The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

WITH COVID-19 hospital rates rising once again, acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Phillip Swann said officials are hoping to open a new COVID facility that can accommodate up to 100 patients by next month “at latest”.

Dr Swann said a contract was awarded last week for renovations to begin on the Grosvenor nursing building, which was temporarily acquired by the government following negotiations with University of The Bahamas to help strengthen the nation’s response to COVID.

News of the partnership between the two parties was announced by Health Minister Dr Michael Darville earlier this month.

Yesterday, Dr Swann said he understands that renovation work has already started.

“The contract was signed last week and the work started last week,” he said. “I can’t say what the timeline (is) but I know there’s an accelerated timeline to get it up where it needs to be in the shortest time as possible as well as staff identified to assist in that area should we have not gotten what we have gotten already, which is the nurses from Cuba which we expect in the country shortly.

“So, I know it should be no more than four weeks at least… at the latest next month.”

This comes as hospital rates for COVID-19 continue to rise in the country.

According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Health, 110 people are currently in hospital sick with the virus, with five of them in the intensive care unit. At the beginning of the month, there were only 36 hospital cases.

Yesterday, director of the National HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Programme, Dr Nikkiah Forbes reiterated the majority of people being hospitalised with COVID-19 are the unvaccinated.

“Largely, the persons being admitted requiring oxygen, they’re unvaccinated persons and given how contagious Omicron is and the large number of sick people, we also have people presenting with other problems and persons are testing positive for COVID,” she said.

“While overall, (the Omicron variant) is not as severe as Delta, it’s still a challenge for people who are unvaccinated and immunocompromised. We’re still having presentations with people requiring a large amount of oxygen and even need to be incubated and so it is very challenging,” she said.

Yesterday, Dr Swann said the biggest concern for officials is not bed capacity, but rather a manpower shortage in the public healthcare system.

Last week, Dr Darville said about 130 healthcare professionals were out of the system due to COVID-19, including 100 in New Providence and 30 in Grand Bahama.

However, the acting CMO said a number of those workers are set to return to work this week. Further, some 50 nurses from Cuba are expected to be in the country soon.

“The issue is not one necessarily of capacity but one of healthcare workers able to manage the patients that arrive at the hospital,” he said.

“I know that at least 10 of (those healthcare workers) that were out of the system would have been safe to return to work yesterday and it’s probably even more. Bear in mind that these (quarantine numbers) would have accumulated since the surge which was about two weeks, so they would have been a part of that surge. So, even with the isolation period of ten days, a lot of them would have been returning to work this week.”

Regarding the nation’s overall COVID situation, Dr Swann said officials are continuing to monitor cases.

However, he also raised concern about the number of social activities happening in contravention of current COVID rules.

Videos of large social gatherings showing little to no social distancing have recently circulated on social media, sparking public concern.

“So, there’s (a) balance that we’re working towards,” the acting CMO said when asked about potential restrictive measures. “I think there’s some things that can be considered if we continue to have the high numbers.

We’re getting some early reports of where a lot of activities occur and a lot of them are occurring at home and it is really incumbent on individuals who are participating in these events to understand that their little time of joviality can have serious effects on not just them, on their families, but the economy.”

He added: “Even if you put in restrictions, do you have enough police to go around to ensure that every Tom, Dick and Harry is abiding by these restrictions? I don’t think so. . .so, the reality is persons need to understand that there’s a certain level of responsibility that is expected.”

When pressed if officials plan to recommend restrictions if cases continue to increase, he replied: “I think it’s too early to take that track. I think a number of steps have to be taken before we get to the point and I’m having a number of conversations with the national security forces to figure out what are some of the other measures that can be put in place to strengthen the policing of protocols.”