The Tribune

THE Delta variant is here.

While we now have the final confirmation of that fact, we have suspected as much for some time.

The variant of COVID-19 has been causing havoc in the US with its higher rate of spread, and given the number of visitors to The Bahamas who come from that country – and the number of Bahamians who travel there and return - it was always a suspicion that the variant would arrive on our shores too.

For some time now, we have seen a surge in cases that seem much stronger than in previous waves. Given Delta’s increased spread, that too led to suspicions that part of this wave was being driven by the new variant.

So, our suspicions are confirmed, what do we do now? Well, if we listen to health officials, we do the same thing – and be more disciplined than ever.

That’s a hard statement to consider when you look at pictures of people gathering together for election events at rallies or under tents to listen to leaders on tour, or crowded into buses or trucks as part of motorcades.

People are also urged to get vaccinated – and if we look at the US, which has been battling Delta openly for longer, we can see statistics that show how much of an effect that can have.

Cases continue to rise there – but the biggest protection people are seeing is vaccination. The vast majority of cases are among those who are unvaccinated, and that’s also the case with deaths.

People who are fully vaccinated can sometimes catch COVID still – but it’s rare. These so-called breakthrough cases at the end of August were just 0.06 percent of cases in Arkansas, while by the end of last month around 1,587 deaths had occurred among fully vaccinated patients, a tiny fraction of the 168 million who are vaccinated in the US.

Even in areas where the numbers were larger, such as Arizona, still 94 percent of new COVID cases were among unvaccinated people.

It should be simple. There’s a virus. There’s a vaccine. One helps to protect you from the other. It’s shown to make it less likely you’ll end up in hospital, or dying. And it’s available, and you don’t have to pay a cent for it.

Instead, all kinds of nonsense is spread on social media about other so-called solutions, usually ones you actually have to pay for and may or may not be making those spreading the stories a bit of money. The latest one is a horse dewormer, prompting the CDC to tell people no, you are not a horse, don’t take it.

Let’s talk about what we know. The Delta variant is here. We should be social distancing, but too many are not doing that in this election season. The more crowds there are, the higher price we will pay, and the nation is already paying too high a price in terms of lives lost.

What can you do about it? Stay as safe as you can. And get the vaccine.

Open and closed

A curious footnote of the closing weeks of this government’s term in office has been the Open Parliament sessions announced by Halson Moultrie.

The first was scooped by the reading of proclamations by Police Commissioner Paul Rolle in his capacity as Provost General, setting the ball rolling for the election.

Still, a session of sorts was held in Rawson Square, lasting for four hours with speakers from various organisations. Was it a stunt? A bid for public attention? Was there genuine interest, or was this a platform for discontent?

Mr Moultrie even suggested that the decision by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis to prorogue Parliament on the day of the open session was “only an excuse for not attending this session today so they can argue that the Parliament was prorogued so there was no need for their attendance.” Sorry, Mr Moultrie, but there are bigger fish to fry than your session.

And the proof of that? None of those who showed up for the previous session showed up yesterday. The Tribune showed up, but only one or two others appeared, and they left when proceedings didn’t begin. By late morning, even the chairs were being taken away.

Ahead of the event, Mr Moultrie was saying he expected a lot of people to come forward. He was very, very wrong.