NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Guests and associates on resort properties will now have the option to go maskless, according to an internal Baha Mar memo, which purports an amendment to the COVID-19 rules took effect yesterday.
In the internal memo titled ‘Important Notice: Mask Mandate’, Bar Mar said: “Following the new government guideline for hotels, effective today, mask-wearing is now optional for all persons on hotel property, which includes associates.
“We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 trends and government guidelines and will revise our policies as necessary.”
The Ministry of Health announced further relaxation of the Health Services COVID-19 Rules on March 12.
It provides that a person is not required to wear a mask “in a lobby, corridor, or casino of a hotel, or while in an outdoor setting where there is at least three feet of space between persons who are not of the same household”.
The Ministry has not since announced any additional relaxations.
When contacted about changes to the rules to expanded the areas where masks are optional,
Minister of Health Dr Michael said: “That provision was always implied.
“But we are watching, and additional relaxation of the rules are in the hands of the EOC (Emergency Operations Committee).”
At the time, Free National Movement (FNM) Chairman Dr Duane Sands labeled the government’s move to relax the mask mandate on hotel properties, but not in other businesses as “discriminatory”.
Sands, a former minister of health in the Minnis administration, said the differentiation between hotel properties and other businesses is not only unfair, but hypocritical
In defense of the move, Darville said yesterday that the Emergency Operations Committee (EOC) made the recommendation to limit the requirement of face masks in certain spaces in resorts, noting that more than 90 percent of visitors to The Bahamas are “fully vaccinated and tested”.
It remains unclear if and when the mask-wearing requirement will be removed in other spaces, such as business establishments and restaurants.
The relaxation of the mask-wearing policy came on the heels of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxing its mask guidance for communities considered to be low or medium risk.
As a part of the change, the CDC also dropped its recommendation for universal school mask-wearing and instead recommended masking in communities at a high level of risk.
But Bahamian health officials have encouraged mask-wearing to mitigate the virus.
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