A plan full of holes

In a clear sign our leaders might be out of their depth in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government on Friday issued a new emergency order outlining the requirement for Bahamians, residents and visitors to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in The Bahamas, and on Monday issued a new order that pointed to the opposite, amid confusion that shrouded the travel protocol announcement made on Saturday by Minister of Tourism Dionisio DAguilar.

D’Aguilar said the decision to remove the quarantine requirement was made after lengthy discussions with the Ministry of Health.

“Mandatory quarantine made The Bahamas unattractive to visitors,” he said.

We were left to wonder — as were many other observers — whether the competent authority and attorney general were aware of those discussions before the emergency order was released on Friday.

The government’s fundamental shift in this important policy position — from Friday when it was announced in the order, to Saturday when D’Aguilar announced another plan — speaks to a worrying lack of cohesion and a poor level of communication amongst colleagues. 

It fueled already existing skepticism over the government’s policy direction in its response to the pandemic.

Throughout this pandemic experience, we have repeatedly heard it said that no other administration has faced the unprecedented crisis being faced now by the Minnis administration, and that governments the world over are challenged in their responses.

But our running for the excuse that “this is new” is nonsense.

That would assume, then, that we operate at a high level every day.

We do not. We are mediocre at best and we operate squalidly in most things we do.

The level of disorganization within the current administration has grown as the crisis progressed; it has no doubt worsened an already poor set of circumstances as leadership and direction are crucial in steering a country away from difficulty or danger — or at the very least minimizing it.

As we previously opined, it’s as if we have two governments, and not one. We can only imagine the chaos that was unfolding behind the scenes in the lead up to the minister’s press conference on Saturday, and even after as key individuals in the Ministry of Tourism were quietly expressing to us their concerns and criticisms over what was playing out.

Instead of coming across as having a solid, well-thought-out set of protocols, D’Aguilar presented a plan riddled with holes that caused confusion and embarrassment for The Bahamas.

There has been a running joke over the course of the pandemic that what the tourism minister says will likely be the opposite of what happens.

His performance on Saturday fed that perception.

Flip-flopping

On October 25, the Ministry of Tourism announced that it had entered a partnership with Living With COVID Coalition (LWCC), a not-for-profit coalition within the Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG), for The Bahamas to have access to as many as three million World Health Organization and Ministry of Health-approved rapid antigen tests.

“We are grateful for this partnership with LWCC,” said DAguilar in a statement his ministry released at the time.

That release noted that visitors, returning citizens and residents will be required to take a rapid antigen test upon arrival and again five days after their arrival.

But on Saturday, D’Aguilar said the government had scrapped the testing on arrival because the science does not support it. That the ministry made such an important announcement to The Bahamas and the international community without consulting health officials and examining the science is worrying.

As a result, the tourism minister and the country were subjected to some embarrassment when a letter sent to the minister by LWCC Chairman Robert Myers was circulated publicly on Friday.

In that letter, Myers said, “Beyond the disrespect this 11th-hour revision represents to the many volunteers and thousands of hours that have been contributed to this not-for-profit effort, the government of The Bahamas’ current plan to eliminate the point of entry testing seems significantly less clear, secure and actionable, thus increasing the risk of further exposure to the citizens, communities and businesses of The Bahamas.”

Myers said the testing solution was “agreed upon by the Ministry of Tourism and deputy chief medical officer”.

During the press conference on Saturday, D’Aguilar was asked about the Myers letter. He quickly pivoted to Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Delon Brennen.

Brennen said that rapid antigen testing would not be effective at the border because those coming in would have received a negative RT-PCR test within five days of travel and if they happened to contract the virus before or during travel, the incubation period would not be long enough for the rapid test to be effective.

Based on Brennen’s response, it is stunning to see Myers’ claim that the plan was agreed upon by the deputy CMO.

D’Aguilar suggested on Monday that LWCC is now going to be out of the picture. Again, this is roughly one week after his ministry’s big announcement about the public-private partnership with the group.

