FREEPORT, Grand Bahama, October 11, 2020 — Having fully recovered from COVID-19, Leader of the Opposition the Hon. Philip “Brave” Davis on October 10 brought his party’s anti-COVID-19 campaign of “PROTECT YOURSELF, SAVE YOURSELF” to Grand Bahama, where he, Senator Fred Mitchell and party supporters distributed health and safety literature on COVID-19 and protective face masks.
The PLP Leader visited Central and West Grand Bahama as well as Marco City, and the party also distributed thousands of meals from the party’s headquarters on East Sunrise Highway.
Mr. Davis, who early in September was infected with COVID-19 and has fully recovered after receiving treatment in the United States, has been harshly critical of the Free National Movement (FNM) government’s response to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
On his return to the country after receiving treatment in the United States, the Opposition Leader said he remains deeply concerned that The Bahamas is not headed in the right direction, according to an article published in The Tribune on Friday, September 11, shortly after Mr. Davis’ arrival at Jet Aviation at Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA)
On October 6, in response to a nationally televised address by Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis on October 4, Mr. Davis submitted “a series of recommendations for steps the government can take almost immediately,” noting that it was “not a comprehensive national plan” because “we lack full access to the national data and information available to the government.”
However, he said his party’s “Action Plan to Combat COVID-19 in The Bahamas “is based on scientific developments and a review of best practices in countries that have had far more success than ours.”
“In his nationally televised address on COVID-19 Sunday, 4 October 2020, the Prime Minister threw up both hands and conceded to the nation that his strategy to manage and contain the community spread of COVID-19 have failed and in a last ditch effort, he has invited PAHO/WHO to advise his government on the way forward,” Mr. Davis said in releasing his party’s Action Plan to Combat COVID-19 at a press conference.
The Opposition Leader said the Prime Minister “conceded that the healthcare system is overwhelmed, COVID-19 deaths are averaging one per day and the positivity rate is unacceptably high.”
“The latest dashboard indicates a positivity rate of 20.6 percent, well above the World Health Organization’s threshold of 5 percent as a measurement of success. The Bahamas continues to rank at the bottom of countries globally in its performance to contain and manage COVID,” Mr. Davis said.
With the FNM holding all five of the Grand Bahama seats in the House of Assembly, clearly the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as Hurricane Dorian, which caused massive devastation in Grand Bahama and Abaco in September of 2019, will be major issues in the next general election.
