Doctors in Bahamas express concern over political campaigning ahead of poll
NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) – The Medical Association of The Bahamas (MAB) has expressed “grave concern” that various political activities leading up to the September 16 general election could turn out to be “super spreaders” of COVID-19.
“The Medical Association of The Bahamas is gravely concerned about the mass gatherings that were held this weekend by campaigning political parties. The country is experiencing rapid escalation in the number of individuals becoming COVID-19 positive, needing hospitalisation and of persons dying due to this devastating illness.
“These gatherings in the past have been observed as super spreader events. We look at data collected from countries in our region that have held elections during the pandemic and demonstrated a jump in cases post-election due to exposure during election campaigns,” the MAB said in a statement.
Both the ruling Free National Movement (FNM) and the main opposition Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) staged political activities in a bid to secure votes for control of the 39-member Parliament. The FNM won 35 seats in the last general election. Third political parties also held various activities over the weekend.
Latest figures released show that 27 additional COVID-19 related deaths were recorded over the last weekend, bringing the number of people who have died from the virus in the country to 439. The country has 18,721 positive cases of the virus since March last year.
In its statement, the MAB said the healthcare facilities are swamped and “we are losing medical persons exposed to this deadly virus, including physicians.
“If this trend continues, we will need to expand capacity for the probable increase in cases that will result from our inability to consistently enforce COVID-19 protocols during the campaign season”.
The MAB said that it was calling on the relevant authorities to enforce all campaigning protocols, saying observing these protocols saves lives and protects the Bahamian population at large.
“This is absolutely no time to let our guard down or ignore the intensity of the pandemic by participating in such careless behaviour that puts our lives at an even greater risk,” the MAB added.
