‘We are flattening the curve’

Praising the government’s efforts to reduce coronavirus cases in The Bahamas, Minister of Health Renward Wells said yesterday that The Bahamas has seen a decrease in the number of new COVID cases, hospitalizations and has gone 10 days without a COVID death.

“Our collective efforts are flattening the COVID-19 curve,” Wells said in the House of Assembly.

“The change in trajectory did not come by chance.

“Paul J. Meyer, a pioneer of the self-improvement industry, reveals: ‘Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort.’

“This is exactly what the Minnis administration has done, Mr. Speaker.”

Wells said the country is reaping the fruits of the government’s responsiveness to combat the virus. 

“For the past seven days, Mr. Speaker, there have been fewer than 30 new cases each day,” he said.

“Mr. Speaker, on November 24…we had nine cases. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, we had eight cases.”

Wells said The Bahamas has gone 10 days without a COVID-related death, down from when the country was averaging one death a day only weeks ago.

He also noted that hospitalizations are also down, with 19 people hospitalized in the country and one person in the ICU.

Wells said the test positivity rate is down, with it having been less than five percent on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The average positivity rate over the past week, this epiweek, was 8.6 percent, down, Mr. Speaker, from an average in October and early November of 17 percent,” he said.

“Mr. Speaker, at one point in time, one day we were around 32 percent for our positivity rate. And the Bahamian people should note that the WHO would like to see a positivity rate below five percent, and on Tuesday and yesterday, our positivity rate was below five percent.”

The Bahamas has been challenged with a second wave of COVID-19 infections since July. Prior to that point, there were 104 confirmed COVID cases in the country and 14 deaths.

As part of its strategy to combat the virus, the government imposed lockdowns, curfews, social distancing rules, mandatory mask wearing and other measures.

As of Wednesday, 7,482 cases and 163 COVID-related deaths had been confirmed in the country. Twenty-two deaths were still under investigation, and another 33 people were confirmed to have died with COVID, but not because of it.

In the months-long struggle to combat the spread of the virus, government officials have repeatedly attributed the rise in cases in July to Bahamians who traveled abroad and returned to the country without a negative COVID test, as per the travel protocols at the time.

Continued community spread was also consistently attributed to the noncompliance of the general public.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/we-are-flattening-the-curve/