THE state of emergency is about to be extended, it would seem.
As parliamentarians return to rubber stamp the extension of the measures, the country faces what former Health Minister Dr Duane Sands described yesterday as an “overwhelming tsunami of COVID cases”.
He said: “Until we get that under control, there’s going to have to be more restrictive measures in place. That should include a dramatic reduction in indoor activity, indoor shared activity where people are carousing with individuals who are not in their circle,” said Dr Sands.
Meanwhile, the Consultant Physicians Staff Association raised their own concerns after 228 new cases were recorded on Thursday and 118 on Friday. At the time of writing, the case numbers for Saturday have not even been released.
The CPSA said: “The health care system and its staff are overwhelmed with COVID cases. This is on top of the trauma, chronic disease, and non-urgent cases seen on a regular basis. Routine medical services have been significantly and negatively impacted by COVID-19 and the measures implemented to fight it.”
In short, from the leadership of the land to the frontline of the fight, there is concern over the surge in cases we are experiencing right now – and now is not the time to ease off the fight.
So will the emergency measures be extended? Very likely, yes, despite Health Minister Renward Wells’ hopes last month.
Will stronger restrictions be implemented? Well, if what we’re doing isn’t enough and numbers keep going up, it has to be considered.
The most crucial thing is to stop our health system being swamped – but we’re already at that point, if medics are talking about being overwhelmed, or describing cases as a tsunami.
According to the most recent figures, 120 people are in hospital with COVID, with ten in intensive care – and a further nine deaths announced on Friday, the youngest being a 20-year-old man.
We need to squash this surge, stop the deaths, and give our health workers a chance to help those affected by the virus.
There are things we can do – chief among them to get vaccinated now that more doses are here. If those numbers of hospitalisations and new cases are frightening, know that the vast majority of people in that situation are not fully vaccinated. You can give yourself a better chance with the vaccine.
It doesn’t end there. We need to keep up all the social distancing measures, sanitising and mask wearing that we’ve been doing for so long now. It is very easy to be fatigued with the long fight we have had with this virus – but right now we need to be keener than ever to stop this surge.
So listen to what the PM says, and come what may, do what you can to try to avoid the virus. If you don’t need to go out, maybe this is the time to hold off from doing so.
Shaunae shines
In this column on Friday, we saluted Steven Gardiner for bringing a ray of sunshine in the long darkness we have been enduring. Well, wouldn’t you know it but Shaunae Miller-Uibo went and made things even brighter.
Hailed as a superwoman on the track, plenty of Bahamians had nerves after Shaunae eased up in the 200m to avoid a hamstring injury. When she showed up for the 400m final with medical tape on her leg, those nerves became full-blown jitters. But Shaunae went out and blew such worries away – coming home comfortably ahead of her rivals.
It’s a double – retaining her gold from Rio – the first time a Bahamian has been a champion twice in the same event.
As for Shaunae, she gave thanks to God, saying: “I knew He was going to bring me through. We’ve gone through a whole lot of aches and pain, but I know God always makes a way, so I’m so thankful. I’m so thankful to God for how far he’s brought me.”
In a world that’s going through aches and pain itself, that’s a message to bring hope to us all.
Comments
carltonr61 2 years, 9 months ago
CDC says vaccinated tourists are spreading virus. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/...">https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/...
FNM blames unvaccinated Bahamian workers. Who do we believe?
Iceland and Denmark got 93%vaccinated and their whole nation got sick. Vaccine imperialism in place of war profits, slavery and colonialism. Now big money wants your body. Line up for big pharma profits and prophecy of Armageddon in the form of chemicals in a needle death.
KapunkleUp 2 years, 9 months ago
I'm sure that's what the voices in your head tell you.
rodentos 2 years, 9 months ago
that thing should be over at least half a year ago! vaccinate old and sick and then just ignore it. More cannot be done, or it will only worsen the situation
carltonr61 2 years, 9 months ago
Near 100% vaccinated nations say vaccinations is a total failure.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/202108...">https://sputniknews.com/europe/202108...
