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VOLUME:117 No.84, MARCH 23RD, 2020

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‘LET US PRAY’ Church services staged in car parks and online as virus takes jobless to 30%

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE country’s major hotels are shutting down because of the coronavirus crisis and temporarily laying off staff, with Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar saying the unemployment rate is now probably above 30 percent and expected to grow.

Baha Mar, Sandals, Atlantis and the Melia resorts have all announced their planned suspension of operations. Some of the resorts intend to pay staff a fraction of their salaries during the difficult time.

“Every single hotel if they have not so declared (that they are shutting down), are probably heading in that direction as the world closes its borders and shuts down,” Mr D’Aguilar said yesterday.

“This is going to be grim.”

Mr D’Aguilar noted laid-off workers can avail themselves of National Insurance Board’s unemployment benefits, “which at least carries them for 13 weeks,” along with union benefits.

Baha Mar said it will lay-off all non-essential workers and pay full-time associates “the equivalent of 40 percent” of their base pay, as of Wednesday, for up to 90 days.

The Cable Beach resort said it will continue paying insurance premiums to maintain workers’ health, life, accidental death and dismemberment insurance.

“If you have signed up for additional dental, vision or dependent insurance coverage or have established a voluntary employee pension account with the Bahamas Hotel Industry Management

THE government has not used all the economic stimulus tools available to it, the deputy prime minister revealed last night, having kept some in reserve in case the COVID-19 pandemic is “prolonged”.

Peter Turnquest warned that the government will have to make “additional

• No new cases but surge is possible

• Courts cancel all new cases • Haitians back govt action plan • NIB will need to help more

TURNQUEST: RECOVERY TO BE SLOW AND ANAEMIC

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

COVID-19 LATEST NEWS

• Fusion sends 350 staff home with no pay

SEE PAGE TWO

interventions to jumpstart the economy” once major tourist markets such as the US, Canada and Europe stabilise and the outbreak is brought under control.

He also urged Bahamians to brace for the fact that economic recovery will likely be “slow and anemic”, rather than an immediate bounce back, with the “tail end” of the pandemic taking a long time to ease.

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JUBILEE West in Grand Bahama held its church service yesterday in the parking lot.

Photo: Derek Carroll

• Students flown home from Jamaica • $20m loans for firms ‘not enough’

FAREWELL TO THE SUN KING, SOL KERZNER

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FAMILY, friends and political figures paid tribute this weekend to hotel tycoon and Atlantis developer Sir Sol Kerzner, who died on Saturday at the age of 84.

In a statement released from the Kerzner family, the family said Sir Sol, who had been battling cancer, died at their family home in

SOL Kerzner has died at 84 Cape Town, South Africa.

He is survived by his four children – Andrea, Beverly,

Brandon and Chantal who described him as “an intensely family-oriented person”. “… In spite of his international celebrity status and the demands of maintaining a massive business reputation, Sol always remained an intensely family-oriented person.”

His daughter, Andrea, said: “Dad taught us family values – no matter how busy he was, he always made time for us, his family.

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

“He would take a call from any one of us in the middle of an important meeting or fly half-way across the world to get to a grandchild’s birthday party.

“For Dad, his family were everything, his joy.”

Sir Sol is also acclaimed for single-handedly turning around The Bahamas’ tourism industry with the creation of Atlantis and Ocean Club resorts on Paradise Island.

SEE PAGE SEVEN

PAGE 2, Monday, March 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net THE number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Bahamas remained at four over the weekend, but health officials warned against a false sense of security as they brace for a surge in numbers.

Health Minister Dr Duane Sands said at a press conference yesterday: “I believe that we are concerned about the possibility of a surge in the near future and so while we are gratified to see the number at only four, we do not believe that we should in any way restrain our efforts to both mitigate this and to identify and manage any patients, and so we are going to ask people not to have a false sense of security.”

Dr Sands said the country now has 1,750 test kits and has ordered 10,000 rapid test kits, 2,500 of which are expected in New Providence by mid-week.

“The kits are coming from different sources.

No new cases but there may be a surge Some will arrive by Wednesday, some by Thursday, some by Friday, this is a priority item, the controller of customs has made it clear there will be no impediment to getting these things in the country,” he said.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Pearl McMillan said 117 people have been tested to date for the virus.

Former Chief Medical Officer Dr Merceline DahlRegis, the health consultant to the Office of the Prime Minister, said the National Reference Laboratory’s daily testing capacity has grown from five people per day to 50 people per day.

Asked about global

reports about the importance of mass testing, she said this country will increase testing as it acquires the capacity to do so.

“We’ve taken the position that as soon as we have the capacity to do more testing, we will do more testing but we have to prioritise at the moment,” she said.

“We’ve already started to increase our capacity to test. In fact, it’s almost ten-fold to the time it first started to right now and it is human resource dependent. We have now had support from the technologists who have to be trained to do the testing who have

participated in the training.

We are engaging all who will help to please come,” she added.

Dr Sands said the first confirmed case of the virus, a 61-year-old New Providence woman, remains in hospital in stable condition and in isolation.

The three others remain in isolation but do not require hospitalisation at this time, he said.

He said officials have ordered 15 or 18 ventilators, though he could not say how many ventilators are in the country now. “There is an excellent match between the anticipated medical challenges and the available medical staff,” he said.

“Several weeks ago we started to identify N95 masks, gloves, gowns.

(What we have is) more than adequate not just for medical workers but

HEALTH Minister Duane Sands immigration, defence force and police officers. We’re calculating the burn rate to see how long an inventory we have, and we have more than many weeks supply and we anticipate this week

that we will have huge additions to that supply so by the grace of God we will continue to be well ahead of our demands,” Dr Sands said.

Meanwhile, Dr McMillan said 45 contacts of the first confirmed case and 75 contacts of the second confirmed case have been reached by the surveillance team.

Health officials have advised people who feel sick to stay at home. Those who believe they have COVID-19 or respiratory illness are asked to contact a healthcare provider first, before coming to a doctor’s office to prevent the spread of the disease.

The Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 hotline numbers for the public are: 242-376-9350 (8am to 8pm) and 242-376-9387 (8pm to 8am).

Services in car parks as virus takes jobless to 30% from page one Pension Fund, you remain responsible for the payment of any required contributions, however, those payments will be deferred and the company will auto deduct from pay periods following your return to work,” Baha Mar President Graeme Davis said in a letter to employees.

Melia Nassau Beach, an all-inclusive resort which is part of the Baha Mar properties but is a separate hotel, will also temporarily

suspend operations beginning Wednesday and will lay-off all non-essential staff.

The resort said it will work to ensure all nonunion, full-time associates receive up to 40 percent of their base pay as of March 26 and will work with the hotel union with respect to benefits for union associates. Melia said it will also continue paying the insurance premiums needed for workers to maintain their health, life, accidental death and dismemberment insurance coverage, though workers will see their required contributions deferred and auto-deducted from periods following their return to work.

“A lot of these companies are saying we will give you some sort of help while we go into a shutdown,” Mr D’Aguilar said yesterday.

“It is a tremendous thing what Baha Mar and Melia are doing.”

Meanwhile, Atlantis told some employees they will be temporarily laid off for four weeks.

“We understand the bearing this will have on you during this period and you are assured of our commitment to support you as we navigate through these uncertain times,” the company said in a letter to employees.

Sandals, a luxury allinclusive with properties in Nassau and Exuma, announced it will close all resorts from March 30 to May 15.

“Never could we have imagined the impact the current global health crisis would have on the world,” resort founder and chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart said in a letter to guests. It is not clear what the resort has told its staff.

Hotels are essential to the vitality of tourism-related businesses throughout The Bahamas and their closures will affect smaller businesses in the industry.

Ray Lightbourn, owner of Exuma Water Tours, said he has shut his business down after Sandals Emerald Bay, which employs hundreds of people in Exuma, announced its closure.

“We’re gonna close for six weeks along with staff,” he said yesterday. “We will continue feeding the pigs but we have no choice but to shut down because if we stay open we’ll just be paying staff with no business. NIB said it will now take over paying our staff.

We hope this doesn’t last six weeks and that this thing clears up in a week or two.

My staff all understands, this is a hard time right now.”

BAHAMASAIR ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO ITS SCHEDULE BAHAMASAIR has announced changes to its flight schedule in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the company announced that flights to Miami and West Palm Beach are suspended until further notice, as are flights to Haiti and Providenciales.

There will be one daily flight from Nassau to Orlando, and two daily flights from Nassau to Fort Lauderdale. From Freeport, there will be one daily flight to Fort Lauderdale, except on Tuesday and Wednesday. Flights to Havana remain unchanged.

For domestic flights, there are also changes.

There will be two daily flights from Nassau to Freeport, and one from Nassau

to Marsh Harbour, Exuma, Rock Sound, San Salvador and Long Island.

There will be three flights from Nassau to Treasure Cay, on Monday, Thursday and Sunday, and two flights a week from Nassau to Inagua and Mayaguana, on Mondays and Fridays.

There also will be three flights per week from Nassau to North Eleuthera/ Governor’s Harbour on Monday, Friday and Sunday.

Flights to Acklins/ Crooked Island remain unchanged.

In a statement, managing director Tracy Cooper added: “Bahamasair advises our customers to check online and at the airline’s reservations for full flight schedule and times.”

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, March 23, 2020, PAGE 3

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net FUSION Superplex has placed more than 350 employees on unpaid leave after it was blindsided by the government’s COVID19 lockdown.

Carlos Foulkes, chief executive officer of the entertainment facility, told The Tribune on Friday the company saw no other way as it was faced with $1.1m in monthly operational costs.

He said revenue was directly tied to the facility’s ability to offer content to viewers.

Despite the circumstances, the CEO said there was no plan to conduct mass layoffs. Instead executives hoped the National Insurance Board would assist the workers until operations returned to normal.

Only a small group of Fusion’s employees remain on the job and are tasked with certain jobs needed for upkeep and other immediate matters.

Mr Foulkes expects the closure to last about 30 days.

The decision came just hours after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the national curfew.

“We are obviously closed by mandate of the government, which we didn’t expect for our property yesterday, but nonetheless we support the government’s decision,” said Mr Foulkes.

