MINISTER of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville. Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Senior Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
HEALTH Minister Dr Michael Darville said about 130 healthcare professionals are out of the system because of COVID-19, including 100 in New Providence and 30 in Grand Bahama.
His comment comes as the country recorded 315 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday with a positivity rate of 45 percent.
He said while there is sufficient hospital bed space, the challenge now is ensuring sufficient manpower to staff these wards.
“As it stands, in New Providence there are little over 100 healthcare professionals out and there (are) about 30 to my last count in Grand Bahama at the Rand Memorial Hospital,” Dr Darville said.
“We are working across the board to bring healthcare professionals from public health to ensure that our core hospitals are functioning and functioning adequately so that if there is an additional surge we will be able to cope.”
Hospitalisation numbers are steadily increasing and stood at 58 as of Monday, much higher than at the start of December, when only 18 people were in hospital with the virus. However, only three people are in the intensive care unit, suggesting manifestations of the disease continue to be less serious than in previous waves.
Dr Darville said officials are still trying to determine how many people are in the hospital because of COVID-19 versus how many people are there for other health reasons even though they have the virus.
“Our meeting this morning has confirmed that there are about 55 persons at the Princess Margaret Hospital who are COVID positive,” he said before heading into a Cabinet meeting. He spoke to reporters before the Ministry of Health released the January 3 dashboard, which showed 58 hospital cases.
“Of the 55 it is difficult to differentiate those who may be COVID positive with symptoms from COVID or whether or not they are COVID positive with other complications in hospital. It’s a cross-section and we are trying to get the exact number.
“We are able to provide the essential services. At our legacy unit we had admissions and we are opening more tents, but I must admit that due to the exposure of some of our staff members, some of the essential services had to be cut back and even though we have sufficient bed space, we are now restructuring to ensure we find the staff where individuals who have been admitted will be able to go into those particular wards.”
Dr Darville also defended the government’s handling of the COVID-19 surge.
“The government is doing all that we can with this situation,” he said. “When we look at what’s happening across the globe, every country is having difficulty with the control of this new Omicron variant. It’s very important that the Bahamian people realise that they have a part to play. We must exercise the proper protocols.”
He reiterated that the government will bring in additional doctors and up to 50 nurses. He said free testing was expected to begin yesterday at vaccination sites.
“During the holiday weekend there were some gatherings we were concerned about and they can potentially be super spreaders,” he said. “We’re watching the amount of cases and we have been doing an excessive amount of testing. What is concerning us is that the percentage of testing is providing to be higher than we had anticipated which is an indication that the disease burden is relatively high in the country and we are now preparing ourselves to ensure that we have adequate healthcare protocols in place so that if there is a surge that could possibly take place with hospital admissions we are in a better position to deal with it.”
Last week, the government denied an MSC cruise ship entry to its own private island due to the number of positive cases on board.
“Our job,” Dr Darville said, “is to try to balance the economy along with dealing with the viral load in the country and so we are looking very closely and multiple discussions have been ongoing throughout the weekend on best ways how we can accommodate the cruise ships and to minimise the disease burden on board the shifts. Those discussions are still ongoing; it is not completely finalised yet.”
Dr Darville said the decision to deny ships entry “is always related to the disease burden.”
“If we feel that a ship has too many positive cases on board, it is the Ministry of Health’s responsibility to protect the wellbeing of the Bahamian population and try to find that balance where we are able to ensure and feel confident that the cases that are on board the ship have the capability to be isolated and auctioned and when we don’t feel that’s possible we have to make those kinds of tough decisions,” he said.
Comments
joeblow 2 years, 10 months ago
... this virus causes a runny nose for several days with lower mortality than the flu and still they seem to be in panic mode. This country lacks real leadership. Prolonged hysteria is unhealthy! Everybody, get on with your lives!
tribanon 2 years, 10 months ago
Governments around the world continue to fuel the prolonged hysteria as it helps them hide culpability for their failed social and economic policies. They now blame COVID-19 for just about any and everything, including the loss of our civil liberties under the new norms of our sub-standard living and persecuted way of life.
Meanwhile, the chasm between the "ruling haves" and the "desperate have nots" continues to grow at an ever increasing pace. The less than 1,000 super wealthy globalist oligarchs, who control well over 90% of the world's total wealth, have never had it better from the standpoint of profiteering off the rest of us while introducing global population control on an unbelievably sinister and evil scale. They want our planet's limited resources mainly for themselves and their favoured family members and select few friends - that's the so called real "green deal". And to get what they want, they are more determined than ever to drive down the life spans and quality of life of the rest of us while greatly increasing their own. It's frankly diabolical!
