Local govt monitoring COVID-19 cases on Andros

Local govt monitoring COVID-19 cases on Andros

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — WIth coronavirus cases on Andros increasing incrementally, local government officials are seeking to implement increased monitoring to mitigate an additional spread of cases and avoid an outbreak.

There were eight new cases on Andros in January, two of which were travel-related.

Chief Councillor for the island David Neymour told Eyewitness News yesterday that they are concerned about new cases popping up on the island and will move to address the matter this week.

He said the new district administrator, Leonard Dames, along with other heads of departments on the island will seek to meet and engage with the public.

“It’s definitely going to affect the area because this is a tourism area and the bonefishing is the main industry to the area and we don’t want that news to get out that these cases are rising and most of these people are coming from those areas where there are high cases,” Neymour said.

He noted that the Bowen Sound Primary School had to be closed down and a team from Nassau is en route to the island.

“The government has not released any information on that, but using coming sense you’ll know that something went wrong. But we are definitely watching these cases.”

Neymour added that island officials have continued to advise residents to follow protocols, continue to wear masks, sanitize and social distance.

He said they will collaborate with law enforcement to tackle social events and gatherings that could contribute directly to the spread of COVID in the area.

“Almost a year ago, we had a head of department meeting and not one case in Andros and today we are at 32 with news of increased cases,” the chief councillor continued.

“So, definitely we have to pay attention to these issues and we would meet this week — myself, the administrator and heads of the department — to deal [with] the issue to see how we can mitigate this problem in these areas.

“People are not going to feel safe coming here if we have a rise in cases.”

As of yesterday, the number of COVID cases in The Bahamas stood at 8,225.

In recent weeks, there has been a slight uptick in cases on several Family Islands, including Andros, Eleuthera, Abaco and Exuma.

According to the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 Dashboard, there were 20 travel-related cases in January including 17 on New Providence, two on Andros and one on Exuma.

About Sloan Smith

Sloan Smith is a senior digital reporter at Eyewitness News, covering a diverse range of beats, from politics and crime to environment and human interest. In 2018, Sloan received a nomination for the “Leslie Higgs Feature Writer of The Year Award” from The Bahamas Press Club for her work with Eyewitness News.