“We believe they are making the right decision and we are a business of public assembly so we know it impacts us specifically and directly.

“So, we have decided to simply close and we have not tied a date to our opening yet because the government said they

Fusion sends home 350 on unpaid leave would reassess at the end of the month to see if there is going to be an extension of the curfew conditions.

So for us to preempt that to come with an opening date that would be kind of silly.

“In addition to that, the international impact is Hollywood studios have essentially decimated their movie release schedule and that is a major portion of our business.

“So, we have some uncertainty as to when content, product will be available to us to show to the public.

So those two factors when we are available to open and when the Hollywood Studio would provide content suitable for us to have our customers entertained would determine when we open again. I am anticipating at this point probably a 30-day closure.”

Asked how this closure was expected to impact the business, Mr Foulkes said without revenue, cash reserves will dry up.

“Well, we do have a small contingent of staff members maintaining the building that is because of the size of the building and the specialised equipment, so we need security staff and operations staff and an administrative crew and of course they require compensation for work.

“Without revenue

THE FUSION Superplex eventually our reserves are going to be dried up and so we will only be able to go so long without some type of assistance from the authorities or the banking community and from the very beginning we have had difficulty getting banking assistance here locally. They

consider our project highrisk and getting overdraft facilities and things like that here we had to do all of that with fully secured funding as opposed to banks taking risks with us. That’s a difficult consideration.

“We had to lay off all of the employees except the

Churches happy that they got their message across

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net CHURCHES across the country used online platforms to conduct Sunday services for their members yesterday after agreeing last week to suspend mass gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Ahead of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ emergency orders, religious leaders had agreed to cancel church services and other related events in light of the novel virus, which has now spread worldwide.

President of the Christian Council, Bishop Delton Fernander told The Tribune yesterday he believed most churches in New Providence complied with the social distancing suggestions from government.

“It appears to be that all complied. Even the ones who said they wouldn’t comply, complied,” he said.

“It was a very successful tool. We might’ve had more viewership (online) than we ever had before.”

Similar sentiments were also expressed by Anglican diocese Bishop Laish Boyd who said some members had even resorted to text messaging for spiritual encouragement. “As a

diocese, we had one eucharist that was celebrated by me and aired on ZNS at 11 and Cable Bahamas at 2pm and it was also on Facebook and Youtube through the diocese website and (it) was extremely well received,” he added.

“What’s been happening is a number of our churches and individuals have been sending messages doing morning and evening prayers, holding morning prayers over Zoom and it’s all been going very well.”

Meanwhile, Bishop Silbert Mills of Friendship Tabernacle Church in Abaco said: “The members and followers of our church were advised not to come to service by myself in response to the Prime Minister’s declaration and to watch out for the service online.

“Going online and television is something that is not new for us so we have followers that are distant and it was a very spirited moment for me with just four or five of my key church personnel in attendance…

“But, I think it was well received and the word was not one that was confrontational but to encourage the people that this is a serious situation that we’re in.”

Last week, Dr Minnis announced that a national

curfew would be implemented in the country, mandating people to remain in their homes until March 31 between 9pm and 5am. The order also calls for most businesses to close, and staff to work from home, with few exceptions.

Dr Minnis also ordered that people in establishments or businesses distance themselves from others at a minimum of three to six feet.

Warning that large gatherings are linked to the spread of the virus, the prime minister also urged people with upcoming weddings and funerals to either scale down the events to only 10 people or postpone the events. Since the announcement, many churches have suspended worship services until April,

small contingent I just mentioned and so I have over 350 employees on unpaid leave.

“We do not intend to conduct any mass redundancy exercises. We simply put them on unpaid leave and it is my hope at this point that the National Insurance

Board will be able to assist with compensation to these employees while they are on unpaid leave.

“Our revenue is directly tied to our capacity to make payments to our employees and also our vendors, people who we buy supplies and stuff from.

“The lights and stuff are still on so those types of expenses still have to be considered. I still have a centre of equipment that must remain cool, the aircondition must stay on. I still have water needs and insurance must still be paid to cover the building in the event of a catastrophe so minimum expenses must be considered and those matters are going to be set aside so that the company stays viable for when we are returning to operation.”

Speaking to his employees, Mr Foulkes said executives wanted them to know they had every intention of bringing them back to work.

“Bear with us and once we get back operational we believe that the Bahamian people after being cooped up so long would want to come out to our facility and enjoy themselves so we may be able to immediately return to our original conditions of business assuming the virus is contained locally,” he said.

CHURCHES across the country agreed to suspend mass gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff resorting to online streams for viewers.

Still, there were some religious organisations who maintained that their doors will remain open for worship despite the suggestions from health officials.

Speaking to The Tribune on Thursday, senior pastor of Zion Baptist Church, T G Morrison said: “The doors of Zion will be open.

The church is a place of refuge. I have a fundamental struggle to see the courts of the house of God closed, even in hurricanes the houses of worship are used as shelters.”

However, when The Tribune visited the church yesterday, one member said the church was complying with the guidelines and streaming online for its members.

PAGE 4, Monday, March 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

GOVT MAY EXPAND TEMPORARY JOBLESS BENEFIT SCHEME

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER of Public Service and National Insurance Board Brensil Rolle suggested the government could expand its temporary unemployment benefit assistance to include people not in the tourism industry who have been affected by actions taken to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest announced the allocation last week of $10 million to

self-employed people in the tourism sector affected by the industry slowdown, saying $200 per week will be given to people like straw vendors and Jet Ski operators.

However, when contacted yesterday, Mr Rolle said jitney drivers have also inquired about getting assistance.

“We told them not to take passengers so they’re coming as well as the straw vendors and others,” he said.

His comment came days after Prime Minister Dr

Hubert Minnis mandated that use public transportation until March 31.

NIB Director Dr Nicola Virgill-Rolle explained yesterday that NIB will issue unemployment benefits as it usually does and will also issue payments through the government’s unemployment assistance, a new programme for selfemployed people in the tourism sector.

“NIB has an unemployment benefit that’s part of your contribution,” she said. “That benefit is only paid by employed persons,

that will be available for persons who have been laid off from work. It is a payment that is equivalent to a percentage of your weekly insurable wage and paid up to 13 weeks. We are working on a special arrangement so employees don’t have to come to NIB to get their money.”

To expedite issuing unemployment benefits, NIB is working with hotels to get lists of laid-off staff.

Mrs Virgill-Rolle said: “The second group are selfemployed persons who do not pay for unemployment

MINISTER: Brensil Rolle insurance under the Act so they are not covered for the regular unemployment

BUS DRIVERS LOSING UP TO $1,200 EVERY DAY

Experts urge people to take care of their mental health

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net WITH the country now on partial lockdown in view of the COVID-19 threat, a local mental health expert is urging Bahamians to avoid fake news and to not panic while under quarantine in an effort to protect their mental health.

“It’s okay if we have a stress reaction to a crisis,” said Dr John Dillett, a consultant psychiatrist.

“We’re not iron men and women. We’re not robots.

We are human beings and we do feel and so when we see other persons are suffering or have a fear that perhaps something might happen to us or our family, it’s natural to have a change in your sleep patterns or maybe in your appetite.

“But these feelings will pass and if we engage in normal, positive activities, it’s going to help it to pass more quickly.”

His comments came after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced a national curfew, mandating people remain in their homes until March 31 between 9pm and 5am.

He also ordered for business operations, with some exceptions, to be suspended. These orders, according to Dr Minnis, is needed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Noting the importance of staying calm during the health crises, Dr Dillett encouraged members of public to adhere to the guidelines.

This, he said, can decrease the likelihood of contracting the disease.

“In most cases, not all, but in most cases, those individuals with severe underlying medical conditions and the elderly are those who seem to be at the greatest risk,” he said.

“If we adhere to the guidelines set out by the infectious disease professionals, the likelihood of picking up this virus is very small and so we should not be fearful, but we should just be mindful and responsible with our activities and we’re going to be fine.

“We’ve been in crises before and we’ve gotten through them as well.

Steady, calm collective thoughts will be our best assets.”

In recent days, coronavirus concerns have led to people panic buying, with crowds queuing in shops for food and water. It has also created uncertainty among many Bahamians who rely heavily on tourism for their livelihoods.

Asked about what advice he can give to those who might be feeling depressed while under quarantine, Dr Dillett warned against spending too much time on social media.

“Being on social media 24/7 looking at TV, etc, all day (and) trying to listen to every single detail is more likely to cause some type of stress, emotional distress and so it’s very important where possible to try to engage in normal behaviours.”

Instead, he said,

Bahamians can use the time in confinement to complete necessary work and reconnect with loved ones.

“This can actually be a great opportunity for persons who are stressed with time management to complete some tasks that they’ve always wanted to complete. Some projects around their home.

“Maybe, there’s something that they might’ve felt that they’re behind on, they can actually use this time very positively and effectively to do the things that they probably felt rushed or stressed to do normally.

“And this may also be a time for adults, you know maybe there are couples that have been having some concern, this is a chance to reconnect.”

But, for persons who might feel overwhelmed, Dr Dillet advised those individuals to seek professional help.

He said: “If we feel that there are persons that we know or ourselves who are becoming overwhelmed, reach out to the mental health professionals. You have the crisis centre. You have the community, counselling and assessment centre.”

“You also have both public and private entities and professionals who can assist therapists for persons who might be feeling overwhelmed.”

Psychiatrist Dr David Allen added: “I suggest practice at least twice a day mindfulness. I call it contemplative mindfulness.

Contemplative

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net

PM Hubert Minnis has announced a national curfew means opening to the temple or opening to God and mindfulness meaning you focus on your breathing. You stop, you breathe in and with the deepest breath as you can, because when we’re fearful, you breathe shallowly. We force ourselves to breathe deeply in and then you count once you’re in -onetwo-three-four and then out.

“If that’s done four or five times, you would find yourself calming, it’s almost like your breathing in love and breathing out fear.”

To date, there are four confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in the country.

However, Health Minister Dr Duane Sands has said the number of coronavirus cases in the country is expected to increase in the coming days.

