By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A PAN American Health Organization official said countries must consider the current epidemiological situation, hospital capacity and vaccination rates to decide which restrictions may be relaxed and at what level.

Director of Health Emergencies Department Dr Ciro Ugarte’s comments came after it was recently reported that, according to Health and Wellness Minister Dr Michael Darville, the government is considering relaxing restrictions.

COVID-19 case numbers have been decreasing in recent days, with 31 cases recorded on Monday and 23 on Tuesday - although three more deaths in New Providence were reported on Tuesday, including a 13-day-old baby boy who died on January 7.

The other two deaths were of a 62-year-old man on January 17, and a 34-year-old woman on February 2.

During PAHO’s press briefing yesterday, Dr Ugarte said: “We have been mentioning several times that each country must consider a proper balance between population health and well-being and progressively establish all sectors activity to recover their economies. In that regard, close coordination between corresponding authorities is needed to make the best decisions in a context of the current pandemic where we see a sharp increase of cases when we relax the public health and social measures.

“It is important to consider the current epidemiological situation as we said, the current capacity of the health services particularly ICU beds and hospitalisation beds, and the vaccination rates to decide which restrictions may be relaxed and at what level. A good operational monitoring system is a must when we adopt any relaxation of measures. In order to early identify (a) surge of cases, localised surge of cases and prevent community transmission and accordingly all the measures must be adjusted with those monitoring information.”

This comes after the promoters of a Dexta Daps concert failed to secure approval from the Ministry of Health and will not host the event. Organisers wanted the Reggae Valentine event to be held this Friday at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium carnival grounds, but Dr Darville previously explained officials first rejected their application on January 17 and then rejected it a second time this week. The promoters also were planning a concert in Grand Bahama on Saturday.

The issue renewed backlash from the public of allowing concerts on hotel properties to happen versus those not on hotel grounds. SLS Baha Mar announced John Legend would perform November 5, 2021 and Atlantis held a Doja Cat concert on News Year’s Eve.

Singer Sheryl Crow is scheduled to perform on May 28 at Atlantis while Shaggy is scheduled to perform at Resorts World Bimini this month.

Responding to a question from The Tribune, Dr Ugarte said PAHO is aware that in The Bahamas there is a “good process” to approve large concerts and gatherings.

“The organisers request approval from the Ministry of Health, including all the plans that they have, and the Ministry of Health provides advice and guidance to the organiser to implement the proper measures and if those measures are well established in order to reduce the transmission in those gatherings the Ministry of Health may approve those events, but also we are aware that some organisers decide not to request the Ministry of Health when they decide to organise those events.

“In those situations, we saw that the Ministry of Health itself with other authorities went to those events and even had to stop the public from attending such events. So that is a very good policy. The organisers of gatherings of public events not only will show responsibility when they request authorisation, but also they will benefit from the advice of the Ministry of Health. In that regard, everybody wins so we encourage the organisers of such events to be fully aware of the public health measures in place at the current situation in the current location and follow the public health measures established by the country.”