The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Cynthia “Mother” Pratt was admitted to hospital yesterday following a positive COVID-19 diagnosis more than a week ago.

Dr Lynwood Brown, Mrs Pratt’s doctor, confirmed she was brought into hospital by ambulance early yesterday “out of an abundance of caution” for overnight monitoring.

“She is in stable condition and is in good spirits,” Dr Brown said when contacted yesterday. “She is coherent and alert in every aspect. This also means that she is able to walk on her own. She is a very strong woman, man.”

“Truthfully, it was me that wanted her to be admitted out of an abundance of caution for monitoring, hopefully for just overnight.”

Following her admission for observation, Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis issued a brief statement.

The statement read in part: “My thoughts and prayers are with her and the Pratt family during this delicate and trying period. I ask that Bahamians respect her privacy and to pray for her full recovery.”

Last Thursday, Mrs Pratt, 75, told The Tribune she suspected having the virus after experiencing nausea and fatigue the previous week.

Mrs Pratt followed up with a COVID-19 test, which confirmed her suspicions.

“This started about a week now, but I feel a lot stronger,” she said last week in a telephone interview from her home. “This started last week Wednesday, and it started with nausea. I have been careful. I didn’t go out in crowds. I always wore double masks and things. I have always been careful.

“When I started this nausea, I thought maybe it was something I ate that upset my stomach. So, I got some Dica and I took that and it gave me some relief just over a short period of time and then it came back.

“I then started to feel very weak and I was fighting to put one foot before the next one. I said ‘Lord, something isn’t right here’. I am a woman with energy. I could go like the Energiser bunny, and I was walking from the kitchen to the living room and every two minutes I had to sit down.

“So, I decided to call my daughter. I told her I am going to get checked again because I have had five tests for different things, and they were all negative, but I never had any tiredness like this. I knew something didn’t connect. My daughter took me to get the test and mine came back positive and hers was negative and that’s been a week now.”

The former St Cecilia MP has also experienced loss of taste and smell, tell-tale signs of a coronavirus infection in many cases.

“I noticed I couldn’t smell the food I’m cooking and then I couldn’t taste the food. I had no fever, I had no vomiting, but the diarrhea came later,” she said last week.

“So, all of the signs weren’t really there at first and then, of course, I didn’t have a cold. . . but then I was bringing up a lot of cold, but I always have a problem with sinus on and off so I didn’t pay that much mind.

“The next thing I know I was diagnosed with COVID-19.”

She said under the advice of Progressive Liberal Party Senator Dr Michael Darville— who contracted COVID-19 several months ago— and another health professional, she was recommended certain vitamins and medications and was doing well at the time.

Last week, Mrs Pratt urged Bahamians to take the proper precautions to avoid the disease.

“I want to say you could never be too careful and as much as you try, you don’t know who has it. This thing has no eyes, so some people look healthy, and they don’t even know they have it themselves.

“Do what you are supposed to do to avoid it,” she said.