While noting that excessive COVID-19 cases in the Family Islands would be “catastrophic”, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis over the weekend announced 14-day lockdowns for Cat Island, Bullocks Harbour, Great Harbour Cay and North and Central Andros, amid rising cases in the communities.
The lockdown for Cat Island and North and Central Andros went into effect last night.
The lockdown for Bullocks Harbour and Great Harbour Cay went into effect on Saturday.
Travel to and from the areas is prohibited during the lockdown except for essential workers (Royal Bahamas Police Force, Royal Bahamas Defence Force, healthcare professionals, Bahamas Power and Light technical personnel), mailboat and Seacorp operators, and commercial bank personnel or as otherwise approved by the competent authority.
In-person activities are not permitted.
“Every agency, business or establishment, shall remain closed, except for the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, government community clinics and COVID-19 vaccination sites,” said Minnis in a national address on Sunday.
“No individual — other than an essential worker — shall leave his or her place of residence for any purpose other than for the purpose of seeking urgent medical attention, to go to a vaccination site or, on prescribed days, to purchase food, water and other essential items.”
The administrator or a designee is permitted to distribute food and water on behalf of the government.
Food store owners are permitted to restock their stores after the arrival of the respective mailboat and the Seacorp.
Food stores are permitted to open for two days — between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. — after the mailboat has arrived.
Residents are permitted to leave their homes to go to the food store during the two days immediately following the arrival of the mailboat only.
Farmers are permitted to water their crops between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Subsistence fishing is permitted.
The respective commercial banks are permitted to reload their automated banking machines.
Gas stations are permitted to open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays for government agencies only.
Customs and immigration are able to fulfill their duties as needed.
Security guard services are permitted.
Hotel workers carrying identification are permitted to traverse to and from their places of employment.
Burials are not permitted.
Crab harvesting is permitted from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. in Central and North Andros.
Outside of those hours, harvesting of crabs may also be permitted by the Royal Bahamas Police Force officer in charge on the island, if the weather is favorable for harvesting.
Emile Knowles Construction Company is permitted to continue working on the government bridge project in Staniard Creek between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The AUTEC Navy Base is permitted to continue operation.
On Cat Island, daily water delivery is permitted by Donald Newbold from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Island Site Development construction work on the government’s water project is permitted to continue between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The National Food Distribution Task Force organized a vessel to deliver adequate food and water supplies to Bullocks Harbour and Great Harbour Cay.
Minnis noted that the task force provided food shipments to both Andros and Cat Island late last week.
“The task force is right now preparing additional food parcels to be shipped to both Andros and Cat Island early this week,” he said.
Out of an abundance of caution, the defense force dispatched officers to Cat Island and North and Central Andros “to ensure that residents are not leaving these areas and risking the greater spread of the COVID-19 virus to other communities and islands”, according to Minnis.
He said the police force will provide additional enforcement support on the islands.
Necessary
As of Saturday, 11,551 COVID-19 cases were reported in The Bahamas.
One hundred and forty-one of those cases were reported in Andros, 85 in the Berry Islands and 50 in Cat Island.
While noting that the island has a positivity rate of 58 percent, Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis, special health advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister, said there were 33 active cases on Cat Island.
She said 109 people were quarantined on the island.
As of Sunday, seven of 13 people under investigation had tested positive for the virus, according to Dahl-Regis, who added that seven people were airlifted to New Providence for urgent medical care and six remained hospitalized.
“Health teams are currently managing outbreaks in the Berry Islands, Cat Island and North and Central Andros through a strategic combination of contact tracing and aggressive vaccination,” she said.
“On the Berry Islands, the index case originated from a church event. We must contain the spread of this virus on Bullocks Harbour and Great Harbour Cay, where there are 24 active cases of the COVID-19 virus.
“On the island of Andros, there were nine new cases reported in a single day. This is significant. The health team is conducting contact tracing on the island at this time.”
Minnis noted that The Bahamas is a small country with limited resources.
“There is limited capacity in the Family Islands in terms of medical professionals, equipment such as ventilators and the more sophisticated equipment that would be found in hospitals in larger cities,” he said.
“Because of these limits, as a government, we cannot allow Family Island outbreaks of the pandemic to get out of control. In these communities, there are no big hospitals or intensive care units.
“There are limited numbers of healthcare professions due to the small sizes of the populations. [The] excessive spread of the virus would be catastrophic.”
The post PM locks down Cat Isl., Andros and the Berries appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/pm-locks-down-cat-isl-andros-and-the-berries/
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