21,000 skip mandatory antigen test five days after arriving in country

There is “a gap” in the Ministry of Health’s fifth-day rapid antigen COVID-19 testing program, health officials admitted on Friday, while noting that 21,000 individuals, who should have taken the test, had not done so. 

Individuals arriving in The Bahamas are required to have a negative RT-PCR test within five days of arrival, obtain a travel health visa and undergo a rapid antigen test five days after arrival. This includes all Bahamians, residents and visitors in country for more than five days. 

Any individual who tests positive on the antigen test is required to take a follow-up RT-PCR test.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pearl McMillan said roughly 70,000 rapid antigen tests have been conducted for travel-related purposes since November.

“The database shows 113 [individuals] have tested positive on the five days post-entering The Bahamas,” she said.

“This is a positivity rate of 0.16 percent; 58.4 percent or 66 of those have been amongst tourists. These were traced to the capital (Nassau) and the second city (Freeport) as well as Exuma, Abaco, Eleuthera, Long Island, Bimini and the Berry Islands.

“Thirty-four point five percent or 39 have been among Bahamians. These were traced to the islands of New Providence, Abaco and Grand Bahama. Less than one percent or eight could not be categorized.” 

McMillan, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Delon Brennen and Ministry of Health Senior House Officer Dr. Cherita Moxey were unable to say how many individuals subsequently tested positive on the follow-up RT-PCR test.

“That is an area that we recognize is a gap and we are seeking to work closer with our, as Dr. Moxey alluded to, we have to work a little closer with our tourism partners to ensure that we are actually getting these persons tested,” the chief medical officer said.

“Also, we are actually getting a little more access to the data to be able to give the true, true numbers, but we have a robust partnership, so we anticipate that that will occur.”

While noting that about 26,000 antigen tests have come back negative since November, Moxey told reporters that there were individuals who were not tested.

“That number, when we just look at it in an absolute sense, seems like a lot,” she said.

“It’s a little bit over 43,000. However, we have to look at the data in terms of who was eligible to have the five-day rapid antigen test done. When we look at those who were eligible, i.e. those who would’ve been in The Bahamas for five days or longer, we see that there’s about 21,000 or about 46 percent of individuals who were supposed to have taken the rapid antigen test but did not take it.

“So, there is a concern there. We certainly need to ensure that individuals who were supposed to take that rapid antigen test, actually do take it.”

The antigen testing requirement came into effect on November 1, when the government lifted quarantine requirements for individuals traveling to The Bahamas.

The policy was implemented after The Bahamas experienced a surge of COVID-19 cases in July after reopening its borders.

When asked if there have been any issues as a result of the recently implemented policy,  Brennen replied, “No, there were no known hiccups. Everyone who came into the country is mandated to have a health travel visa. So, everyone had that visa and in order to get the visa traveling internationally, you do have to have the real-time PCR testing.

“So, that system is going very well.”

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