Bahamas health system under severe strain, says Gov’t
Published:Sunday | May 23, 2021 | 12:05 AM
NASSAU (CMC):
Bahamian Health Minister Renward Wells says the healthcare system in The Bahamas is a state of emergency due to the increase in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
“It is without a doubt that we are currently facing the third wave of COVID-19 in The Bahamas; the national COVID-19 report bears proof of this fact. We continue to record new COVID-19 cases in the country,” Wells said.
He told legislators that at this point in the third wave the country is seeing COVID-19 infections in the very young and the adolescent population and they are being hospitalised.
Notably, during the entire first and second waves, COVID-19 cases among those aged up to nine years represented only one per cent of the total cumulative cases for each respective wave. But Wells said that the same age group now accounts for 106 cases, or three per cent, of the third wave COVID-19 cases.
“Recognising the phenomena of increasing cases among young and adolescents, the government has moved with urgency to secure doses of the Pfizer vaccine ... ,” Wells said.
“We have already articulated to this Honourable House that new COVID-19 cases are increasing, hospitalisations are increasing and health worker fatigue is increasing. In addition to these, the ministry reports that the positivity rate is also increasing.
“From the beginning of April, our positivity rate has reflected a steady increase and now stands at 15 per cent. To put this in perspective, the international recommendation is that the positivity rate not exceed five per cent which speaks to management and containment of COVID.”
Wells said that the likelihood that this phenomenon is as a result of a variant cannot be dismissed.
Governor General Sir Cornelius Smith declared another state of emergency for the country that took effect on May 14, citing low vaccination numbers and the third wave of cases in New Providence and Grand Bahama.
Prime Minister Minnis told legislators that when the time is appropriate, guided by public health experts, “we will move to a new regime outside the current emergency measures”.