By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A PAN AMERICAN Health Organisation official said adjustments of COVID-19 restrictions must be “dynamic” in the context of each country’s individual situation, but added it should not be surprising if certain protocols are reimplemented as the trends fluctuate.

PAHO director of health emergencies Dr Ciro Ugarte made his comments after the Ministry of Health and Wellness further relaxed COVID-19 restrictions over the weekend, which included loosening mask requirements for those in hotels or outdoors and adjusting protocols for social gatherings.

A person is not required to wear a face mask while in a lobby, corridor or casino of a hotel or while in an outdoor setting where there is at least three feet of space between persons who are not of the same household.

However, Free National Movement Chairman and former Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands called the new relaxations on face masks “glaringly discriminatory”.

Larger events are also allowed to take place under the relaxed rules.

During a PAHO press briefing yesterday Dr Ugarte said that in the case of The Bahamas, the national authorities and the Ministry of Health are taking into consideration several criteria to update the health and social measures including the number of new cases and deaths as well the availability of the healthcare sector and ICU beds for symptomatic patients.

“But also they are following what are the vaccination coverage rates as well as what is the situation of the epidemic situation in the countries or places of origin of visitors. So all these features are being analysed and the government is taking the approach following the recommendation of WHO and PAHO regarding how to adjust the measures according to the situation,” he said in a press briefing yesterday.

“In that regard, we consider that this adjustment must come in a dynamic situation. We know very well how very low trends of new cases may lead to increase of cases if the measures are not followed by the population and it seems to be the case in several parts of the Americas and also we know that what’s happening in other regions.”

He noted the country’s measures for festivals are still in place and the ministry is advising and approving some of these events and public gatherings based on certain standards.

“This is something that we will be following in the future. So this is a recommendation actually for all of the Americas and in the case of The Bahamas the adjustments must be dynamic in the context. We shouldn’t be surprised that some of these measures are relaxed and then come back and then also be applied in certain areas of the country and not necessarily in the entire country and/or all territories that are in this context.”

Meanwhile he was also asked about the Ukraine war and how inflation affected the medical system in the region. The director pointed to soaring freight costs.

“There are some clear indications that the freight costs, both by sea or by air, are increasing on a daily basis.

“For example, shipment from Asia to the Americas, cost has increased two percent in one day and now the cost is now 196 percent more or higher than the same time last year. And regarding the air freight cost to the east coast or the Caribbean and other areas of the east coast of the Americas it is even higher,” he said.

“So the cost now is 241 percent higher than the rates to this week last year. These are the types of aspects that we are concerned about but also not only the freight costs but also the availability of certain supplies coming from that region and of course you know the high demand of personal protective equipment, equipment, and others particularly in the Asia region may also impact our region. So some of those are being monitored and this is probably a time to consider looking at good procedures in the region.”

The Ministry of Health recorded six new cases of COVID-19 on March 14. At that point, nine people were in hospital with the virus, two of whom were in the ICU. COVID-19 deaths stand at 773 since the start of the pandemic.