MP claims sudden increase resulted from “administrative blunder”
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — There were 17 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases confirmed on Cat Island on Sunday, according to health officials, taking the island’s total case count from 16 to 33 since the start of the pandemic.
The spike in new infections was caused by an “administrative blunder”, according to Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador MP Philip Brave Davis.
“I’m terribly concerned,” he told Eyewitness News.
“Cat Island was one of those islands that was spared the ravage of the virus and it’s very concerning of the explosion on the island.”
Davis said he received reports that several people were exposed to the virus and subsequently quarantined.
He claimed those individuals were tested and, after being advised they were negative and released from quarantine, went out into the community.
But they later discovered their results were actually positive, according to Davis.
The MP said it is “very disturbing” that the government cannot seem to get COVID protocols right.
“This is 17 months after we knew about this virus and it doesn’t seem to be getting better,” he added.
“It’s getting worse. We need to understand why it is getting worse. What aren’t we doing right?”
Health officials have not confirmed the cause of the rise in cases on the island, and calls for further information were not returned up to press time.
On Monday, 53 new cases of COVID-19 in The Bahamas took the number of cases in the country to 11,278.
Of the new cases, 27 were on New Providence, four were on Grand Bahama, one on the Berry Islands, two on Exuma, 17 on Cat Island and two have locations still pending.
There are currently 859 active cases and 48 hospitalized cases — 42 are moderately ill and six are in the ICU.