“We’re in the process of engaging components that existed when the LWCC was running it, but we don’t have the benefit of their management structure,” D’Aguilar told The Nassau Guardian.

Asked if the government will reach out to the third party screeners that were introduced to the government by LWCC, D’Aguilar said, “Correct, and the person who was supplying the tests, we have to deal with them directly. Whereas, the LWCC was kind of managing that for us.”

On Saturday, Brennen acknowledged that rapid antigen testing is not very effective in asymptomatic individuals.

If any traveler contracts COVID-19 after taking an RT-PCR test (the gold standard in COVID-19 tests) prior to travel or during travel, that traveler would be free to move about any Bahamian island and shed the virus.

If the traveler does not have symptoms by day five, then the antigen test would not likely pick up the virus.

Brennen said, “Do remember that the reason that international organizations like the World Health Organization or the Pan American Health Organization actually advise against doing screening, doing testing for the traveling public, is because those are asymptomatic individuals.

“For you to test asymptomatic individuals, it uses resources that you could actually be putting toward symptomatic individuals; and because that is a low-prevalence population, it doesn’t give you enough of a burden of disease to really start picking up as many people as you want.”

At least half of the people who have COVID-19 aren’t aware they have it, according to health officials.

This means they could end up infecting many other people about our islands.

This is highly risky.

Confusion 

On Saturday, D’Aguilar said, “Visitors will be able to move about and enjoy the amenities of their hotel, the beach and excursions – so long as all health protocols are followed and enforced.”

The minister also said hotels may apply to the competent authority for visitors to use the beaches near their properties during restricted times (i.e. lockdown weekends on New Providence, Paradise Island and Abaco).

That says to Bahamians and residents of The Bahamas that foreigners deserve to have uninterrupted access to our beaches, even when it would be illegal for us to go to the beach.

Also, would this right be granted only to tourists staying at hotels or would it cover all tourists, including out-of-towners staying at the homes of Bahamians and residents of The Bahamas?

D’Aguilar suggested on Monday that while allowing hotel guests to access beaches during weekend lockdowns when others can’t is discriminatory, the measure is necessary to get Bahamians back to work.

How insulting. If tourists can be trusted to social distance at beaches on weekends, then why can’t Bahamians enjoy their beaches on weekends?

There is something dark and disturbing in how we view ourselves and our own people.

It is even sometimes reflected in the words of Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis.

As an example, Minnis, in an interview with Eyewitness News on the weekend, was quoted as saying foreigners are more prone to obeying rules than Bahamians. 

Minnis’ statement in that Eyewitness News report, and D’Aguilar’s suggestion that we should be accepting of preferential treatment for visitors for beach use on weekends, should give all Bahamians pause.

Speaking of weekends, what is to happen for those whose fifth day after arrival in The Bahamas falls on a weekend? Will they be free to travel to test sites for rapid antigen testing as required? Will test sites be open for testing?

The confusion over this needs to be addressed urgently.

We have already received complaints that people are coming into the country with no clear guidance on where they are to test. 

Given that the latest emergency order — the one released on Monday — stipulates that an individual who fails to get tested would be subjected to a $1,000 fine or one month in prison, the government needs to make it clear where people must test.

Travelers are required to purchase travel insurance. This will only cover people who are traveling from North America, we learnt on Monday.

Those who test positive through rapid testing on day five would be required to take an RT-PCR test to confirm. Asymptomatic individuals have the option of quarantining for up to 14 days. 

This raises all kind of issues. Will hotel staff be trained on how to safely deal with a quarantining COVID-positive individual? And what about those individuals who are staying at AirBnBs, etc? How will their needs for sustenance be met?

Have all of these things been clearly thought through?

To use a term from the tourism minister, the reopening of tourism, particularly in an archipelago like The Bahamas, is a significant undertaking. However, we must continue to demand competent management from those at the helm.

While our economy is on life support, shoddy decision-making should not get a pass. 

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