FIRST, the good news – and there’s quite a lot of it to be seen.

Atlantis has 6,000 staff members back on duty for the holidays and the resort is reporting full occupancy well into the New Year.

That comes on the back of the Thanksgiving Day basketball tournament at the resort, which brought in more than 7,000 guests.

That surge is being reflected elsewhere too. Just look across the stretch of water from Paradise Island, where Senor Frogs is jumping. Day manager Shanika Russell reports the Downtown restaurant is “seeing a lot of business” and “very, very busy days”.

Need more good news? The government last night reported that the CDC has lowered the COVID-19 Travel Risk Advisory rating for The Bahamas from level three to level two. That still has to be updated on the CDC website, but that should bring even more visitors to help our economy’s rebound.

Good news, and plenty of it. All of which makes it all the more frustrating that the increasing spread of the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus could make all those advances come crashing down.

A fourth wave of the pandemic is the last thing we need, and could be crippling for some sectors that are still only just starting to recover.

It is very possible the variant is already here – it has been confirmed in more than 70 countries, including some of our major tourist markets, and we’re already seeing increased numbers of COVID cases here.

In the meantime, it is encouraging to hear that more than 60 percent of Atlantis staff are fully vaccinated – and we hope the rest of the population sees that number keep rising too to help in the fight against the virus.

The battle against the pandemic is far from over – and the battle for our economy can only be helped if we do all we can to keep the number of infections low.

Davis plan

It is about time we heard from Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis on the government’s plan to fight COVID-19.

Mr Davis will give a national update on Thursday at 11am, and given how much emphasis was given on the election campaign trail to the PLP’s plan for dealing with COVID, we have heard very little from Mr Davis himself since his party came to office.

So we welcome the opportunity to hear directly from the Prime Minister. We would appreciate even more the opportunity to put questions to him at such a moment, as there are many.

We would like to hear exact details of the planned rollout of free testing, for example, including the cost to the public purse and how many tests have been sourced.

We would like to hear the plans for dealing with the approaching omicron “tidal wave”, as it was called by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

And Mr Davis could perhaps learn something from his British counterpart – who is struggling politically right now as he is seen to be dithering and not being decisive in response to the virus.

The Prime Minister we see on Thursday should be one that is determined and has a set plan, clearly laid out for all to see.

Tell us what you plan to do about a fourth wave, Mr Davis, what other measures might be introduced, and what level of new cases would trigger such changes.

Let us know what we’re in for. Those campaign trail boasts about a plan are one thing, now it’s time to put them into action. Be clear, detailed – and bold enough to make the tough decisions.