NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government’s free coronavirus testing program will be rolled out nationwide in the first quarter next year, according to Press Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Clint Watson.
The pilot program launched on Inagua and expanded to North Eleuthera remains in the testing phase, Watson told the media during the OPM’s weekly press briefing.
He said capacity, training and resources is being expanded and the contact tracing stemming from these tests were being fine-tuned.
“What’s happening with free testing is they are working to go through the system on ensuring that they systems can work. With free testing comes with an important system which is contact tracing.
“We want to strengthen that. We’re not pleased with where contact tracing is yet and the system that is used to contact trace.
“We believe when we ramp us testing, free testing, we need to ensure the contact tracing works so that we benefit from the program.
“What’s happening now is securing more people, going through more training and upgrading the programs.
“Once that happens, we expect testing to begin sometime in the first quarter of next year.”
While in opposition, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) urged the government to offer free testing as the “only way to make an invisible virus visible”.
At current, individuals with symptoms of the virus can be tested without cost.
Those who test as a condition of their employment or for travel test at cost.
It remains unclear how much the free testing initiative once fleshed out will cost taxpayers.
When put to government officials, including Minister of Health Dr Michael Darville, there was no defined figure provided.
In recent months, rapid antigen testing for COVID-19 has been incorporated into the testing mechanism, though the results of these tests have yet to be reflected on the Ministry of Health COVID-19 dashboards.
As of Tuesday, 166,095 RT PCR tests had been performed since the onset of the pandemic.
These include tests performed in both the private and public sectors.
With just shy of 27,000 people testing positive for COVID-19 in the nation since last March, this puts The Bahamas overall positivity rate at 16 percent.
The positivity rate in the last week has dropped to around two percent at its lowest and five percent at its highest, with daily marginal fluctuations.
It remains to be seen how free testing for COVID-19 in The Bahamas could influence the data, with some expectation that more individuals, particularly asymptomatic residents, would take advantage of the mechanism.
