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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Bahamas Information Services Updates
National Address The Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Update on COVID-19 Sunday, 22 August 2021 8:00 P.M. Bahamians everywhere. Residents, Ladies and gentlemen. Good evening. Thank you once again for the opportunity to update you on a number of critical matters in our ongoing and comprehensive response to the current period in the COVID-19 pandemic. As you are aware, there has been a global surge in cases in recent times driven by the highly contagious delta variant. In her press briefing last Wednesday, Director of the Pan American Health Organization, Dr. Carissa Etienne noted that: “COVID infections and deaths are rapidly rising across the Caribbean.” She also noted: “Over the last week, 1.4 million COVID-19 cases and nearly 20,000 deaths were reported in our region.” These are difficult times for our region. These are difficult times throughout the world. Some countries have had to revert to all- out lockdowns. In The Bahamas, my administration sought from the very beginning of the 4 pandemic to strike a balance between protecting and saving lives, and also protecting livelihoods and jobs. We have put in place public health measures and guidelines to help slow the spread of the virus, while also allowing work to continue to save and to rebuild the economy. Bahamians have endured financial and social hardships due to the pandemic. We want our people to be able to earn a living while there are public health measures in place to help slow the spread of the virus. It is vital that our people have access to work and to economic opportunities to take care of themselves and their families. This has been the worst public health crisis in our modern history. It has also been the worst economic crisis, by far. We know that vaccinations are the primary means of ending the emergency stage of the pandemic, of saving lives and of getting our people back to work. At her press briefing on Sunday, August 15th, Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis, Chair of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Consultative Committee, provided information regarding the effectiveness of vaccines in The Bahamas. For the Princess Margaret Hospital, from March 14, 2021 through July 31, 2021, no one who was fully vaccinated was hospitalized. No one who was fully vaccinated died. This is compelling real-time data, demonstrating why Bahamians need to get vaccinated now! The virus has many of our citizens fighting for their lives. It has killed more Bahamians in this wave. We must continue to pray for those who have lost loved ones and for those who are ill at home or in hospital. Let me again say to those who are still thinking about getting vaccinated: You do not have time to keep thinking about whether or not you will take the vaccine
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