By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

PAHO director of health emergencies Dr Ciro Ugarte says The Bahamas has been “careful” in the way it implements measures to fight COVID-19.

The Pan American Health Organisation official made the comment in response to a question from The Tribune as to whether local officials have taken a measured approach in relaxing restrictions as many countries in the world have done.

The government recently relaxed restrictions on social gatherings, indoor dining and churches in response to the continued decline of COVID-19 cases.

At a press briefing yesterday, Dr Ugarte said countries are advised to assess and plan mass gatherings in general based on the epidemiological situation and the health system capacity and to respond to COVID-19 surges or increases of cases in locations or the entire country.

He said: But there are different drivers and the risk tolerance of the communities and the economic impact is something that we are seeing in many countries are also topics to be considered when a decision is being taken.

“Particularly, it is necessary to conduct a risk assessment. We say that we have to follow all the epidemiological situations but also the capacity of the health services. By doing that, countries are advised to regularly adjust their responses strategies according to what is the situation.”

He pointed out that in order to analyse the situation there is a need to have a proper surveillance system, notification system, implementation and measuring what are the impact or benefits of the social measures among other things.

“In that regard, The Bahamas has been demonstrating that these measures have been taken in a careful way and all the information that we’ve received are following, for example the availability of tests to timely identify the new cases and also adjust those measures are considered, okay,” Dr Ugarte said.

He also noted some nations were considering holding Carnival events. He said where countries decide to hold these events participants should be aware of the requirements and adhere to public health measures.

“For example, when they are in public when they are in a situation where they are enjoying Carnival or other mass gatherings many of the participants do not use their masks properly. They take off their masks. Of course, sometimes they shout happily or so. These are the types of conditions where the risks of transmission increases dramatically. So, every time there is a mass gathering planned there is a need to analyse which are the measures that will be implemented to mitigate the risk of transmission and also to implement the surveillance measures to identify early enough cases that may arrive after those mass gatherings. Something we have learned during the pandemic is when we relax the measures and when we are in low transmission levels usually in one or two weeks after the number of cases increases rapidly and, of course, also later on the number of tests.

“So, the public health measures need to be implemented and I understand that many countries in the Caribbean are considering Carnival fetes this year, but some countries are delaying and pushing for the summer.”

Meanwhile, director of PAHO Dr Carissa Etienne said the virus continues to hit vulnerable groups in The Bahamas.

“It is estimated that some 10 percent of healthcare workers are currently in quarantine due to COVID related exposures,” she said.