Co-chair of the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) COVID-19 task force Dr. Melissa Evans yesterday called for a complete lockdown of at least two weeks to stop the spread of COVID-19 in The Bahamas.
Evans said the decision to relax some restrictions this week has done more harm than good, with many in the public not adhering to social distancing rules.
“In order to really damper down on this virus, we need to completely confine and I’m talking about aggressive confinement, for a period of time – 15 days to 30 days,” she said.
“You will see without that community spread and the incubation period that we look at, you will see that this virus will not be able to shed and transmit as rapidly as it has. That’s something that I personally feel would work.”
Evans said she would recommend that all businesses close during that period, including supermarkets and pharmacies.
She added, “I’m talking about aggressive confinement, which means that we are completely closed. We [would] try and help our less fortunate population to prepare for this closure and allow the public to prepare for this closure.”
Currently, the country alternates between a 24-hour curfew during the weekdays and a near total lockdown on weekends.
However, on Sunday, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis announced that some of the curfew restrictions would be eased despite the continued rise of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Auto parts stores, home stores and plant nurseries were allowed to open on limited days.
However, Evans said now is not the time for relaxing restrictions.
“This is something that really probably shouldn’t be happening at this time,” she said.
“We need to continue confinement until we’ve peaked.”
Evans added, “Right now, by relaxing all of the emergency orders and allowing people to congregate, we are in essence setting up our population for herd immunity almost. And I think that’s a very scary thing to look at right now.
“I’m not saying that’s what’s being done, but really if we have a lot of people out there that are going to be a part of community spread, then those are the things that we kind of cognitively think about.”
As of yesterday, there were 72 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in The Bahamas and 11 deaths.
JUMPLINE:
‘We need to completely confine for a period of time’
The post PLP task force chair calls for two-week lockdown appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/04/24/plp-task-force-chair-calls-for-two-week-lockdown/
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