FNM leader Michael Pintard speaking yesterday. Photo: Donavan McIntosh/Tribune staff
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Senior Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis was irresponsible when he said the government has taken off the table strict measures for reducing community spread of COVID-19, such as curfews and lockdowns.
Mr Pintard said although the FNM is not recommending such measures now, but they could be needed in the future.
He said: “What I would say about those provisions that they have in a blanket way (said) they will not implement is that it’s irresponsible for a government to completely take off the table tools that may at some point in the future be useful and necessary for a country.”
The COVID-19 positivity rate remains alarmingly high; it was 47 percent according to an analysis of the latest dashboard figures. While infections with COVID-19 remain milder than during previous waves, the hospitalisation numbers are steadily increasing and stood at 71 yesterday.
Three hundred and seventy-five new cases were reported yesterday, bringing the nation’s total to 26,701. Only 3,830 cases are active however.
Seventy-five of the new cases have a history of travel within the past 14 days. Last month, Mr Davis said “blunt instruments like shutting down our borders or prolonged, nationwide lockdowns are off the table” when addressing the latest wave of COVID-19 cases.
“The government is in the chair, they know what the internationally recommended positivity rate is, five percent, and we are nine times beyond that,” Mr Pintard said during a press conference.
“At every stage as we look at the percentage of the positivity rate, 10 percent, 15, 30, there ought to be a list of provisions that the government then implements based on health professionals’ advice that corresponds with increased cases.
“They are in the chair. They ought to be able to tell you what those provisions are.
“We are asking to be at the table so that we are able to hear accurately what that information is.
“What percentage of positivity triggers what provisions and measures? Have they thought about this previously?
“Have the health professionals recommended them?
“And let us know what the health professionals are recommending. The health professionals when we were in the chair, they were very candid.
“As the numbers increased, we met with them, they told us what the numbers were, they told us what percentage of positivity that required certain measures and then we came to the public after consultation.”
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Comments
birdiestrachan 2 years, 10 months ago
POOR, MR: Pintard I suppose he has to talk before the doc does. so he talks even if he has nothing to say,
ohdrap4 2 years, 10 months ago
When he is ready to run again, this will make a great ad for his opponents:
PINTARD S³AID LOCKDOWNS ARE USEFUL FOR THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY.
They ga vote you out dude.
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
So tired of black and white politics, what ever one party does the other screams the contrary. It's ridiculous. Omicron is a MILD variant for vaccinated and unvaccinated a like - cases and death are hugely decoupled (and it's no thanks to the vaccine)...This isn't hard. The emergency is done, covid is a sniffle, but the most of health policies that remain are contradictory, ridiculous and need to be seriously rethought but the political backlash over just the small adjustment to protocols is extreme and often counter productive to bringing closure to this debacle of public policy....It only prolongs the state of chaos. PLP and FNM playing ying and yang has always been bad for bipartisanship and the country..why can't we just all get along and agree that this thing is over...
PS anyone talking about strict measures at this point needs to go to the nut house..
JohnDoes 2 years, 10 months ago
There is no such thing as Bipartisanship in this country; that's why this country lags and drag their feet through everything and the reason why it takes so many years just to make '1' change. Every step forward, we take another three back, sadly this has been ingrained into the Bahamian society. The lack of camaraderie or too much camaraderie is the reason we cannot break this cycle. New day, same crap.
rosiepi 2 years, 10 months ago
Covid will never "be done" in a country in which 62% of the population has refused vaccination and are literally walking round as human petri dishes cooking up the next variant. Sure Omicron seems less virulent- to the vaccinated, but to those with conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease? Think again.
ohdrap4 2 years, 10 months ago
A , ahem, scientific genetic study has shown that omicron is not related to alpha or delta and originated in mice. Not by wandering unvaccinated.
Vaccination is not baptism.
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
Even if 100% got vaccinated it would not have ended..
Omicron is less virulent to the unvaccinated too...In fact there may be evidence showing that vaccine may make you more susceptible to Omicron after 2 weeks...
And well people that are already sick - are generally susceptible to getting sick from anything that, well, can make one sick...
Society is meant to function to support those that need it...closing society to try and protect those that are always at risk is a fundamental fallacy that may have permanently damaged the fabric of our civilisation..
IslandWarrior 2 years, 10 months ago
There is no one on the FNM run right now, and barking at car tyres will not build back supporters to a party that has lost at a minimum 75% of its supporters and most who have supported the party for over 40 years, key people, community leaders who are still heartbroken and would never return to community activism in support of the FNM.
The Minnis administration has done such a good job of destroying brand FNM that there may be a need to change its name moving forward or place in permanent hiding "ALL" names and faces associated with the failed Minnis Administration banish.
