I totally agree with you. The emphasis has always been on 'our tourist numbers'. In light of the fact that so many are unvaccinated and prior to last week, vaccines were not readily available, the concern should have been on how do we protect our vulnerable citizens. Tourists have been given the carte blanche to parade around our islands without entry tests for all visitors and without wearing masks. Last week, the Minister of Tourism even appeared in a photo op, greeting cruise visitors, some of whom were visibly unmasked. Shame on him and all of them who jeopardized the health of the nation for the mighty tourist dollar. Dead people cannot spend money.

The Commissioner read a proclamation that had an incorrect date. He said that Parliament would reconvene on "friday September 22, 2021." September 22nd is a Wednesday. So, if the wording of the date is incorrect, is the proclamation valid?

Significant details of their story sound very suspicious. A group of friends, including minors, came on a 30 day vacation to the Bahamas at the end of December 2020. They liked it so much that they wanted to extend their stay. After being stuck in Nassau for 5 months, they got bored and decided to take a trip to Bimini.

What type of professions did they have back in the Netherlands to allow them to vacation for a month in the Bahamas? After a month-long vacation, didn't they have jobs and school to return to? How would they have been able to financially afford an extended stay if it had been granted?

After being stuck in Nassau for 5 months, why did they decide to go to Bimini and not any of the southern islands if they were bored, why choose the closest island to the USA? How did they pay for the trip to Bimini?

Usually, when a person travels to a foreign country, immigration officials require that you show an intent to return to where ever you reside. On a past trip to Australia and New Zealand, before entering I practically had to provide every document under the sun to prove that I was only vacationing. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and left before my visas expired.

Nothing about their story adds up. Too many details point to illegal intent. Yes, they should not have been mistreated by local Immigration, but why were they truly here in the first place?

The Government should have never allowed vaccinated persons to enter or travel within the Bahamas without at least a Rapid Antigen test. The previous lifting of 'all' travel restrictions for vaccinated individuals (tourists and residents) was never supported by local medical professionals and many warned that it would be to our detriment. Just like how last year's lifting of entry requirements led to a Covid infection surge, history has again repeated itself. Too sad for those who have died whilst the authorities continuously misstep rather than keeping proven protocols in place.

The Government should have never allowed vaccinated persons to enter or travel within the Bahamas without at least a Rapid Antigen test. The previous lifting of 'all' travel restrictions for vaccinated individuals (tourists and residents) was never supported by local medical professionals and many warned that it would be to our detriment. Just like how last year's lifting of entry requirements led to a Covid infection surge, history has again repeated itself. Too sad for those who have died whilst the authorities continuously misstep rather than keeping proven protocols in place.

"Mr Hepburn said the disposal of ship slops (oils), dunnage and other waste had long been part of Freeport’s maritime industry...And Mr Hepburn said they were dealing with materials “rejected by the United States) on every single occasion."

This is alarming to find out that materials 'rejected by the USA' are regularly dumped here. Could this be a contributing factor to the high rate of cancer on Grand Bahama?

Finally, other readers have called you out on this fallacy that Health Visas are deterring most tourists. Like one reader who is an actual visitor said, it's easily filled out within minutes. Considering that your negative comments have been exactly the same since day one, it makes one wonder why are you so fixated on the Health Visa so long after all this time has passed? Are you genuinely interested in your erroneous 'reduced' arrivals or do you have a vested financial interest somehow?

Asking with no sarcasm intended and seeking a genuine answer, if they were 10 miles from the Lakeworth inlet in US waters, why was the group brought back to Grand Bahama?

Mr. Fields uses the excuse of us not having enough vaccines due to the fact that the Bahamas is "a small, independent nation with no ties to a former colonial power". The same can be said of Bermuda and Barbados with vaccination percentages of 63.70 and 34.03 respectively. If these other self-governing countries could secure sufficient vaccines, the Bahamas could have done the same. Too many excuses for acting too late or being ill-prepared.

Whomever you are, for months your narrative has not changed. You repeatedly state that the Health Visa has been a deterrent to tourist arrivals, when in fact the hotels and airlines are now touting a return to pre-Covid numbers. So, if the country is almost at 2019 arrival and occupancy rates, then obviously a large amount of visitors are coming despite having to pay for a Health Visa. It's time to move beyond that issue now and focus on something more serious, like how can we better protect the health of residents as we welcome more and more visitors to our shores.