MEDIA WILL BE FREE TO HAITIAN LEADERS READY CARRY OUT ITS WORK TO SUPPORT GOVT FIGHT PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday stressed the emergency orders he put in place last week allows for the free movement of the media. He released a statement after a police officer denied a local media company access to the streets of New Providence on Saturday during curfew hours.

The heated exchange by a journalist from EyeWitness News and police was streamed live on Facebook and prompted outcry from some about perceived censorship of the media.

In the video, the journalist and a team were blocked by a police officer standing in front of a barricade near the six-legged roundabout, preventing the media team from driving through to get to their destination.

Angered by the officer not allowing the team to pass through the barricade after identifying themselves as journalists, one reporter called Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson for assistance.

However, they were still not allowed to pass through the barricade and returned to their office instead. “It has been brought to the attention of my office that a media house was denied access to the

streets of New Providence to carry out their work,” Dr Minnis noted in a statement sent by the Office of the Prime Minister.

“This should not have happened.

I want to make it abundantly clear for all that the COVID-19 emergency order allows for the free movement of the media. I’ve spoken to the commissioner of police this morning to ensure that these directives continue to be carried out.”

The previous night the police had adopted an entirely different attitude with reporters as the first night’s curfew fell.

Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson urged members of the public to adhere to the shutdown while he was speaking to reporters about to see the curfew swing into action. “I want people to take this very serious and this is not a dolly house and we take this very very serious and people ought to take it extremely serious (sic),” he told reporters.

“It’s really for one’s own health and we have to respect the health professionals and the order that is given by the prime minister, certainly the police and the defence force will carry it out to the T.”

benefits. It is not an earned benefit they are receiving, it is an assistance provided.

If you are working in the tourism sector and directly impacted by COVID-19, there will be a special application process on Thursday to fill out forms to process.”

Mrs Virgill-Rolle said there are over 3,000 people who fit in the self-employed sector of the tourism industry, people like hair braiders, Jet Ski operators and straw vendors.

The hotel sector employs about 13,000 people, she said.

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net

LEADERS of the local Haitian community declared their support for the government in its fight to control the COVID-19 virus. On Friday they urged local Haitians to contact a healthcare provider if sick, regardless of their immigration status and to comply with the new curfew.

Pastor Edward St Fleur, of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, is on the team communicating with the Haitian community about what is expected of them during the curfew and how to prevent the spread of the virus. “I would like to underscore that the meeting we had with Minister Dr Duane Sands, the Haitian community should have no fear as it relates to their immigration status,” said Pastor St Fleur.

“This is a very serious situation we are in. The healthcare workers are not going to ask you about your immigration status so if you feel any symptoms you are to call the hotline and explain your situation and if immediate intervention needs to happen then you have to be taken

to the designated place. That is the protocol. You do not show up to the healthcare centre, you call first.

“Myself and (activist) Louby Georges are making sure that every document, in regards to the coronavirus, is translated into Creole and the Haitian community is able to read them and know what is going on. We think the government is doing the right thing as it relates to safety and the protection of life.”

Stephanie St Fleur, president of Human Rights Bahamas, has gone into Haitian communities in New Providence to make sure everyone was performing proper hygiene.

“We went into the communities and went over a number of things like washing of the hands, etc,” Mrs St Fleur said. “So they are aware of all the hygienic measures necessary to help prevent the virus.

I told them that (if) sanitiser and Lysol are not found, they need to buy bleach and use it. We also have WhatsApp groups for the Haitian communities.”

Leaders of the Haitian-Bahamian community plan to offer full assistance to their countrymen and according to Mrs St Fleur, if anyone shows symptoms of the virus then assistance will be on the way.

BUS drivers are losing income of up to $1,200 per day after the country’s services have been shut down.

Members of the bus service industry reacted to the news on Friday after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis issued orders of curfew and shutdown of certain businesses.

Under the prime minister’s emergency orders, no omnibuses, or jitneys, are to be in service to the public. Social distancing of up to three feet between each person has been ordered and on this premise the bus system was shut down.

Harrison Moxey, president/chairman of the United Public Transportation Company, said: “These are abrupt measures. We are going to have to try to weather this storm and it’s going to be very hard. We had no warning about this and found out when the prime minister announced it to everyone else, but we understand that the government is taking the necessary steps to stop the spread of this virus. We understand but this is going to affect us terribly.

“I am going to have a conversation with the prime minister on what assistance can be given to us, as I am not really sure if the assistance being offered to those affected by the virus applies to us.”

Economy Bus Line and Service proprietor Lamont Rahming also feels the effect of the shutdown will have a drastic effect on the industry. “We are a service-based business and if we can’t even offer the service that is going to have a drastic effect on us,” Rahming stressed. “This is how we make our money. We do understand the reason behind the shutdown and we support it. There is definitely going to be a drastic effect on us from a financial standpoint.

“We can only hope that this shutdown does not go beyond 11 days. At least we can still go to the grocery stores etc. We can only keep our fingers crossed that this virus is curtailed quickly and we can go back to normalcy.”

Giving ballpark figures, Rahming said bus drivers, depending on the routes, can make from $500 up to $1,200 a week The Bahamas Unified Bus Drivers Union sent a notice to the public on Friday informing of the suspension of services. “Dear our valued customers due to the coronavirus outbreak, it is regrettable to inform you that of 9am this morning all public buses will suspend services for the next 11 days.”

“The shutdown of the bus system has really affected me,” said bus user Marjorie Smith. “I rely on it to get from point A to point B. I am going have to ask people for rides. This is going to be the longest 11 days ever. I never dreamed this would happen and I only found out this morning. This is a real setback for me.”

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, March 23, 2020, PAGE 5

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

PLANE SENT TO JAMAICA TO BRING BACK 61 STUDENTS

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE government chartered a plane to Jamaica on Saturday for Bahamian students studying in the region, demanding that the 61 pupils self-quarantine in their homes upon arrival, according to Education Minister Jeff Lloyd.

He said the cost of chartering the Bahamasair flight was $30,000 to $40,000. The students, he said, will have to reimburse the government for the flight.

He warned the government will review the policy of sending flights for students overseas, as officials did not want this to become something citizens expected.

“The largest cluster of Bahamians studying outside The Bahamas is in the Caribbean,” he said, “some over 300 people are studying in the University of the West Indies system alone, and not just UWI but North Caribbean University and some other colleges in the Caribbean. “A request was made of us when Trinidad announced the closure of their airport, UWI announced the closure of their university and Jamaica announced the closure of its borders Saturday night.”

Mr Lloyd said “frantic” parents made requests of the government.

“Many of the parents were frantic that their students would potentially be stranded, with no way of getting home and no

prospect of how quickly they would get home because no one knows how quickly this virus is going to be,” he said.

“Initially it was thought that Caribbean Airlines which flies between Trinidad and Barbados comes to Jamaica and makes a stop in Nassau was closing down as a consequence of closure of various countries. I discovered that in fact Caribbean Air was still travelling between Trinidad and Jamaica and Barbados but the Jamaica to Nassau leg had been cancelled. I contacted the minister of tourism responsible for Bahamasair and said let’s find a way to get them home and let’s worry about them paying for it when they get home, which we intend to do.

“We told students in Barbados, get to Jamaica and students in Trinidad to get to Jamaica. A number of them decided they will come. UWI said it will close and not open until April 6 and their instruction after April would be online. When the announcement was made, students in Trinidad started to leave on Caribbean Air, a number of students in Barbados did as well. But for different reasons, a number of students don’t have US visas.

They couldn’t go through the US. They were in a sense, stuck. We approached the prime minister who said we could get them but on one condition: those students coming home would have to self-quarantine.

“The flight left 3pm and returned at 5pm. The only reason we did this is because the largest cluster of Bahamian students outside of this country is in those three countries. We’re going to have to review this policy about going for Bahamain students wherever they happen to be. “Parents and students must realise once you leave this country, getting back here is your responsibility. However and why ever, that’s your responsibility.

We are the only country in the Caribbean that does this for its citizens and we have to be very careful because students see this then they feel if you could do it for one, you could do it for the others.”

BAHA MAR CLOSES ITS CASINO

ALL QUIET

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

A LOT of people seem to be taking the government’s advice to stay inside seriously as Bay Street was nearly deserted over the weekend Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

No new trials ALL new trials have been suspended as the judiciary expands its coronavirus mitigation protocols. Members of the jury pool for each criminal court will be contacted by the respective bailiff to inform them when to return to court.

According to a statement from Chief Justice Brian Moree, arraignments fixed for March 27 are adjourned to May 8 at 10am and until March 31, only urgent bail applications will be heard in the Supreme Court.

The urgent bail judge roster is posted on the judiciary’s website – bahamasjudiciary.com. “Where possible, the hearing will proceed with the lawyer alone in court or by video conference,” Chief Justice Moree said. “If required, the accused person will be in court. In either instance, the in-person hearings will be conducted in accordance with social distancing requirements.”

The statement added that case management

conferences and pre-trial reviews are also suspended until the week of April 14 as well as partly heard civil trials in the Supreme Court.

New dates for these matters will be assigned by the respective judge.

In the meantime, only urgent interlocutory applications will be heard. These are applications for injunctions; domestic violence protection orders; child protection orders; orders under the Mental Health Act; orders under international treaties; writs of habeas corpus; and any other orders deemed by the judge to be fit for hearing on an urgent basis.

“The duty civil judge or in a pending case, the assigned judge, will determine if the application is to be heard on an urgent basis,” Mr Moree noted.

All court hearings before registrars are also suspended until after April 14.

The Family Registry, the Probate Registry and the Appeals Registry are closed

until March 31. The offices of the Civil Registry located in the BAF Financial Building on George Street will also be closed until the end of the month and will operate out of a satellite office in the Supreme Court.

The offices of the Criminal Registry located on Bank Lane will be closed until the of March and will operate out of a satellite office in the Supreme Court Annex 1, formerly Ansbacher House, during the hours of 1pm – 4pm.

Magistrates Court Arraignments will proceed subject to social distancing requirements between 10.30am to 2.30pm. Only those who must be in the courtroom will be allowed to enter and no more than 15 people will be allowed at one time.

