By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Dr Duane Sands wants the government to be cautious when considering easing additional COVID-19 restrictions, saying data has shown the nation’s positivity rate has increased while local testing has declined.

Speaking to The Tribune yesterday, Dr Sands stressed that now is not the time for the government to let its guard down and be swayed by politics because of apparent low COVID numbers. He also called for officials to be honest with the Bahamian people about the true COVID situation in the country and provide the data behind its decision-making.

“In The Bahamas, we enjoyed single digits case loads for quite a while and certainly over the last 14 days, we have seen our numbers inch out to the point where some days its five (cases), some days it’s 14 and some days it’s 16, but the average number of cases over the last ten days or so is seven or eight cases a day, all right,” Dr Sands said. “And so, if you ask - can we say the numbers are decreasing? No, we cannot and if this is the type of data-driven decision making that’s going to define what we do, let’s call it what it is. We are doing what is popular. Our position, my position remains – understand that whatever decision you make, be prepared to pay the consequences.”

The former health minister spoke after Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper predicted a further ease to virus restrictions in the days and weeks ahead.

Mr Cooper told reporters yesterday that Bahamians could soon expect to see a consistent “reduction of the COVID protocols”, but did not disclose which measures are being considered for removal.

This comes as countries around the world continue to loosen measures due to declining infection rates.

But here in The Bahamas, Dr Sands said there is a need for government officials to be cautious when rolling back virus measures, adding there is a high likelihood cases could increase now that the Easter holiday weekend is over.

“I would like the government to be honest so if the decision is that we’re going to roll back COVID restrictions regardless of the data then let’s say that,” Dr Sands said. “But, because otherwise it would suggest that the basis for the decision making and the data that’s being used to drive the decisions is being ignored because you and I can see the data and see the case numbers and recognise that numbers are going up unless I’m reading the numbers wrong.

“The positivity rate has gone up from less than five percent to 12 percent over the last seven days. The number of people tested has gone down significantly to the point where on the 18th, you had 41 people tested. The positivity rate was 12 percent. The average number of positive cases over the last seven days was seven cases. So yes, you have five people in hospital, but we don’t have the metrics in order to gauge what is happening in the community. I don’t want to seem like a stick in the mud but The Bahamas does not enjoy the metrics as it relates to COVID for adopting the type of aggressive reduction in restrictions that some other places do so again let’s just be careful. That’s all and let people know what’s happening.”

He also said: “Now unless we are saying that we no longer need to pay attention to the positivity rate, we no longer pay attention to the increase in cases, we no longer pay attention to the number of people getting vaccinated, we no longer pay attention to the number of people tested, we are flying blind.”

COVID-19 cases have remained relatively low in recent months, but so has testing. According to the Ministry of Health, 131 tests were conducted on Sunday, however only eleven of those tests came back positive. Meanwhile, on Monday, 41 tests were completed - five of which produced positive results, representing a positivity rate of 12 percent.

So far, the country has recorded 33,416 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, five of which were recorded on Monday. Of that count, 133 cases are still active.