NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Amid the latest COVID rules preventing large gatherings, the police force will target “ad hoc” mass gathering events and not those offered under the premise of licenses such as resorts and their New Year’s events, according to National Security Minister Wayne Munroe.
“If a hotel is running its facilities, they’re able to run their facility,” he said before the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
“A mass event would be one that requires a temporary license from the commissioner of police.
“If I have a hotel; if I have a bar in the hotel, that’s an amenity of the hotel, just like restaurants are permitted to operate as well.
“So, it is just the ad hoc events that are being targeted. Nobody has canceled the hotels’ licenses to do what they have to do.”
According to the COVID-19 rules, a mass gathering event requires approval from the Ministry of Health and commissioner of police.
Munroe said the Ministry of Health will not be granting such approvals and the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) will shut down unapproved events.
He was unable to say how many events over the Christmas period were shut down.
“I know there was supposed to be an event at Mario’s that was shut down,” Munroe said.
“You have to distinguish between mass events and people operating their business as per their licenses.
“But I know there have been some events that have been shut down and they have not been approved and there will not be any approved in the circumstances.”
In a separate interview, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville was asked whether large gatherings such as New Year’s events would be impacted by the latest COVID rules.
The minister said the rules apply “across the board”.
“But with our hotels, you must realize that the majority of them are practically full and there has to be some activity for their guests, including the restaurants,” Darville said.
“We are in deep communication with them because we are in the middle of a pandemic and we have the omicron variant here and we know it’s highly, highly transmissible, and so, they’re working along with the government.
“But I want to say again that the rules as it relates to mass gatherings apply across the board.”
The Bahamas continues to observe an increase in daily infections.
More than 300 confirmed cases were reported on Christmas Day.
Darville said this is evidence the fourth wave has arrived.
But he said the ministry is pleased with what it has seen so far relating to hospitalized cases.
Around 18 cases remain hospitalized.
Darville said several nurses and doctors have been impacted.
“We are hoping and praying that what is happening across the globe is going to be reflective of what is going on in The Bahamas,” he said.
“But with that being said, we are making the necessary preparations in the event that we do see a surge of individuals coming to the emergency room and the ability to prevent bottlenecks and to provide appropriate measures so that we can take care of individuals who do have issues as it relates to the COVID virus.”
Darville said the government has tightened restrictions in response to the latest surge and it remains important for officials to review the data and make decisions “based on the evidence in front of us”.
“We see the cases are spiking and that means we are now implementing new measures that we will be able to tighten mass gatherings because the virus is highly transmissible and the less people we have meeting together in large numbers, the less likelihood of the transmission to take place,” he said.
Asked if a specific number of hospitalizations could trigger further restrictions, Darville confirmed that there was a formula for that.
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