Connect with us

Bahamas News

Grand Bahama Minister urges residents to remain vigilant against COVID-19

Published

on

ENCOURAGING GRAND BAHAMIANS – Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator Kwasi Thompson, during a press conference on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, said that the recent confirmed case of COVID-19 in Grand is an indication that Grand Bahamians must remain vigilant against the virus and continue to follow the protocols set out by the Ministry of Health. (BIS Photo/Lisa Davis)

#Freeport, Grand Bahama – March 7, 2020 — Minister of State for Grand Bahama, Senator the Hon. Kwasi Thompson is urging Grand Bahamians to continue to follow the protocols laid out by the Ministry of Health, as The Bahamas continues to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, Minister Thompson’s remarks came in light of one additional person from Grand Bahama who tested positive for exposure to the novel coronavirus.  On Tuesday, May 5, 2020, a 50-year-old resident of Grand Bahama was among five new cases of positive COVID-19 in the Bahamas.

The new case brought the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Grand Bahama to eight. Grand Bahama had gone over three weeks with no new cases.

Grand Bahama recorded new case of Covid-19 on May 5

“To hear of this new case after going for so long without a new case in Grand Bahama is disappointing, but it sends a clear message to Grand Bahama that we cannot let our guards down with respect to this disease and the fight that we are in,” said Minister Thompson.

Minister Thompson noted that during the Prime Minister’s latest national address on COVID-19, he pointed out that Nassau and Grand Bahama were moving into Phase 1B of the reopening plan for the Bahamian economy.

This phase allows for businesses to accept and fulfill online and telephone orders with curbside and delivery pickups for customers: “We are urging those businesses to stay within the guidelines that have been set out by the Prime Minister and not to breach the protocols,” said Minister Thompson. “Only businesses that can operate through online and telephone orders, using curbside and delivery services are allowed to operate.”

Asked if further testing in Grand Bahama will be conducted, Minister Thompson said that additional testing is being carried out by health professionals in Grand Bahama. He added that vigorous contact tracing is still being carried out on the island in respect to the new confirmed case.  “We have been informed that the person is at home and is being treated at home. But all of us must stay vigilant with respect to this fight.”

BIS News by Andrew Coakley

Magnetic Media is a Telly Award winning multi-media company specializing in creating compelling and socially uplifting TV and Radio broadcast programming as a means for advertising and public relations exposure for its clients.

Bahamas News

FBI and Bahamas looking into woman’s death  

Published

on

Dana Malcolm  

Staff Writer  

 

 

#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – The FBI is investigating a woman’s ‘suspicious’ death on a Carnival Cruise ship in February.  The unnamed woman and her husband boarded the Carnival Sunshine on February 27th, for a trip to the Bahamas, but she was dead before they arrived in the port in The Bahamas.

The FBI said Carnival’s team had administered life saving measures when the woman was reported unresponsive, but they were unsuccessful.  The body and the woman’s husband were released to the Bahamian authorities when the cruise arrived in the country.  

In a statement shared with US media houses, Carnival Cruises claimed the death has been a natural one.  The Nassau Guardian said a source told them the police findings had concurred with that assessment saying it was a “normal sudden death of a tourist who wasn’t feeling well.” 

The FBI was waiting for the cruise and when it got back to South Carolina on March 4th, they immediately boarded and began to investigate the room based on ‘evidence of a crime.’  The FBI also searched the couple’s car.   

No updates have been shared to contradict the currently established cause of death.   

Continue Reading

Bahamas News

Why Sargassum Matters

Published

on

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – “If you don’t like it, go to another beach!” Is what Aaron John, an Education Officer from The Bahamas National Trust jokingly tells our news team about sargassum blooms; his quip, motivated by the necessity of nature when pit against the notion that there is a real threat when the stinky seaweed makes its annual appearance. 

John can admit, he says, that Sargassum isn’t very pretty but life isn’t all about aesthetics and in this instance that ugly patch serves a purpose. 

“We love our sandy beaches, but in order to keep them we need Sargassum. When storms come, they wash away all the sand off the beach but sargassum acts as a mulch to protect the sand from water erosion. It doesn’t look good, it doesn’t feel good but we need it.”

He said it also provides a habitat for small crustaceans, crabs, and insects that are all necessary to our ecosystem and islanders have  found use for the weed.

“Historically, (in The Bahamas) we have been using sargassum as fertilizer, especially in the family Islands as far back as I know,” he said. “Birds don’t go on the beach unless there is Sargassum and what do they do? they feed – it’s beautiful.” 

He encouraged residents to just leave it be if they came across it.

Sargassum isn’t harmful to humans, except for people with respiratory issues who may find the rotten egg smell triggers asthma. Despite this, it’s not advisable to walk through the weeds which may hide sharp rocks and bottles or vulnerable animals.

Experts say Sargassum blooms began to increase in size around 2011 and have continued to get bigger and bigger since. This year‘s bloom is around 5000 miles long and 300 miles wide and visible from space.

“I know it’s not a general outlook, but I would like to change the perspective on sargassum,” John said, pointing out The Bahamas National Trust is actively working to decrease alarm over the less worrisome events like sargassum as it raises the profile on the environmentally devastating. 

Continue Reading

Bahamas News

Lease agreement approved for diaspora office     

Published

on

Dana Malcolm  

Staff Writer 

 

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos’ Bahamas Diaspora Office is moving closer and closer to opening day, following the Cabinet’s approval for the signing of a lease agreement.  

The lease will be signed with FINCEN ltd in the Bahamas.  Several weeks ago, Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration confirmed to our news team that the location had been found and was being finalized; now a lease is approved at the Cabinet level.  

The interest in the TCI from TC Bahamians was evident in the diaspora meetings held in early February.  The two meetings held in Nassau and Grand Bahama were completely full and over-subscribed by hundreds.  

It’s interest which the Government hopes will translate to real life population growth, bolstering the local population before the native population ‘goes extinct’.  

The Opposition PDM is on the record with what it feels is a far more viable solution to a dwindling native population; seek out the country’s own citizens and bring them back home. 

Cabinet did not state when the office will open. 

Continue Reading

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

TRENDING