“Bail applications will proceed under the guidelines applicable to arraignments between 10.30am to 2.30 pm. New

DAMES DEFENDS DECISION TO USE EMERGENCY POWERS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames has defended the government’s decision to implement emergency orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, saying if directives were given later to prevent the spread of the virus, it “would’ve been a second too late”.

“This is an emergency.

This is no time to play politics. We were elected to serve the people and if we’d’ have waited another second, that would’ve been a second too late,” he told reporters at the Royal Bahamas Police Force headquarters.

“It would’ve been a disservice to the people of this country. Look at what’s taken place in Europe.

Look at what’s happening

in the United States. Many countries are playing catch up. If you look at those countries that would’ve been able to kinda stabilise the situation, they did exactly what we’re doing, and we want to be one of those countries.”

Mr Dames was responding to criticisms from PLP leader Philip “Brave” Davis, who said provisions outlined in Thursday’s emergency order appeared to be rushed.

During a press conference at PLP headquarters, the opposition leader said: “It is our view that these measures must be for the benefit of Bahamian people. We are concerned that this was all done in a heated rush and may have unintended consequences adverse to the public. “… It is a matter of regret that the prime minister promulgated these measures to which we have not

had an opportunity to lend our voice and to provide our views on the appropriate initiatives.”

Mr Davis added the measures outlined by the prime minister are “contradictory” and may impose more challenges than providing solutions that will protect people.

Noting that “this is no time to play politics”, Mr Dames said if officials were to implement measures later, it could prove detrimental for the country, especially in the healthcare system.

“We cannot risk burdening our healthcare system down because they still have to function. You have people with other illnesses who need other urgent care,” he said.

“We have no time to play political games with this.

This is a global crisis and if we don’t get ahead of it, we will be sorry.”

trials will be suspended in criminal cases, juvenile cases and coroner inquests until the week of April 14 when the position will be reviewed. A determination will be made at that time with regard to the future course of these trials.”

First pleas in traffic cases are suspended until after March 31; dates of first pleas in traffic cases set for March 23-31are adjourned from the date on which it was to be heard to the same date in the following month.

“If the adjourned date falls on a weekend or public holiday, it is adjourned to the next court business day,” the statement noted.

All fines in traffic cases

can be paid under current procedures between 10.30am – 2.30pm.

Voluntary bills of indictment will be suspended until March 31. For civil cases in Magistrates Court, new trial dates and partly heard matters are suspended until March 31.

For Family Court during the period of March 23–31, payments can be made and funds received at the cashier’s counter in the Magistrates Court from 10.30am-2.30pm.

The Chief Justice added that all travel by magistrates for Circuit Court is suspended until April 14 when the position will be reviewed.

THE Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar closed its casino as of 5am on Friday, with management saying the move was in response to new government restrictions and out of an “abundance of caution” as COVID-19 has triggered heightened safety measures.

In a letter sent to guests, Gerald Ursulet, resort manager, said the mega resort’s casino was expected to remain closed until March 31. This is when an emergency order from Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, which imposes a national curfew and the suspension of businesses with few exceptions, is set to expire.

“In response to newly implemented government policies and in an abundance of caution, with the well-being, safety and health of you and our associates in mind, we will be closing the Baha Mar Casino beginning March 20, 2020 at 5am,” the letter sent to guests said.

“However, we invite you to continue to enjoy all of the other spectacular experiences Baha Mar has to offer.

“The casino closure is expected to be in effect until March 31, 2020 at which time the government will issue additional policies and the resort will evaluate the situation.

“Baha Mar is committed to upholding the highest standards of cleanliness and our teams have rigorously increased our cleaning practices across all hotel properties.”

PAGE 6, Monday, March 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

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jamaaltheartist@gmail.com

Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .

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EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-

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The disaster that has hit our economy AN economic earthquake has hit The Bahamas.

The effects of the coronavirus aren’t just a tremor, but far greater than that.

Hotels are closing down and temporarily laying off staff, the US embassy has told US citizens to get home now or face being abroad for an indefinite period and around the world, coronavirus cases are increasing in number.

Financially, we face some very hard decisions, with Tourism Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar estimating that the unemployment rate is now probably more than 30 percent – and growing.

Already swollen by the job losses after Hurricane Dorian, coronavirus has hit our country in the place it depends on most – the tourism trade.

Make no mistake, this is going to be very hard.

We often talk about being a Christian country, and this is going to be a huge test of faith. We are going to have to help our neighbour, we are going to have to pull together.

We are also going to have to listen to what our government says and take it seriously.

Over the weekend, members of The Tribune staff saw people gathering in crowds against the government’s health advice – advice designed to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

There were basketball matches going on by the bridge, people gathered round tables playing dominoes on Montagu Beach and at the park in Fox Hill, or groups partying on the beach.

It only takes one person in that crowd to have the virus and everyone could be taking it home to their loved ones, who may be older or more vulnerable to the virus. You aren’t just taking a chance for yourself, you’re taking a chance for the people you love.

You don’t have to look far in the news to see the consequences of such gatherings – a wedding in Australia led to

dozens of people testing positive for coronavirus, a family dinner in New Jersey led to seven family members getting infected, and killing the mother and three of her children, with nearly 20 other relatives quarantined to their homes, waiting to find out if they are infected.

We are blessed so far to have far fewer cases than elsewhere – though that blessing is not felt by the patients fighting the disease, their relatives praying for them or the medics treating them while trying to avoid catching it themselves.

But the more we risk spreading this disease within our nation, the less likely it is that blessing will hold. It’s this simple – go out and meet up with groups and you could kill your family.

On the other hand, though, the more precautions you take, the quicker it might be that we stop the spread of this virus on our shores. The faster that happens, the sooner we’ll be able to resume life as close to normal as this disaster will allow. The sooner we’ll be able to be ready to open our doors again once other nations conclude their own battles. The sooner we’ll be able to recover.

This is literally a battle that you can help win by sitting at home and watching television. No heroics are required for most of us – though we salute all the essential workers out there taking risks so everyone else can stay home, from supermarket shelf stackers to health workers.

A wise general never fights a war on two fronts – let us deal with the war on the coronavirus so that we are fit to fight the war to rebuild our economy.

So listen to the government, stay at home, and offer up a prayer for our nation, and all those affected, be it those being treated in the hospital or those wondering what to do next with no job to go to this morning.

An economic earthquake has indeed hit us – but we must do all we can to minimise the aftershocks.

Sol Kerzner, a hero to The Bahamas SOl Kerzner was a giant.

If coronavirus is an earthquake affecting the economy negatively, Mr Kerzner had as much an impact but as a positive.

As we remember him after his death at the weekend, we cannot help but look at what he did for our nation.

When The Bahamas needed someone to step up to help reinvigorate the economy, Mr Kerzner was the man who stepped up.

With his son, Butch, they made a great team, and his huge investment in Paradise Island gave us Atlantis. We need only look at the impact of the sections of Atlantis closing down right now amid the current crisis to realise the sheer scale of what Mr Kerzner achieved.

He was not there as a foreign investor just to swoop and make his money with little care for the Bahamian culture either – indeed, he was a champion for

Bahamians, giving opportunities to the likes of architect Jackson Burnside or turning to local companies to create the support network for Atlantis.

His work brought international stars to The Bahamas, major sporting events and more. Indeed, what he achieved at Atlantis raised the bar for other resorts.

As the saying goes, a rising tide raises all boats. Mr Kerzner lifted us all up.

Perhaps the greatest tribute we can give is that as we face a new moment of having to reinvigorate our economy, the one thing we could wish for most of all is Sol at our side.

Just as he inspired the nation to raise its standards, so too now we hope his example inspires a new generation of business leaders, who can follow in his footsteps and raise our nation up once more.

Thank you for everything, Mr Kerzner. Rest well.

How my friend helped fulfill a dream for these islands IT IS most difficult for me to accept that Sol Kerzner has died at the age of 84. I had the very good fortune of working with Sol from the day he assumed control and management.

Sol first visited Paradise Island in the mid-1980s and was immediately attracted to the beauty of the island, the breathtaking colours of the ocean and the magnificent beaches. He subsequently admitted to me in conversation that he knew that if the circumstances were good he would return to The Bahamas and Paradise Island as an investor without hesitation.

In the meantime Merv Griffin acquired Resorts International and Paradise Island and used his considerable star power to create Paradise Island into an outstanding destination.

However, fate was unkind to Merv Griffin and his ability to stay in the business was severely diminished. With apartheid in South Africa coming to an end, Nelson Mandela, who was friendly with Sol, gave him a full and absolute endorsement with the Ingraham government.

Here was the beginning of a tourism journey that was to

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net produce huge rewards for the entire Bahamas and its citizens.

An all encompassing Heads Of Agreement for the development of Paradise Island was crafted and signed.

The Agreement called for the effective transfer of ownership to take place on 1st January, 1994 and operational control would be transferred to Kerzner on the 1st May, 1994. Here was the beginning of a tourism journey that was to produce huge rewards for the entire Bahamas and its citizens.

Sol immediately became immersed in structurally and decoratively transforming Paradise Island Resort and Casino.

Originally, the name for the resort was going to be “Skull Mountain” with a pirate theme. However, Lady Darling, wife of Sir Clifford Darling, Governor General, invited Sol Kerzner to tea at Government House which he accepted.

During tea Lady Darling

advanced the following “Mr. Kerzner it is going to be extremely important for the name of the revitalized resort to be one that captures the spirit of what you are doing.” Sol was intrigued and asked what specifically did she have in mind? Whereupon she began telling the story of the lost continent of Atlantis and how it would arise from the mighty depth of the ocean.

Sol liked the idea very much and after detailed discussions with his development team there emerged the fairy tale of the “lost continent of Atlantis.“ The decision was taken and Atlantis was born.

Thanks to Lady Darling, Atlantis, with the genius of Sol Kerzner became “the premier resort in this hemisphere.”

Fortunately, the chemistry between Prime Minister Ingraham and Sol Kerzner was special. After spending $150 million Atlantis was launched on the 13th December,1994 with much celebration.

