By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet minister yesterday said eliminating The Bahamas’ COVID entry testing requirements will “come back on the table” for discussion this week in the wake of the US decision to eliminate such a mandate.

Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, told Tribune Business that while the Government wanted to “do away with” all COVID-related travel restrictions and impediments - including the Health Travel Visa - it will only do so “in a responsible and phased manner”.

The Davis administration, he added, is especially concerned to avoid Jamaica’s recent experience where it eliminated the COVID mask mandate only to have to reinstate it due to a rise in infections. Asserting that The Bahamas had made “the right decision” at that time to keep its own mask mandate, Dr Darville said the reduction in local infections over the past week - as well as the US ending its own COVID entry test protocols - will bring further local easing to the forefront.

Affirming that the Government is seeking to “open up completely”, he credited lobbying from the Caribbean as well as from the US aviation industry and other tourism sectors for persuading the Biden administration to eliminate the requirement that all international travellers present a negative COVID test taken within 24 hours of their arrival.

Speaking after the Government delegation, of which he was part, had just returned from the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, Dr Darville said: “The dropping of that requirement had a lot to do with the lobby from the Caribbean belt. That helps our tourism, when you remove that requirement to enter the US....”

He acknowledged that the US action “steers us back” towards the question of when The Bahamas will follow suit and eliminate the requirement for all visitors to produce a COVID test taken within 72 hours of arriving in this nation, and added: “That’s something that we’re going to be looking at from a technical perspective.”

While The Bahamas recorded some 46 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, with another 28 persons in hospital “moderately ill” with the virus, Dr Darville said he had been monitoring how the infection rate and numbers had started to ease over the past week. “The numbers are moving in the opposite direction, which is a positive indicator for us given this fifth wave that we are in. We’re faring quite well, so the numbers are moving in the opposite direction,” he added.

“We’re back looking at the mask mandate as well as the testing to come in. We’ve been doing some internal polling, and with the results of it, if you look at it, a lot of Bahamians feel it’s a bit too early to remove the mask mandate. When the EOC (government committee that monitors COVID) meets this Wednesday, the testing to come in will come back on the table.......

“All of these things we have to do away with, but I don’t want to get rid of something and have to put it back; it confuses people. We’re looking to open up completely. We’re looking to do it responsibly and in a phased approach.”

The Government’s 2022-2023 Budget also indicates that it is planning to do away with the Health Travel Visa, initiated by the former Minnis administration as a check to ensure visitors were complying with COVID testing protocols, early in the new fiscal year.

Just $8m in spending has been allocated in the Ministry of Tourism’s budget for health travel visa-related spending for 2022-2023, compared to $37m for the current fiscal year. Similarly, the Government is forecasting that it will earn just $8m, in revenues from the scheme in the upcoming fiscal year compared to $40m for the current 12-month period.

Based on the percentages, it would thus appear that the Davis administration is planning to eliminate the Health Travel Visa - which it much criticised while in Opposition - by September/October 2022. Dr Darville told Tribune Business that the end “may even be before that”, adding that: “I cannot say exactly when we’re going to do it.”

But, while confirming the Davis administration’s desire to eliminate the Health Travel Visa, he admitted that he had been “juggling” with several critical aspects of the scheme. Besides the revenue it generates, he also acknowledged the value of the insurance component in helping to finance the care/evacuation of sick visitors such that they do not become a financial burden to the Government and Bahamian taxpayer.

Dr Darville also confirmed that the Government will continue to provide free COVID testing. However, one medical provider, speaking on condition of anonymity, questioned if the Davis administration has given thought to how it will continue to make COVID testing accessible and affordable to all Bahamians and residents nationwide with the private sector set to reduce its capacity following the US policy move.

Pointing out that the Government does not have the capacity to provide this resource by itself, they said: “To me, the real question is: People are still getting COVID. It hasn’t gone away. Yes, the US said they’re not going to require testing, but the reality is that COVID is still here. What is the Government of the Bahamas going to do to ensure accessibility for testing for people who need to be tested, and that’s a significant number of people?

“What is going to be the plan, and how are they going to make it affordable? As the volume of tests decreases, costs are going to increase. We’ve had conversations with the providers of test kits, and they’ve made very clear as the demand decreases the cost of the kits will increase. Who’s going to bear the added cost associated with that? Is it going to be the Bahamian people, is that going to be the provider? Who’s going to be responsible for the added cost of testing?”