NASSAU, BAHAMAS — With health officials expecting a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases in the coming months, the government hopes to have some 200,000 Bahamians and residents fully vaccinated by year’s end.
During a communication in Parliament yesterday Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Michael Darville advised that while there have been a significant reduction in COVID19 cases and hospitalizations over the past few weeks, vaccinations are also decreasing.
“It has been widely reported internationally that COVID cases are surging in Europe in what has been called the fourth wave and there is an expectation of surges in COVID cases in the US with the start of the winter season,” he said.
“All of these reports point to the real possibility of another wave hitting our shores in the very near future.
“With less than 50 percent of our population fully vaccinated so far, the implications of a fourth wave are indeed troubling when we couple this with the high level of co-morbidities in our population.”
Cases over the past month (October 14 – November 14) saw a significant decrease in new infections with 725 cases recorded when compared to the same period the month prior (September 14 – October 14) when 2,172 new infections were recorded.
On Sunday, health officials confirmed 14 new cases of COVID-19 in the country, 12 in New Providence, one in Grand Bahama, and one in Eleuthera.
The number of cases in the country stands at 22,601 with 208 active cases.
There are currently 47 cases in the hospital, 38 of them are moderately ill and nine are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Darville noted yesterday that the clusters of COVID infection that spread in the southern and central Bahamas have resolved due to aggressive contact tracing and enforcement of the isolation and quarantine protocols by COVID19 ambassadors and the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
The health minister insisted that while vaccinations remain voluntary, the government is seeking to reach a new goal of 200,000 plus Bahamians fully vaccinated by years end.
He said the vaccination consultative committee will be rolling out new initiatives, including an education program to reach this goal.
The government will also be launching new strategies for additional recruitment and training of COVID19 ambassadors to be deployed throughout the family islands ensuring the enforcement of our new COVID19 rules.
“The truth of the matter is COVID 19 will be with us for quite some time and the world has come to the realization that we must learn to live with this virus,” he said.
“So we are calling on all Bahamians, residents, and visitors alike to adhere to the country’s public health protocols and to follow these new COVID19 health rules that will protect you and your loved ones and prevent community spread.
“Prevention is better than cure. So let’s conduct ourselves accordingly so that we can take the necessary steps to open our local economy and accelerate our post COVID19 recovery efforts.”
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