NO WILDING OUT: PM tells Bahamians don’t go to hotels for New Year’s and forget ad hoc parties too – EyeWitness News

Curfews and lockdowns off the table, says DavisPM suggests outdoor events may be safer than indoor bars/nightclubs

NASSAU, BAHAMAS Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis yesterday defended the governments decision to allow hotels to continue to host gatherings amidst a recent spike in new COVID-19 infections, but asked Bahamians to avoid those hotels.

During his final address of the year at the weekly Office of the Prime Minister press conference, Davis said the health protocols are designed to reduce transmission risk while still supporting economic activity.

Full hotels are fantastic news for our economy, but bringing people together increases risks.

Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis

Several ad hoc holiday events were canceled or postponed after the government suspended all approvals for large gatherings and limited indoor gatherings to no more than 20 people, while outdoor gatherings may have up to 30.

These restrictions, however, do not apply to gatherings at hotels.

Davis acknowledged that Bahamians have questioned why hotel properties are allowed to have outdoor New Years Eve events and said the questions are more than fair, but noted:Our health protocols are designed to reduce transmission risk while still supporting economic activity.

Often, those twin goals are in contradiction with each other. Its not an easy balancing act, and you may think we get some of these decisions wrong.

But the primary health goal is to slow transmission among Bahamians, to protect our people and to protect our hospitals from the coming onslaught of cases.

With that in mind, we are asking the hotels to take steps to protect Bahamian staff, and we are asking Bahamians to reconsider attending these events.

Davis added: These hotels are full and their guests are going to socialize on New Years Eve.

It may be safer to be outside at a concert instead of inside at bars, nightclubs and the casino.

Our economic crisis has been so prolonged and so severe that I am not considering any serious shutdown of economic activity.

Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis

I hope that is the case I dont want anyone to get sick in The Bahamas. This is the world we live in now; full hotels are fantastic news for our economy, but bringing people together increases risks.

As of Tuesday, the total number of cases in the country stood at 24,269. Of those, 1,574 were active while 22 were hospitalized.

The government began the distribution of medical-grade masks around the country yesterday and is expected to launch its free COVID testing program on New Providence in the upcoming days.

Davis assured that curfews and lockdowns are not on the table as the country moves to tackle the recent increase in new COVID-19 cases.

We think were able to devise measures that would contain behaviors of our people, that would not require impacting economic activity, he said.

He added:Our economic crisis has been so prolonged and so severe that I am not considering any serious shutdown of economic activity.

As Ive said, many Bahamians are earning their first steady paycheques in a long time; many fragile, small Bahamian-owned businesses are just starting to recover; and, as a country, we are taking important steps to economic recovery.

So, blunt instruments like shutting our borders or prolonged, nationwide lockdowns are off the table.

Instead, our COVID policy is focused on giving Bahamians support to reduce their risks and on expanding our hospital capacity to accommodate any increase in hospitalizations.

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NO WILDING OUT: PM tells Bahamians don't go to hotels for New Year's and forget ad hoc parties too - EyeWitness News