THE NEW HEALTH RULES

The days of the emergency powers under the constitution’s article 29 are now gone.  Hubert Minnis, the last prime minister, used the emergency powers to his detriment.  He suspended civil liberties and were locking up people for selling coconuts and not wearing masks.  This was a step too far.  At the end,  the people of the country were simply sick and tired of him and sick and tired of the rules. The fact is for good or ill, the covid crisis will be with us for some time and the only way to deal with it, is to live with it.  We have lost many friends as a result of this pandemic.  People seemed to be dropping down like flies.  Every week someone you knew was dying from the disease. So the rules that Dr. Minnis put in place did not help at all.  Now the Minister of Health Dr. Michael Darville has put in place a new set of rules which should ease doing business in The Bahamas.  It is time to get back to business. The curfew has been dropped. However, there are still some of the measures that are too stringent.  In answer to the public criticism, the Ministry of Health must adjust these rules.  The one that sticks out is the requirement for people in Inagua to get a PCR test to get on the plane when there is no PCR testing available in Inagua. That must change.  But we hope that the emergency is now gone, no curfew and people can feel free to walk and drive about the country without fearing beings stopped by the police and arrested.