J BARRIE FARRINGTON Nassau March 22, 2020

Why we must listen to our Birth Mother EDITOR, The Tribune ON this first day of Spring, I should like to share these words in your publication as we face this present day crisis together in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and all around the world.

THEN THERE WAS LIGHT The Bahamas – 700 islands and cays nestled in the Atlantic Sea surrounded by the most beautiful, clear and sparkling waters in our World – the Earth.

Mother Nature - the birth Mother of our World – the Earth, connected by oceans of water

washing from shore to shore and reaching all other lands around the globe – WE ARE THE WORLD. The World - what is its genesis, what sustains its life? What lies at its core that vibrates and spirals upward from inward, through layers upon layers of strata … higher and higher until it reaches the surface where the circle of life as we know it exists?

Humans – who are we, what are we, why are we here?

Mother Nature IS – She IS eons before and eons beyond our time, and we humans exist within Her being. Mother Nature speaks to us in serenity from the calm

surface of the sea, in the gentle waves awash upon the shore, in the freshness of the morning air, in the warmth of the setting sun, in the whispers of the wind amongst the trees, in the soft patters of raindrops on the ground.

Are we listening?

Mother Nature speaks to us in anger from the crackling crash of lightning, in the roar of thunder, in the howling of the wind, in the crash of the waves upon the shore. Are we listening?

Mother Nature speaks to us in fury from the horrendous power of the hurricane, in the relentless roaring of the wind, in the swelling surges of the sea, in the

pelting pellets of rain that merge with the monstrous mountains of ocean surge that crash and crack and beat us relentlessly to the ground. Are we listening?

It is time to listen when She speaks, to learn when She shows us that we are not the world – She is.

Our greed, our arrogance, our selfishness, our disrespect, has brought us here. Now is the time to acquiesce to our place as the servants and the stewards of our home, our World, our Earth, together as one, in concert with our Mother! Then there was light – of the mind - to see what we lookin’ at – and to move forward, upward, onward together!

Our Birth Mother speaks - we are forced to listen intently, hearing Her voice and respecting her admonitions by paying respect and homage to the World in which She has placed us – a FAMILY ISLANDS archipelago nestled warmly within her bosom, whose inhabitants’ hands reach out and unite one to the other, clasped enthusiastically in celebration for times of joy, and stretching instinctively outwards with comfort and healing in times of grief and sorrow!

PAM BURNSIDE Nassau, March 19, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, March 23, 2020, PAGE 7

MAIN picture: Tribune editor Eileen Carron at a family gathering with Sol Kerzner; left: his late son Butch with Mother Pratt; below right: Butch’s wife Vanessa.

Farewell to the Sun King, Sol Kerzner from page one In 1994, he purchased the Paradise Island property, investing more than $1 billion into renovations and new construction into the now Atlantis resort.

Having created more than 7,500 jobs, he became the country’s largest private employer, second only to the government in total numbers.

Noting Sir Sol left an indelible and lasting imprint on The Bahamas, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said his many contributions to the country will never be forgotten. “It is with profound sadness that The Bahamas mourns the death of Sol Kerzner, who died at 84 at his family home in his native South Africa,” Dr Minnis said.

“On behalf of the government and people of The Bahamas, and on my own behalf and that of Patricia, I offer condolences to Sol’s children, family, friends and colleagues … More than 30 years ago, this visionary

and creative force of a man arrived in The Bahamas with grand ideas at a time when Bahamas tourism needed to emerge from the doldrums.”

He continued: “Despite opposition from some quarters, Kerzner and the government of the day collaborated in the rejuvenation of tourism in The Bahamas. The size, the scope, the financial commitment and the nature of his investments were such statements of confidence in our country that they shone a new light on The Bahamas, which endures.”

Minister of Tourism Dionsio D’Aguilar also paid tribute to the business magnate, who he described as a “giant” in the hospitality industry.

“We shall not see his likeness again,” he said. “His vision for Atlantis reshaped our skyline here in Nassau and redefined The Bahamas vacation for many millions.

He will be sorely missed.”

Family friend and longterm Atlantis senior vice-president, public affairs, Ed Fields said:

MURDER COUNT NOW 17 AFTER MAN SHOT DEAD A MAN was shot dead Friday morning in Stapledon Gardens.

According to a police report, three men were standing outside a home on Albatross Road shortly after 3am when a silver vehicle pulled up. A male, armed with a firearm, exited the vehicle and shot one

of the men, before getting back into the car and speeding away. Paramedics were called to the scene, but they were unable to revive him.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

This latest homicide brings the murder count to 17, according to The Tribune’s records.

THE plane can be seen floating at sea on this video grab

THREE SURVIVE AFTER PLANE CRASHES IN SEA

POLICE are investigating after a plane crashed in waters off Eleuthera on Saturday afternoon. There were no injuries.

According to police, shortly before 2pm, the twin engine aircraft, registration N14178, crashed into the sea near the Bouge settlement, with three people on board.

The matter will be referred to the Air Accident Investigation Department for further investigation.

“There are no words, only emotions. So I will say only what needs to be said.

It is ironic that Sol passed today. A day when essentially Atlantis is on the verge of being closed due to the scourge that is Covid 19.

I used to say to people, imagine if you took an eraser and erased Atlantis from the Bahamian landscape. Today of all days, we all have an idea of what that really means.

Sir Sol was without a doubt, the most significant investor to ever come to the Bahamas. His attention to detail and standards of service made us all fully recognize the difference between service and servitude. In my opinion however, in addition to the monumental investment in brick and mortar, more significantly was his investment in people.

As a result, there are now implanted throughout the Bahamian community so many Atlanteans that went on to other organizations or to start their own enterprises and those standards

are felt every day in some many business enterprises in this country.

His legacy is engrained in so many of us for ever. He delivered on his promises to us and it is now left to us to nurture the seed he sowed.

I will miss the sound of “How’sitEd” in that South African twang that made it sound like one word, but I will never forget what he did for me personally, all of my Atlantis colleagues, and for my Bahamas.”

Sir Sol will be buried at a small, private funeral with only immediate relatives in attendance.

Editorial View - Page 6 Insight - Page 8&9

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2020

THE STORIES BEHIND THE NEWS

Ex Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on Sol Kerzner’s contribution to The Bahamas

T

HE Bahamas economy had been in recession for two consecutive years when my first government came to office in August 1992. Unemployment was at 14.8 percent, the highest level since the 1970s and our foreign reserves were at $145.9m, the lowest level in a decade.

Tourism was and is still today the growth engine of the economy; and our entire tourism product was crippled by August 1992.

Nassau, our principal tourism centre, was filthy.

Bay Street was a T-shirt alley with an unfinished parking lot, really a quarryfilled dust bowl, adjacent to Prince George Dock which welcomed cruise ship passengers to our capital city.

Construction on the new US Terminal at the Nassau International Airport had stopped because the government had run out of money. Government owned 20 percent of the country’s hotel room stock; Resorts International on Paradise Island was in bankruptcy and Carnival Crystal Palace Hotel in Cable Beach was for sale.

All our hotels were generally run down and occupancy rates were dangerously low. Both Carnival and Resorts International had been forced to resort to running their own airlines to bring guests to their properties. Bahamian hotel workers were working only two and three-day weeks. Bahamian vacation packages were being offered at bargain basement prices. Getting the stalled tourism engine restarted was our top priority.

It was very clear to us that we would have to vigorously pursue a strategy for economic growth if we were to pull the country’s economy out of the negative tailspin in which we had met it. We quickly recognized that the government alone could not fix the problem.

We set out to upgrade public infrastructure and to revamp the investment climate creating an environment conducive to expanded private sector investment and hence, job creation by the private sector. We updated and published for the first time, a national investment policy that was meant to cut out the middlemen and influence peddlers that had severely compromised our investment environment; we updated incentive legislation and repealed the immovable Properties Act; and we created the Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA). We told the world The Bahamas was open for business and we were making it better in The Bahamas again.

Sol Kerzner was an early responder. I remember that among his team on his first visit to my office in 1993 was his son, Butch, an American trained banker whom he was clearly grooming for future leadership in his company. There was great affinity and great respect between the father and son team.

Kerzner was a straight shooter, a successful hotelier; he was not flashy. I was impressed that he very early disclosed the difficulties he had encountered in connection with his development of the major Sun Resort in a South African township involving allegations of payments of bribes. He offered to provide references from well-respected international persons who believed him to have been the victim of circumstances. The fact that Nelson Mandela, just recently released from 26 years detention in South Africa, vouched for him and for his company’s non-racist stand carried considerable weight with us.

And Kerzner had

With an economy on its knees, straight-shooter Sol arrived with a dream SOL Kerzner with, from the left, daughters Andrea, Beverly and Chantal and son Brandon. Below: with former prime ministers Perry Christie and Hubert Ingraham and Barry Farrington Sr, VP Atlantis

excellent bank and credit references and established business partners – South African Insurance Companies and UK investors.

He gave me every assurance that all his business dealings in The Bahamas would maintain the highest ethical standard. We made clear to him and to his attorney that they were never to approach the government through intermediaries, lobbyists or influence peddlers.

I found that we were on the same page. His quick understanding of our economic dilemma and of our interest in not only stimulating but maximising job creating investments gave me and my government confidence in him and his ability to partner with us in moving the tourism sector forward.

More and better hotel rooms would require additional air lift to Nassau.

In turn, increased airlift would increase revenues for the Nassau International Airport.

Increased passenger loads would increase demand for taxi transfers to hotels and increased visitors would translate into increased customers for straw vendors, artisans, retail stores,

and increasing patrons for restaurants and dance and entertainment clubs. Moreover, increased business would increase employment and increased employment would grow the country’s tax base and make it possible for my government to institute very real reductions in some taxes – customs duties, for example but also increases in real property tax exemptions for owners of medium range residences.

Sol, a brilliant hotelier, saw the opportunity that Paradise Island presented under a new transparent investment climate and he bit. He brought along renderings of how the existing Paradise Island hotels would be modernised and how pirate ships and pirates

would be woven into a new water theme park. He showed us a video of the Resort in South Africa and said he would do the same on Paradise Island.

That pirate concept soon gave way to the Lost City

of Atlantis and the rest, as they say, is history.