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 9 months ago
Its pretty clear the vaccinate everybody strategy doesnt work and we see it from 2 angles. One from the article you posted where multiple scientists from multiple countries have indeed said herd immunity wont be achieved through vaccination. And it also shows another stat people, yourself included, have pointed out, the hospitalization to vaccinated/unvaccinated ratio is a reflection of the populations staus not the effectiveness of the vaccine. In countries with high vaccination rates the majority in hospital are vaccinated.
Id like to see the obesity status of persons in hospital in tgese countries. There has to be a link. The pictures here look just like the pics in the States, theyre either elderly or obese. That should be the avenue they're investigating.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 9 months ago
"So listen to what the PM says"
He said: we'll wait it out and let the virus do what it would have done anyway. Changing the curfew by one hour will do nothing but it will make it seem like we did something. The numbers will eventually flatten out on their own and then we can say what a great job we did.
Too bad after months and months education still doesnt have a plan for school reopening that coukd have been communicated tonight. Who had time to consider a third wave anyway?
He didn't mention any extra diligence at the border to ensure no variant carrying tourists are allowed in.
And where there is no vision, the people perish
WETHEPEOPLE 2 years, 9 months ago
This is what happens when the invisible boogeyman sneaks into the room....nothing seems to make sense and nobody can think straight. And a fruit of the boogeyman is overwhelming anxiety.
whogothere 2 years, 9 months ago
Hmmm professor Lockdown admits he was wrongs - shrugs off the damage inflicted to economy, Children's educations and deaths of fear and disappear... Minnis your turn..
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/professor-...
Bigrocks 2 years, 9 months ago
well if all these idiots posting here today want to take their chances and stay unvaccinated go right ahead. If you get the virus, odds are high that you will have a very miserable week or two if your lucky and end up with a very large hospital bill. Or, you could just become worm feed in the cemetery.
Take the BS politics out and you will see nobody said it was 100% a cure. However, if you are fully vaccinated and still get the virus, your symptoms will be mild and mostly disappear after 1-2 weeks of quarantining..
So take your choice. The Vaccine is free. The hospital and cemetery are not.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 9 months ago
You're absolutely wrong. Actually the odds say we won't get sick. ( and we're talking about "odds", that has no weight on who individually falls where)
The most glaring and ignored fact about this pandemic is that 95% of the population everywhere are either infection free or asymptomatic. What makes the disease insidious is that the 5% who do, can face very serious consequences and hospitals were never built to manage 5% of the population needing ICU care. My question continues to be who are the 5%? Should we be targeting them? Noone is answering.
I dont know if you remember the early days of the virus but I do. I recall a physician telling me they believed the death rate was so high because doctors and nurses who had no skill in ventilator management were suddenly being asked to perform this ICU function. Extremely dangerous. But at the time it was the thing to do. The "science". This was just a year ago mind you. Everyone was speaking with great authority, people who showed up with COVID needed to be placed on a ventilator. Two things happened 1. an independent group of physicians eventually came to the same conclusion: putting everybody under the care of these untrained physicians was doing public harm and 2. They realized patients did better without ventilation ultimately leaving ventilators to only the most serious cases.
So when they people come with their experiments and speak with full authority that masks dont work, masks do work, vaccinated people are cured, there are 2 pandemics, vaccinated people dont have to test its the unvaccinated who are the problem. I take all of it with a grain of salt. The highest degree of salinity for me is the fact that 95% of the population has very mild to no negative effects
20 years ago a dentist told me they needed to pull one of my teeth and replace it with a crown. It was weak they said. I asked a physician for guidance. The physician said in general whatever you have naturally is stronger than anything they will put in. Its 20 years later. Sometimes its just about money and someone wanting to try something
I am afraid of what the science will find as completely unnecessary in 2022
rodentos 2 years, 9 months ago
if you go to the wrong dentist he will dig for gold in your mouth
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 9 months ago
exactly
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 9 months ago
btw, I was also told, don't get sick, if you have to go on a ventilator in PMH (virus aside)... well.... you know the time...
carltonr61 2 years, 9 months ago
Show me the scientific database that shows healthy persons must die if affected by Covid. The death rate was lower before the Vax rollout. It is only an opinion that vaccinated persons will show better survivability. If you have commodities you are equally at risk. Show data please. There is a difference.
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