from the sports.

Officials said protocols regarding the sector will be adjusted if COVID-19 infections are tied to the watersports industry through contact tracing.

This came as officials held a seminar for jet ski owners and operators at Holy Trinity Activities Centre yesterday.

Transport and Housing Minister JoBeth Coleby-Davis said they are trying to get the watercraft industry to be fully operational by November 15.

“We collaborated with the minister of health and wellness in bringing them all together under one roof and doing a one day seminar,” she told reporters. “So, we have the port department here. We also have the Ministry of Health representative. We have the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the police force,” she said.

“They will be speaking about safety protocols, about COVID and operating under a safer environment so that they can get back to work, but also ensure that they abide by the protocols that they implement today. So they’ll be presented with protocols and they’ll also be provided with certificates.”

Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville said the Ministry of Health will attempt to find a “workable balance and to mitigate the risk associated with COVID-19” while allowing jet ski operators to function and work.

“We are asking and as a matter of fact we’re pleading to you to stay within the parameters of the protocols,” he said. “I’m asking you to abide by the rules. Your livelihood depends on it because if we begin to see signs where we begin to find clusters of COVID-19 infections that through our contact tracing is tied into the water sport industry there will be adjustments to the rules and if we adjust the rules it can affect your bottom line. So we’re asking (you) to be very vigilant in following the rules so that your guests or customers will not be writing to the Ministry of Health citing violations to the rules.”

He also said “….We realise that the secret ensuring that our numbers are low is directly related to the business community in following the rules. Let’s follow the rules. Let us work together. If we find that certain things are not working well in the industry, like I said that rules are not fixed, they are flexible, and if we see that you’re doing an excellent job and we don’t get those reports coming back to us there’s a possibility that things may even be better.”

The minister pointed to proposed amendments to the Health Services Act Section 29 paragraph 231 laid in Parliament last week. In the amendments, the Ministry of Health has devised two sets of rules to control the spread of COVID and manage the pandemic.

When speaking to reporters, he noted that the last report recorded that about 40 percent of the population has been vaccinated.