I have lived in fear of this virus, more than most people. I am staying at home with minimum trips to the grocery story since March 17. The health care is terrible in most of the Bahamas. The government is pretty-well really inept. Look at Abaco. This could be any island in 2020 only no place to evacuate to if Covid is active-which I fully believe it will be. So what is the answer? Do you put a dome over every family island? Impossible. People might be able to get by for 2 maybe 3 months. But 2 years? With absolutely no tourists? Even a 7 day old Covid test is worthless. 14 day quarantine is an impossibility for tourists. As much as it hurts me to say it, I think the Family Islands have to open up. Maybe a 14 day daily health check-in with a nurse and if there are any symptoms out you go. The Minister of Tourism says no cruise ship will bypass the Bahamas-well they are scheduled to start August 1 with probably 5-6,000 people per day in Nassau. There will be a trickle down effect. It’s not an easy answer and I don’t think the government is ready-but I fear there is no other choice.

No wonder the consulate isn't answering, the boss is "working remotely". Wait a minute-did they forward the phones to her too? Let's see-if she was in Miami she could probably answer 10 calls an hour x 8 hours would be 80 calls per day that her helpers don't have to answer and no boss there to make decisions as was obvious on the flight that allowed the covid positive guy. What a mess! And, she can't go back for 14 days (quarantine) so no one minding the coop for 2 weeks.

Geeeee, the Minster of works said the crews suffered “mental fatigue” after working in Marsh Harbour for a while. What does he think all of us in Abaco have been suffering with for 8 1/2 months? Now it’s starting to get warmer. No AC. They keep saying houses can’t be hooked up. Well, they put temporary meters in for building sites. Running a couple of extensions for a small frig or a portable AC would go a long way towards helping me with my “mental fatigue” instead of making constant runs to gas stations. Problem is I can’t leave Abaco after a couple of weeks and live in a house in Nassau with power(unless there are more blackouts) because of my “mental fatigue”. Come on, this isn’t rocket science. Is BPL so poorly managed that in quiet times there are no extra crews to send. God forbid the next hurricane!!

I was at a town hall meeting at a church near Treasure Cay where the head of reconstruction ran the meeting. In no uncertain terms, she assured everyone at that meeting that Treasure Cay would be fully powered up by the end of March. Now, as someone else mentioned, they had a grand total of 2 lift trucks and 6 personnel there that I saw. When I asked they BPL guys would it be done by March, they just laughed. All of Abaco would be a big task. Treasure Cay isn't. But, it goes to my point that the government personnel spout out things that just aren't true. Then, why should we believe them about anything else. And, I haven't seen one correction by anyone at BPL or Reconstruction that targets a different date. If this was a private company with this communication they would be out of business.

Let’s just keep kicking the can down the road. 8 1/2 months after Dorian and BPL is just now coming to the conclusion they might need more help??!? And, then the old song and dance about “well, the homes aren’t built so they really don’t need power”. What about the boast everything would be powered up by March-back in January? Is it any surprise that no one believes anything that is said out of any government official’s mouth. If I worked for BPL I would be so ashamed I would quit. Of course, where else could I get a job and do mediocre work and still get paid?

Wow, the Abaco Independence Movement! Wouldn't all of us that live in Abaco love to have the power to decide our future and have money available to actually help us and local people to care. We need the second homeowners badly. Regretably, the repair from Dorian has slowed to a trickle. We all want to be safe here. But, as someone said, even a Cat 3 could decimate Abaco. It could be years before we get back to normal. The Reconstruction Authority has totally dropped the ball. There is no communication. What are they waiting for to take 2 minutes and extend the Exigency order past June 30? The NGO, charities and great Americans that helped us can't keep going forever. They have their own problems now.

Does anyone think that the government of the Bahamas and NEMA have done any hurricane preparedness for 2020 other than jotting down all names of the hundreds of US Citizens that came to the rescue and all the NGOs and charities that came to the rescue? I mean it took 5 months to get telephone poles erected and water repairs started in TC. Even a Cat 2 or 3 is going to be a debacle. Maybe they can use the food leftover in the Nassau warehouses from Dorian. But the simple fact is-there is no hurricane plan! And, where are the citizens going to evacuate to if Covid is still around. If there was ever a year for the government to get ready this would be it. We’ll see.

I wouldn't exactly call it "opportunistic: when the Bahamas is on the money laundering list most years. Why not just fix it? Can't use the Covid excuse for everything.

I am afraid that Dr. Sands needing these swabs shows what a dire situation the Bahamas is in for testing and tracing. Not that anybody is admitting that since there is no transparency. They can’t even test health care workers. Dr. Sands knew it was a risk but a risk he had to take to possibly save lives. But, if you want to talk about REALLY dire situations, just imagine another hurricane wiping out another island like Abaco and everyone forced to go to Nassau during a fall Covid outbreak. That would be a real disaster. And, seeing the lack of government response in Abaco, the future is very dark. And, with Covid, there won’t be any NGOs around to help. A disaster in the making.