Comment history

Liberal says...

It is most important that the Bahamas avoids the mistakes others have made. Singapore has for the most part been a model that the Bahamas would do well to follow in general, but recently it has seen a surge in cases. This has been attributed to covid-19 being harboured in groups of migrant workers who live in cramped conditions and have been unable to practice "social distancing". (https://www.npr.org/sections/coronaviru…) The Bahamas may well have a similar problem with its Shanty towns and similar settlements. Unless this is addressed in a pragmatic manner covid-19 cannot be eliminated, or even controlled. The problem in Singapore seems to be mainly confined to legal migrants, but that is probably not the case in the Bahamas. Part of the problem is that "illegal immigrants" or "undocumented aliens" are afraid to interact with authorities, even health workers, for fear of deportation. The Bahamas must give such people reassurance that seeking help will not adversely affect them. Portugal has been very pragmatic in granting temporary citizenship rights to asylum seekers and similar. (https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/p…) The Bahamas needs to do something similar in order to rid itself of the scourge of covid-19. I would suggest granting temporary or even permanent residence to all "illegal" residents presently in the country, and who request it. This would not be politically popular, but is a necessary step if the virus is to be defeated.
By the same token, refusing unemployment benefit to foreign workers who have been laid off is counterproductive and short-sighted (and, as at least one lawyer pointed out, probably illegal) since it makes social distancing much more difficult. It may also force them into illegal activities to feed themselves, especially as most of them have no way of returning home. In addition a place has to be found for homeless people, which should not be impossible since most hotels are closed. My wife often used to feed them, but now that is impossible, so how are they eating? They too could be harbouring the virus.

Liberal says...

One thing to be aware of is that a case study of the Diamond Princess cruise ship suggests that almost half of infections result in no symptoms. That means that there are likely many more infections in the general population than have yet been recognised. Their results also suggest that the mortality in the general population may be much less than feared - perhaps less than 0.2%, or 2 deaths per thousand infections. The population on the cruise ship was much older than the average population, especially that of the Bahamas, but even so the death rate was only 1.3%. The probable reason that it has seemed to be so much higher in other countries is that testing has been heavily weighted towards cases with symptoms. In Germany, where random testing has been carried out, the death rate has been found to be 0.3%, which is broadly in line with the Diamond Princess result. Readers might like to compare this with seasonal flu, which shows a death rate of about 0.1%.
(My information is taken from https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/… and the Business Daily program on the BBC World Service - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vs… "Do we have the right data on coronavirus")

Liberal says...

"The role that illegals play in an economy like the Bahamas, is that it takes jobs out of the market for Bahamians" This is beyond wrong! And yet it is a misconception shared by so many around the world! An economy is not a pint pot that only holds so much. The more people there are, the more jobs there are. It works even better if the extra people have the same rights as those already present, so that they can buy cars, have bank accounts, and so generate even more employment. That way they can contribute fully to society. And don't forget, now that we have VAT, illegal immigrants are paying taxes just like legal ones, so shouldn't they be entitled to the same benefits? If they can send their children to school that will make more jobs for teachers too ... and avoid the looming spectre of an uneducated underclass that can only turn to crime to survive!

Liberal says...

Regrettably there are too many Bahamians with no respect for our laws, either! As for blaming all our ills on Haitians (which seems to be the gist of SP's post), immigrants have been shown to enrich a country - it may well be that they are in large part responsible for the relative prosperity of the Bahamas compared with many of the countries in this region. Not that the Bahamas is rich, but you don't see so much of the desperate poverty that is evident elsewhere.
As for the ill-informed comments regarding the LGBT community, surely Christianity teaches love and tolerance - didn't Christ take a (despised) tax-collector as a disciple? It may also be news to Brave Davis and his fellow travellers, but sex is not so simple as they believe. Any doctor or midwife with more than a modicum of experience will tell you that some babies are of intermediate sex, and this ambiguity can persist into adulthood. In addition, sex is much more than a physical attribute - the brain has often been described as our biggest sex organ - and so there are some people who feel (deeply) that they were born with the wrong body. That can make them very unhappy, and we should be sympathetic to their predicament. It may surprise some people that being "gay" is another matter entirely, but for most people, at least, sexual orientation is not a matter of choice, any more than being tall or short is. If the equality clause of the referendum leads to gay marriage, isn't this a blow for human rights?
Let's vote yes and loudly affirm that the Bahamas supports the equality of men and women!