Sol Kerzner undertook to invest $125m in acquiring 65 percent ownership in Resorts International’s property on Paradise Island and an expend a further $100m in refurbishing two hotels, creating the first water themed park at Atlantis.

In fact, he invested $145m in the renovation project, a significant sum at the beginning of the last decade of the century.

Sun International (later Kerzner International) introduced a new, upscale clientele to The Bahamas on a scale never before imagined.

Before Sun International the wealthiest tourists coming to The Bahamas were a small select number reserved to enclaves at the Ocean Club, Lyford Cay and other mini facilities on secluded places as had existed from time to time in Cat Cay, Eleuthera, Harbour Island or Abaco or Exuma.

But Atlantis brought Fortune 500 type executives to The Bahamas in the hundreds if not thousands – with their families. Atlantis

renovations created hundreds of construction jobs and new permanent jobs in the economy when it opened in December 1994.

By the time Kerzner invested another $250m (between 1996 and 2000) in the construction of the Royal Towers, Sun International was responsible for creating as many as 2,500 new permanent jobs at its resort facilities.

We believe the impact in the wider economy was also spurred on and supported by the fact the FNM government changed the rules under which investors operated in The Bahamas.

We wrote into our Heads of Agreement with Sun International (and subsequently with every other hotel investor in The Bahamas) a requirement that Bahamians and Bahamian products had to be used in the construction and operation of any project receiving government concessions.

Those increased linkages between hotel development and other sectors of our economy using Bahamian professional services, in the local sourcing of agricultural and fisheries produce and in decorations and appointments of the resorts substantially improved the net benefit of tourism to the domestic economy.

Kerzner’s resort also opened the door for effective joint ventures with Bahamian contractors, for architects like Jackson Burnside, for

MY SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A BRILLIANT MAN IN 1995 I was a 20-something fresh from Exuma hustling in the transportation business. Alan Lieberman along with the executive team of Atlantis introduced to the man who would change my life and the lives of many Bahamians for ever - Solomon Kerzner. Sol Kerzner reinvented tourism and our tourism product in The Bahamas.

He believed in us and we believed

in him. Who would ever believe a white man from South Africa, during the time of apartheid would make such a significant culture change of entrepreneurship and value in The Bahamas? I am one of many touched by his story.

Everyone who worked at Atlantis during the time I was there knows how close Sol and I were. To this day I call him Dad. Yes, he was. For the

ten years I had a relationship with Atlantis and the years beyond to now, we maintained a special bond. A special relationship. My success in life is because I listened to Thomas Dorsett and Sol Kerzner. My failures in life are because I did not.

My love for you Dad seems limited in expressing my gratitude to you.

Your son, Burton Rogers

manufacturers and skilled artisans and later for small businesses who supplied uniforms for staff, pillows and mattresses for guests’ rooms, sea food and condiments for restaurants – few of these people were directly on Atlantis’ payroll but they all had some income which could be traced to Atlantis.

This allowed Kerzner to close the small Paradise Island airport opened to bring tourists directly to the island as airlift to Nassau had fallen in the 1980s. He converted the real estate into an exclusive gated community – Ocean Club Estates. I am convinced that Kerzner’s success encouraged investments and upgrades throughout The Bahamas, convincing many potential investors to make the commitment and enter The Bahamas for the first time, or to expand their existing investments in The Bahamas.

The benefit to the government and public sector was significant. Increased employment and increased room rates on Paradise Island and increased upscale tourism numbers meant increased hotel room taxes, increased business licence fees, increased electricity usage, increased telecommunications and increased customs duties from a growing economy.

The impact of Kerzner’s investment were felt beyond his properties on Paradise Island and included the whole hotel sector and indeed our wider economy as well: • Improved quality in our hotel product is now widespread, in imitation, Kerzner would perhaps say, of what other operators saw in place and working at his properties.

• Improved training and retraining programmes available for workers in the hotel sector at Kerzner’s hotel properties visibly improved service standards - in hotels, in restaurants and in the retail sector; this was not been lost on other hotel operators nor on our local retail merchants.

• New construction techniques employed in the creation of Atlantis’ imaginative water, stone and landscapes, pools and facades have been transferred to local talent as became evident in the many construction projects around New Providence.

• Infrastructural upgrades, particularly to Paradise Island roads lined with sidewalks and attractive lighting and the construction of the underpass below the Atlantis marina demonstrated what could be accomplished beyond the Resort • Increased local sourcing of furnishings, finishings, and foodstuffs - sea food, fruit preserves, jams and condiments in particular has spread to other resorts and restaurants fueled a growing cottage industry.

• The impact of Kerzner’s introduction of Bahamian original artwork on its properties is immense.

This practice has also been adopted and expanded upon by growing numbers of hotels around the country – very markedly by New Providence’s newest mega hotel resort Baha Mar. Truly Sol’s contribution to The Bahamas is a wonderful story.

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

INSIGHT

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2020 PAGE 9

Kerzner’s rule was always to ‘blow away the customer’

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net SOL Kerzner can be deemed one of the world’s most advanced and inventive hoteliers. He was the founder of the Southern Sun hotel group, Sun International and Kerzner International, all very successful in the establishment of mega resorts.

The youngest of four children and the only male child born to Russian immigrants, Kerzner worked from an early age in a rough neighbourhood.

He grew up to become one of the most influential men and hoteliers in the world having owned properties in Mauritius, The Maldives, The Bahamas, Dubai among other countries.

In 1962, Kerzner entered the hospitality industry when he purchased The Astra, a small inn in Durban, South Africa. He soon renovated the once run down property into one of the more upscale and prevalent hotels in Durban.

This kicked off his 60-year career in the hospitality industry where he moved from success to success.

Prior to the start of his career in hospitality, Kerzner, age 12, played with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra and was also an avid boxer becoming the Varsity Welterweight Champion.

Educationally, he graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a degree in accountancy.

Kerzner was 26 years old when he developed The Beverly Hills, Umhlanga Rocks - the first five-star hotel in South Africa. This was done at a time when no one thought it was possible. He defied the odds and this property became a mega success and gave him the reputation of being South Africa’s most respected hotelier. He went on to develop the Elangeni Hotel also in Durban.

This was a 450-room resort on the beachfront. Pushing a little further, Kerzner then partnered with South African Breweries to establish Southern Sun Hotels. By 1983 this partnership operated 30 luxury hotels encompassing more than 7000 keys.

According to Ian Douglas, a friend and employee at Kerzner’s various companies over a span of some 20 years: “Nothing he built was ever boring and he never chased the money.

He only chased success.”

Like in any business, there comes the controversial, eye brow raisers, Kerzer was no exception in this. His biggest and most controversial successes was the development of Sun City which was situated just north of Johannesburg.

There were no roads and no infrastructure, yet Kerzner imagined and delivered what is deemed the most ambitious development in all of Africa.

Work on Sun City started in in 1975 and over the next ten years, Kerzner built four hotels, a man-made lake, two Gary Player golf courses, and an entertainment centre with an indoor 6,000-seat arena. This arena played host to a world-class recording artists such as Queen, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, Shirley Bassey, as well as huge world title fights, and many other spectacular events. The naysayers were once again defied and Kerzner trained the best workforce to operate Sun City on a non-racial basis.

From inception, Kerzner’s rule was always to “blow away the customer”.

He was driven by this and when scouting for locations in Durban, Mauritius or The Bahamas, he was not “blown away” by the location he would continue his search for another stretch of beach.

After South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, Kerzner was asked by President Nelson Mandela to organise the reception for the Presidential Inauguration. Most of the world’s leaders attended this event and established the close relationship between Kerzner and President Mandela.

Mandela is quoted as saying: “He makes a difference everywhere he goes.

Sol, thank you for changing our World!” Both men remained very close until the passing of President Mandela in 2013.

In 1994, making his mark outside of Africa for the first time, Kerzner acquired The Paradise Island Resort

SOL KERZNER, one of the world’s most advanced hoteliers

and Casino here in The Bahamas. He launched a major re-development and expansion project and changed this financially troubled property into the extravagant Atlantis Resort - a 2300-room resort that housed one of the world’s largest man-made marine habitats and then-Caribbean’s biggest casino.

Atlantis, which continues to be appealing to visitors of all ages because of its mythical themes, employs the largest amount of Bahamians in the hospitality industry. Kerzner later expanded this property with The Cove and The Reef hotels adding 1100rooms.

Kerzner’s son, Butch Kerzner, soon came on board with his father in the hospitality business, leaving behind a promising career in corporate finance. The company was then rebranded “Kerzner International”.

The Kerzners soon

became the “Dynamic Duo” of the hotel business and built their first casino resort in 1996 in America calling it The Mohegan Sun. A property that is still, to date, one of the largest gaming and entertainment entities in North America.

Sol Kerzner’s daughter, Andrea Kerzner, said: “Dad taught us family values. No matter how busy he was, he always made time for us, his family.”

Continuing their work, Sol and Butch Kerzner launched the One&Only Resorts. These were awardwinning high end luxury resorts situated in The Bahamas, Mexico, Mauritius, The Maldives, South Africa and Dubai. These properties were unique in design and ambiance and the brand set a new standard in the casual luxury resorts.

Sadly in 2006, Butch Kerzner, who had already taken over as CEO of Kerzner International, perished in

a helicopter accident which he was exploring sites to develop a resort in the Dominical Republic.

The Atlantis brand was extended globally with the development of a property called The Palm, in Dubai.

This $1.5 billion dollar property housed some 1500 rooms and featured the largest aquarium and waterpark in the Middle East, luxury retail outlets, and restaurants featuring internationally renowned celebrity chefs.

Kerzner proceeded to extend the Atlantis brand globally with the development of Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. This $1.5bn, 1,500-room destination resort featured the largest aquarium and waterpark in the Middle East, luxury retail outlets, and restaurants featuring internationally renowned celebrity chefs. This property opened in late 2008.

From one success to the next in 2009, Kerzner

went back to Africa where he started his career as a hotelier and developed the 500-room, Mazagan Beach Resort in Morocco, and also opened the One&Only Cape Town, situated in the famous V&A Waterfront.