Twocent 2 years, 10 months ago
Get on with your lives! The science, as it emerges from those countries ahead of us with this variant, says that it is possible to get on with our lives, the real-life experience says it is possible to get on with our lives. We must fight off the contagion of propaganda, God-less infection of NWO revolution, and the disease of political tyranny! Remember, Vit D, zinc, and Vit C have all been proven to help boost the immune system. More vegetables and less junk food. Stay hydrated. And if you think you are sick….make sure you are wearing your mask around others and keep your distance. If you think you have been close to the virus wash out (nasal spray) your sinuses and nasal pharynx.
tribanon 2 years, 10 months ago
And keep your body weight down! Obesity kills, and that fact was known long before Communist Red China created and unleashed its Wuhan Virus on the world.
carltonr61 2 years, 10 months ago
Staff out sick could be anti Brave and pro Minnis political terrorism. In South Africa where where Omicron is supposed to gave hailed from life is at normal. A cases if runny nose and mild sore throat is seeing medical guessing professionals saying Delta is mixed in. Even Fauci surprisingly scolded hospitals for not explaining that children high number of cases failed to say kids entered the hospital from bruises and falls are thus tested but are without any symptoms. Some areas of medical profiteering are cooking the data into fear, panic, control then profits. Even Israel is finding it hard with the logic of a fourth boost of vaccine every five months efficacy drops below threshold of 60%. Fully vaccinated Belgiums at a remote outpost in Antarctica caught Covid two weeks ago. Argument is that something is in the air and not human vector-based.
M0J0 2 years, 10 months ago
Lol it was all a money scheme, stop world economies whilst they make millions scaring you into testing which has now shown to be a multi million dollar business. Overnight millionaires on the back of your freight.
stillwaters 2 years, 10 months ago
Seriously....it's time to start engaging those tools Davis talked about.
John 2 years, 10 months ago
South Africa saw its first Omicron cases in mid November. The cases peaked in mid December aat around 35,000 cases a day and started declining and cases are now around 8,000 cases today. Both hospitalizations and deaths remain minimal and, in fact deaths declined during the Omicron wave. South Africa has lifted its 12 midnight curfew for the first time since February, 2020, and is hoping life can return back to normal. . Here, in The Bahamas, there ar at least two challenges that makes the Omnicron wave different, even though it appears that it will peak in mid-January. Firstly, there is still a lot of travel and interaction between the US residents and Bahamians. This includes cruise ship and hotel guests. It also includes Bahamians who travel to The US to shop and for other reasons. The Delta variant is still rampant in the US and, data suggests that this prolongs the Omicron wave. And persons who are infected with Delta are the ones who become more sick and require hospitalization. . .
Secondly the process of vaccinating people who have caught Omicron and recovered or giving booster shots to persons already vaccinated and recovered from Omnicron. This virus treats the vaccines as vaccines as viral infections and attacks them. So it may reinfect these per, at some point, if not already. It may create a stronger variant that may cause more severe symptoms and require more hospitalizations.
Twocent 2 years, 10 months ago
Great point about the Delta, as it is still prevalent in USA at present and though some epidemiologists are suggesting Delta will get pushed out by Omicrom immunity it will come later than it has in places like South Africa, Denmark and the UK. Watch the curve. Steep incline would likely be followed by a steep decline as immunity grows rapidly with Omicron. A less steep incline and more hospitalization (actual data) would indicate Delta cases included.
TalRussell 2 years, 10 months ago
Will Listeners rise be more influenced by tuning into De Guardian's Revolution with Talkie Host Comrade Juan McCartney', or will it be Z Live: Off De Record with Zhivargo Laing', as they Resident ON-AIR Philosopher and everything else like this and that. ; Since both Comrade Talkies, thinks they are best qualified look into de deeper Souls of listeners'.
Are both of de Comrade Talkies, just messin' with youse Listeners' brains,** ― Yes?
JokeyJack 2 years, 10 months ago
"Dr Darville said officials are still trying to determine how many people are in the hospital because of COVID-19 versus how many people are there for other health reasons even though they have the virus."
Would you like me to come there and interview all 58 patients? I could also train a couple of nurses how to ask revealing questions like "What made you decide to come to the hospital?" You know, stuff like that.
ohdrap4 2 years, 10 months ago
Ask also if they are vaccinated .
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
"Dr Darville said officials are still trying to determine how many people are in the hospital because of COVID-19 versus how many people are there for other health reasons even though they have the virus."
wow - a least he is acknowledging this...shocking (I mean not really) that two years in MOH doesn't have the means to distinguish...
Bobsyeruncle 2 years, 10 months ago
Might not be that they are unable to distinguish, but could be something to do with doctor-patient privacy and telling the government to keep its nose out of others personal business.
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
True good point
TalRussell 2 years, 10 months ago
For whatever it's worth, apparently, JIB Talk's Canvassing, points to a list floating around Nassau Town, allegedly bearing de names of companies, contract recipients, along with high profile individuals, who despite having received in de low to high thousands, into de hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll/cash/tax breaks/incentives/forgiveness' - with some said to be into de millions of dollars of UK Colony's PopoulacesPurse and everything else like this and that, that they have no protocols in place which amounts to, for whatever it's worth,* delivering some mean "spankin' to de face." for de Competent Authority's COVID and Vaccination Guidelines, and startin' sounds more like de government's own departments and peoples. and own selves aren't much for following de rules, no better?
Yes to, for whatever it's worth?
bcitizen 2 years, 10 months ago
The real pandemic is scaremongering and fear.
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