John 2 years, 10 months ago
The nation is begging for some type of increased restrictions. Restaurants are going going to curbside and drive through service only. Retailers are limiting the numbers of customers that can enter their stores, banks are shortening their hours and some medical are canceling their services. Some people are refusing to leave their homes unless absolutely necessary. Just like it’s vaccines and booster campaigns, government should now take to encouraging people to stay at home and even work from home where possible. That will make curfews and/or lockdowns more unnecessary and less probable. It is the persons who are constantly or repeatedly exposed to the virus that test positive and become I’ll. People who become slightly exposed and isolate over time develop immunity.
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
Yet people are not becoming seriously ill and so in fact restrictive measures at this point will likely prolong the spread and delay any sort of collective immunity that comes with it... Now, more than ever, is time you actually a mild virus to spread in the healthy population and focus protection on those that are at risk...Natural immunity can be provide without the societal cost...there is simply no argument for wide sweeping restrictions at this time (not that they have worked anyway)..
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 10 months ago
Theyre still reacting to the wrong problem. The problem at the moment (because the COVID threat can change on a dime it seems) isnt hospitalizations and deaths. The problem is a workforce out sick for indeterminate lengths of time.
The solution is somewhere in the what can we do to prevent everything coming to a standstill due to worker outage. For us its a local and a global problem. If the global supply chain is interrupted, our food is cut off. If the CDC or tge companies themselves determine cruise travel is to risky the economy suffers a blow. If workers at the water companies are out sick what then?
These are the things they should be thinking about. They should absolutely not be thinking about being more lenient with tourism guidelines. eliminate the visa, its unnecessary and its what tourists complain about next to test requirement (which you cant eliminate)
Id be looking all over for new approaches to finding tests that reliably determine if someone is no longer infectious. This guideline of letting people out of quarantine if they're only 25% contagious is suicide. You only need one of those 25 percenters to be infectious to start an avalanche. Put medical heads tigether, the analytical innovators, not the posers, to see if they can propose, based on the pathology, new approaches to testing. Solutions start with ideas.
I'd also be spreading out the workforce. Based on Omicron being highly contagious, its likely everyone will eventually get sick (to varying degrees) but you have a better chance of preventing it happening all at once
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
To the contrary covid is doesn't change on a dime - it's a very predictable seasonal virus - where progressive variants have become weaker with each evolution - which is exactly what you'd expect with a novel respiratory virus. Cases, Death and Hospitalisation have fluctuated in sync and predictably in the USA despite variations in mandates and different policies etc.
The problem is and has been mass hysteria and knee jerk reactions that have gone against a century of epidemiological knowledge and experience plus the systemic short comings of national health care systems.
Fixing Hysteria is simple - just tell the truth and don't panic. Fixing the health care system - thats a little harder, but now rather than later is a good place to start.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 10 months ago
As to the threat of delta. That wave appeared to be over in late November. Forget having anything to verify the exact strains in play. Its looking like its impossible to get any data in time to make useful decisions. You have to go strictly on patient history and observed symptoms. And from our data and according to the medical community a patient reporting with delta degenerated rapidly. Youll have to use that to make best guesses at strains noting it as a "guess" for later confirmation. Likewise you need an eagle eye out for any pattern indicating changing symptoms, youd probably be dealing with a new variant
M0J0 2 years, 10 months ago
lockdowns do not stop the spread of covid, there is also simply an increase because we are in the cold and flu season. People are getting all antsy for something that will soon be talk of as a minor when firstly it came out as a major.
stillwaters 2 years, 10 months ago
I was sick of both these political parties before elections and getting even sicker of them by the day. One is digging up stupid crap every damn day and the other is defending the stupid crap the others dug up......suck teet.
Bobsyeruncle 2 years, 10 months ago
Wow, who knew The Bahamas had so many expert Scientists, Doctors, Virologists & Immunologists. The CDC, WHO etc. should look no further than our beautiful Bahamian shores for all their Covid answers. The world will be so grateful to us, that hopefully they will all chip in and pay off our national debt.
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
There are only two possible explanations for the horror of the past two years: mass hysteria or grand conspiracy.
If it was hysteria, we should see the madness end in the next six months as the pandemic fades away.
Fauci, CDC, the WHO must be praying for the conspiracy explanation.
ps. by horror I'm referring to the contradictory policies and protocols that have brought nations and their economies to their knees not the virus that has a 99.85% survivability rate....
whogothere 2 years, 10 months ago
The CDC now recommends cancelling youth sports and extracurricular activities "to protect in-person learning" (they consider the entire nation to be 'high transmission').
F***. That.
The CDC should be considered an enemy of the people.
https://cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/c…
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