He was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List with the insignia Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG). Kerzner never used the title and was always surprised and amused when people addressed him as ‘Sir Sol’.

There is no way to describe the impact that Sol Kerzner and his group of companies had on the resort industry worldwide. From his common beginnings in life, to his establishing well over eighty hotel and casino properties, in more than a dozen countries, Kerzner’s tenacity has truly made a mark that can be seen and felt all over the world.

PAGE 10 MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2020

by Malcolm Strachan IF there is anything valuable we’ve learned since COVID-19 launched its deadly onslaught on at least 186 countries, amassing more than 276,000 cases and causing over 11,000 deaths, it is that timing is everything. The Bahamas has been blessed with the good fortune of witnessing the mistakes made by other countries and is acting at what may prove to be the optimal time.

While much larger, more developed countries have underestimated the devastation this virus is capable of, The Bahamas government exhibited great poise by not being too quick on the trigger. As the virus exploded in China and then made its trek through Europe, wreaking havoc in Italy and then Spain, Bahamians watched and waited.

And sure enough as the end of February arrived, and our northern neighbour and source of nearly six million tourists annually, the United States, confirmed its first cases of the coronavirus, we knew it would only be matter of time before we were battling with our own first case.

Two weeks later, those fears would become reality as “Patient 1”, a 61-year-old Bahamian woman with no travel history in the 21 days prior to testing, was confirmed positive for having COVID-19. Later in the week, three members of her family also tested positive after having contracted the virus on recent travels.

Subsequent to the initial case, what followed was a series of steps which may not perfect and are likely to force citizens to live outside of their comfort zones for a period of time, but may serve as the difference between life and death.

Italy, the new epicentre of the pandemic and most recent case study of how other countries should not approach this virus, is still suffering the ramifications of a multitude of missteps that could have been avoided much earlier. After

INSIGHT

EMAIL: insight@tribunemedia.net

Pray our government is getting this right because the alternative is terrifying witnessing the Chinese struggle to gain control of the spread of the virus leading them to enforce aggressive draconian measures - Italy’s mild approach led to a rise in cases of epic proportions.

With nearly 5,000 of its citizens dead as a result of succumbing to COVID19, overwhelmed Italian doctors are grappling with difficult choices – choosing who lives and who dies between the young and old.

At the time this article was written, Italy recorded its highest death toll in one day (793) over the weekend, leaving no question that they are certainly still in the thick of things.

Imagine if The Bahamas was in a similar scenario – a nation with strong attachments to its older generation. I shudder at the thought of the inexplicable grief that would befall families all over this nation.

Say what you will for China’s part, an aggressive approach is exactly what has led to them reporting no new cases of COVID19 domestically for the first time since it began in February just last week.

Only seeing new cases as a result of residents and nationals returning home, they proved what they did worked for them.

While it is doubtful that our government would employ some of the tactics the Chinese did, we certainly learned that to beat this virus and blunt the curve, very strict measures would have to be enforced.

Thankfully, the policy makers had the mettle to install them.

With the release of a

PRIME Minister Hubert Minnis addressing the COVID-19 crisis last week. compendium of prevention measures in line with what many medical experts the world over are advising, border restrictions, a national curfew and social distancing have become the country’s new normal – at least for the time being. A complete deviation from our way of life, a society that is sometimes too familiar with one another is being asked to remain in the confines of their homes for a period of two weeks and maybe even longer if the government determines it to be necessary. An economy built on

tourism, for the first time in who knows how long, may be forced to rethink industries and drive more insulated streams of revenue to safeguard in times such as these.

The social impact has been so disruptive for a populace still trying to make sense of life between one hurricane season and on the eve of another. Without a doubt, it can often feel like too much.

Funerals are being postponed. Wedding plans are being upended. Employees are being laid off. It is utter madness that we

are experiencing in such unprecedented times.

With tourism all but collapsed, if the vacant store fronts on Bay Street are any indicator of what the shortto-medium term is going to look like, we ought to brace ourselves. We are in for a ride.

And oddly enough, unlike any other time of uncertainty, the government seems steady and controlled. Their action plan, though not without a hitch, is seemingly unfolding in a methodical fashion. Moreover, what has been encouraging is

the anecdotes from those that have seen the worst of the virus and survived to give an account. Although China has caught a lot of flak in the media for its measures in gaining control of the spread of the virus, the tactics they employed may have saved its people.

And in hindsight, it would seem as though many of them feel a debt of gratitude for the actions of its government.

At the same time as Italy - a country slower to act - is now quarantining its population of 60 million people in effect by locking down the entire country, many believe these measures are being taken too late.

A 35-year-old editor from the Hubei Province – 75 km from Wuhan, the epicentre of the pandemic - who commented in a Market Watch article posited that many countries will lose many people for fear of employing policies what some would deem as extreme.

“My concern is that Western countries will have a longer battle with this disease, because they put their personal rights higher than the good of the group,” he said.

Certainly, the complaints from the Bahamian people have been coming out fast and furious. And surely, the inconveniences are real and understandable.

But a word to the wise is sufficient – it is better to have short-term discomfort than long-term disaster.

Let’s do ourselves a favour and follow what the government has mandated, and let’s come out of this a stronger, more innovative, more resilient Bahamas.

THE TRIBUNE

Monday, March 23, 2020, PAGE 11

CONGRESSIONAL RESCUE TALKS CHURN AS CRISIS DEEPENS WASHINGTON Associated Press

TOP-LEVEL negotiations between Congress and the White House churned into the night yesterday over a now nearly $2 trillion economic rescue package, as the coronavirus crisis deepened, the nation shut down and the first US senator tested positive for the disease.

As President Donald Trump took to the podium in the White House briefing room and promised to help Americans who feel afraid and isolated as the pandemic spreads, the Senate voted against advancing the rescue package. But talks continued on

Capitol Hill. “I think you’ll get there. To me it’s not very complicated: We have to help the worker. We have to save the companies,” Trump said. “We’re enduring a great national trial and we will prove that we can meet the moment. We’re at war.”

Inside the otherwise emptied out Capitol, the draft aid bill was declared insufficient by Democrats, who argued it was tilted toward corporations and did too little to help workers and health care providers.

Republicans returned to the negotiating table.

With a population on edge and shell-shocked financial markets poised for the new work week, Washington laboured under the

size and scope of the rescue package that’s more ambitious than any in recent times — larger than the 2008 bank bailout and 2009 recovery act combined.

“Our nation cannot afford a game of chicken,” warned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., his voice rising on the Senate floorl ast night. He set a new vote this morning.

But Democrats say the largely GOP-led effort does not go far enough to provide health care and worker aid, and fails to put restraints on a proposed $500 billion “slush fund” for corporations.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., meeting late with Treasury Secretary

Steven Mnuchin, said the draft package “significantly cut back our hospitals, our cities, our states, our medical workers and so many others needed in this crisis.”

Democrats won a concession — to provide four months of expanded unemployment benefits, rather than just three as proposed, according to an official granted anonymity to discuss the private talks.

While the congressional leaders worked into the night, alarms were being sounded from coast to coast about the wave of coronavirus cases about to crash onto the nation’s health system.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had dire, urgent news from

the pandemic’s U.S. epicenter: “April and May are going to be a lot worse,” he said.

De Blasio all but begged Washington to help procure ventilators and other medical supplies. He accused the president of “not lifting a finger” to help.

Trump urged Congress to get a deal done and, during the Sunday briefing, responded to criticism that his administration was sluggish to act. He cited his cooperation with the three states hardest hit — New York, Washington and California — and invoked a measure to give governors flexibility in calling up the national guard under their control.

DEATH TOLL SURPASSES 14,600 LEFT: A cyclist rides down the middle of a main road in downtown New York; above: City workers spray disinfectant in Caracas, Venezuela; below: Volunteers disinfect a police car in Pamplona, northern Spain

New York facing medical shortage NEW YORK Associated Press NEW York implemented dramatic restrictions yesterday to slow a pandemic that has killed more than 14,600 people worldwide and was threatening to make the state one of the biggest hot spots.

As coronavirus infections soar — or in anticipation that they will — leaders warned of a critical shortage of medical supplies. Spain was erecting a field hospital in a convention center, British health workers pleaded for more gear, saying they felt like “cannon fodder,” and President Donald Trump ordered mobile hospital centers be sent to Washington, California and New York.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered all nonessential businesses in the state to close and nonessential workers to stay home, tightening earlier restrictions.

Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also called for getting everything from masks to ventilators, as well as doctors and other medical workers to New York, warning a mounting death

toll might grow more steeply without more federal help.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, promised on CBS that the medical supplies are about to start pouring in and will be “clearly directed to those hot spots that need it most.”

Hours later, Trump said he had ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ship mobile hospital centers to Washington, California and New York.

Pressure was building on the largest event still on the global calendar: the Tokyo Olympics. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said a postponement would be unavoidable if the games, no scheduled to begin in July, cannot be held in a complete way.

There were more than 33,000 cases across the U.S. and more than 400 deaths.

New York state accounted for 117 deaths, passing Washington state, the initial epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, in the number of fatalities.

As the virus has spread and testing has increased, the United States has grown to the third-most cases in

the world. But deaths from COVID-19 continued to rise in the hot spots of Italy, Spain and Iran.

Iran’s supreme leader refused U.S. assistance to fight the virus, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the outbreak could be an American plot.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came as Iran faces crushing U.S. sanctions over its nuclear actions. Iran says it has 1,685 deaths and 21,638 confirmed cases of the virus — a toll that experts say is almost certainly underreported.

The world kept shutting down, too. The United Arab Emirates is suspending all passenger flights and the transit of airline passengers through the country for two weeks. Dubai has the world’s busiest international airport, which is a vital hub connecting West and East. Singapore said it will fully shut its borders beginning Tuesday, and New Zealand will go into a full lockdown for about four weeks.

The British government had a stark message for those marking Mother’s Day on Sunday: Visiting your mother could kill her.

Instead of parties, lunch or tea, Prime Minister Boris Johnson implored Britons to call Mom on a video chat.

