130 health workers out of the system

Amid reports that the Omicron variant might be milder than others, former Minister of Health Dr. Duane Sands yesterday warned against taking the latest deluge in COVID-19 cases lightly, as he noted that it is already having a detrimental impact on healthcare services with more than 100 workers out of the healthcare system.

His comments came after Minister of Health and Wellness Dr. Michael Darville revealed yesterday morning that more than 130 healthcare workers on New Providence and Grand Bahama are currently out of the system due to COVID exposures.

“The response of our system depends on having competent and capable healthcare workers available,” Sands said.

“Some of them have retired. Some of them have resigned. Some have even died.

“When you have 130 healthcare workers unavailable to respond to whatever surge shows up at the emergency rooms and at the clinics, it means that you don’t have the same capacity that you did a month ago, six months ago. And you are trying to fight COVID with one hand tied behind your back, jumping on one leg.

“So, we have to adjust accordingly. This is not a good position to be in.”

Sands, who is currently in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, said he is one of just several top surgeons currently in isolation.

“If you happen to get shot today, you’ve got a problem because you have several senior surgeons out,” he said.

“Today is not the day to get shot. That’s how real this is.”

Yesterday’s Ministry of Health COVID dashboard showed an uptick in hospitalization from 43 on January 2 to 58 on January 3, with three of those patients receiving treatment in Doctors Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

Sands also noted that it is dangerous to assume that the uptick in cases is being driven by Omicron alone, and said the Delta variant, which might cause more severe illness, could also be contributing to the high case numbers. 

The Delta variant largely drove the third wave of COVID in The Bahamas, which was the deadliest so far.

Hundreds of Bahamians lost their lives as hospitals struggled to stay afloat under the pressure of the surge of severe cases.

Sands said it’s still too early to know whether or not the country could face that scenario again sometime soon.

“The statement that caseloads are high but hospitalizations are low, you don’t know that, because there is typically a lag between cases and hospitalizations and hospitalizations and deaths,” he said.

“So, let us hope and pray that this is entirely a surge of Omicron. And again, the assumption that all of these cases are Omicron is an assumption that we have no factual information to make that determination.

“Some of these cases could be Delta. Some could be Omicron. But only time will tell.”

The Bahamas has confirmed record numbers of new COVID cases in the past two weeks. Nearly 2,000 cases were confirmed in the last week, with 520 recorded on December 30 alone.

“I think all of us are frightened at the startling numbers that we see,” Sands said of the situation yesterday.

“And you can imagine, 500 plus cases confirmed in a day and understanding that is not the absolute total number of cases.

“Very few of us know anybody who hasn’t been impacted by this. And so, it’s a frightening time for many Bahamians.”

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