Doctors in Britain made urgent pleas for more protective equipment as the number of coronavirus patients in U.K. hospitals soared to more than 5,000. Almost 4,000 medical workers signed a letter to the Sunday Times saying front-line staff felt like “cannon fodder.” They warned that medics would die if they did not receive better equipment.

In anticipation that the worst is yet to come for New York, Cuomo has told hospitals to increase their current bed numbers by at least 50%. Predictions from health officials are that COVID-19 cases needing advanced medical care will top 100,000 in the state in the next month or so. Hospitals feeling the crush are

creating emergency room overflows and dedicating COVID-19 wings, with officials in the New York City borough of Brooklyn saying a number of medical centres were becoming overwhelmed.

THE death toll from the global coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 14,600 people worldwide, and it has sickened more than 335,000.

• Italy’s coronavirus infections continue to soar, with 59,000 cases and 5,476 deaths.

• Rand Paul of Kentucky becomes first member of U.S. Senate to announce that he has tested positive for the coronavirus.

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel goes into quarantine after a physician who treated her tests positive for the coronavirus.

• The Canadian Olympic Committee says it won’t send athletes to the Tokyo Games unless they’re postponed for a year.

• Plácido Domingo announces that he has tested positive for the coronavirus.

• Africa gets emergency help to battle the virus from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma. • Iran, with an officially reported 21,600 cases of the new coronavirus, snubs U.S. offer of help. Experts believe Tehran may be underreporting the number of cases.

• Indian prime minister asks his nation of 1.3 billion people to stay home, but many venture out.

• Drive-thru sites are being opened around the United States to test people for the new coronavirus, but the system has been riddled by delays.

SPORTS SECTION A

MONDAY, MARCH 23, 2020

Global athletes group calls for Olympics to be postponed

TWO women take a selfie with the Olympic rings in the background in the Odaiba section of Tokyo. A worldwide group representing Olympic hopefuls is calling on the IOC to postpone the Tokyo Olympics until the coronavirus pandemic is under control — a decision the IOC says could be as much as four weeks away.

SEE THE FULL STORY ON PAGE 15 (AP Photo/Jae C Hong)

LOLO JONES TO AP: IOC SHOULD SHIFT GEARS, POSTPONE OLYMPICS

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer LOLO Jones is 37 — angling for a comeback to the track and well aware that she’s running out of time.

These days, though, earning a spot in the Tokyo Olympics is nowhere close to her No. 1 priority.

The hurdler-turned-bobsledder-turned celebrity, who remains one of the most recognisable and followed Olympic athletes in the United States, is imploring the IOC to send a different message from the one it has thus far about the coronavirus crisis. It has yet to postpone the games, set to start July 24, and by not doing that, Jones believes it is subtly — or not so subtly — telling athletes that they need to be ready, just in case. “It’s tearing athletes apart,” Jones said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press.

“We want to be like everyone else. We want to be healthy, responsible citizens. But we’re also afraid the IOC is going to say, in a month, that the games are on, and, what, hopefully you’re going to still be in shape?”

Some could be. Even more probably won’t. Such is the state of sports across the globe, where different restrictions exist in virtually every country, and in every state in the US Jones has access to a track near her home in Louisiana, but has been heeding the warnings of health officials and government, opting to shut things down. “I fear contaminating my coach,”

LOLO JONES, of the United States, is imploring the IOC to send a different message from the one it has thus far about the coronavirus crisis. It has yet to postpone the games, set to start July 24, and by not doing that, Jones believes it is subtly — or not so subtly — telling athletes that they need to be ready, just in case.

(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) Jones said. “And I fear that we’re not doing our due diligence, as athletes, to send the message: We need to be sticking in our house, self-quarantining.

We’ve got bigger things to worry about right now” than training.

Before shifting her focus to bobsled, which allowed her to become one of the rare athletes to compete in both the Summer and Winter Games, Jones was a breakout star in the buildup to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

She caught her shoe on the second-to-last hurdle in the 100-meter finals and finished seventh — and in shock — in a race won by teammate Dawn Harper.

Four years later, Jones came into Olympic trials out of the top three in the

rankings, not expected to make the team. She finished third at trials and made it back to the games.

It’s those lessons — there’s a reason they run the races — that also feeds into her desire to see Tokyo postponed.

With each

day that passes, there’s an increasingly minute chance of a fair Olympic trials.

USA Track and Field has long prided itself on taking the top three finishers in each event to the Olympics, regardless of their world ranking or past results.

PAGE 14, Monday, March 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Olympic pushback: US track joins swimming, urges Tokyo delay

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer DENVER (AP) — U.S. Olympic leaders are facing a growing rebellion inside their ranks about holding the Tokyo Games.

A board member of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee countered leadership by criticising the IOC, and the USA Track and Field chief added to the call for a postponement because of the mushrooming coronavirus crisis.

USATF CEO Max Siegel sent a two-page note to his counterpart at the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Sarah Hirshland, asking the federation to advocate for a delay. It came late Friday, only a few hours after USA Swimming’s CEO sent a similar letter.

Now, the sports that accounted for 65 of America’s 121 medals and 175 of its 554 athletes at the last Summer Games are on record in urging, in Siegel’s words, “the USOPC, as a leader within the Olympic Movement, to use its voice and speak up for the athletes.”

Also focused on leadership was Steve Mesler, a

A GROUP of students from Uruguay pose for a souvenir picture on the Olympic Rings set outside the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday. The Olympic flame from Greece arrived in Japan Friday, even as the opening of the the Tokyo Games in four months is in doubt with more voices suggesting the games should to be postponed or canceled because of the worldwide virus pandemic.

(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) USOPC board member and Olympic champion bobsledder. In a blog post

Friday, Mesler levelled much much more criticism toward the IOC than

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Hirshland or the board chair, Susanne Lyons, did in earlier statements and interviews.

“The (IOC) ... has not shown the leadership we Olympians desire out of those who are in charge,” Mesler wrote, while careful to emphasize that these were his thoughts “as an Olympian and not those of the USOPC, its Board of Directors, or its leaders.”

Other national committees are also calling on the IOC to act. The federations in Norway and Brazil went public with requests to postpone.

“Our clear recommendation is that the Olympic Games in Tokyo shall not take place before the COVID-19 situation is under firm control on a global scale,” Norway’s federation wrote in a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach.

It’s the US, though, that brings the largest contingent to every Summer Games and wins the most medals — both factors that lead have led NBC to

pay billions to televise the games through 2032.

It would seem to give the USOPC leverage in talks about almost any subject with the IOC, but the federation has been reluctant to use its power.

It spent years, in fact, trying to smooth over tense relations with its international partners.

And since Hirshland took over as CEO in 2018, the focus has been inward, as the sex-abuse scandals that have consumed American sports have shifted the focus to athlete welfare and safety.

Hirshland and Lyons were insistent that the USOPC won’t sacrifice athlete safety in the current crisis.

But they stopped well short of pushing the IOC toward a postponement.

“The decision about the games does not lie directly with us,” Lyons said in a conference call with reporters Friday.

“It lies with (the World Health Organisation), the Japanese government and

the IOC. Under no circumstance would the USOPC send atheltes into harm’s way if didn’t think it was safe.”

Leaders of the track and swimming teams don’t appear willing to take that risk, either, though whether they’ll act on their own — without the sign-off from the USOPC — remains in question.

The leader of the third sport that makes up the backbone of the Olympics — gymnastics — has sent a survey to athletes, asking for their thoughts on what the USA Gymnastics stance should be.

USA Track and Field already had its answer, thanks in part to online conversations led by their athlete representatives.

“If you go there and spread the virus and you go back home and kill one child, one grandmother, father, or even an athlete, is it worth it? The answer to us was no,” said Wallace Spearmon, the vice president of the USATF athletes council.

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Monday, March 23, 2020, PAGE 15

GLOBAL ATHLETES GROUP CALLS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF OLYMPICS

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer A worldwide group representing Olympic hopefuls is calling on the IOC to postpone the Tokyo Olympics until the coronavirus pandemic is under control — a decision the IOC says

could be as much as four weeks away.

“As the world unites to limit the spread of Covid19 virus, the IOC ... must do the same,” Global Athlete said in a news release yesterday.

The statement came out a few hours before an IOC

announcement that said the committee was considering several scenarios and would finalise a decision within four weeks.

The Olympic Games are scheduled to start on July 24.

The lack of action is frustrating a number of athletes

who have spoken up on social media and elsewhere.

“It’s bizarre the IOC hasn’t shown any real leadership,” said Caradh O’Donovan, a Global Athlete founder from Ireland whose karate training has been put on hold due to restrictions in her country.

“They’re acting as though it’s business as usual and it just seems very strange.”

O’Donovan said the unevenness around the globe regarding training, doping control and qualifying standards are among her key concerns — thoughts echoed by a number of athletes on social media and in interviews with The Associated Press over the past few days.

“Athletes want to be part of a solution to ensure the Games are a success,” the Global Athlete statement said. “But under the current global restrictions that are limiting public gatherings as well as closing training facilities and borders, athletes do not have the ability to appropriately prepare for these Games, and their health and safety must come first.”

The group also called on broadcasters, specifically NBC, and sponsors “to adopt the same level of duty of care toward athletes by supporting the IOC and (International Paralympic Committee) with flexibility and understanding during these uncharted times.”

On Saturday night, US athletes took part in a

conference call to share their feelings about the crisis and the possibility of a postponed Olympics.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee is distributing a survey to athletes, with hopes of sharing some of the responses at an IOC meeting next week.

One of America’s bestknown Olympians, hurdler and bobsledder Lolo Jones, told the AP she was hoping the IOC would respond with a postponement.

“If our job as Olympians and Olympic hopefuls is to inspire society and be healthy, we’re going in direct conflict with that by going out in public to find gyms and tracks and pools that are still open to train for the Games,” Jones said.

“Some people are doing that because the IOC is telling us to stay ready, to keep training.”

It’s a thought being echoed by the Global Athlete group. “My dream is to go to the Olympics this year but it’s an impossible task from my perspective and it’s the same for a huge number of athletes,” O’Donovan said. “I’d be absolutely stunned if they go on in July, as planned.”

PAGE 16, Monday, March 23, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

IOC LOOKING AT POSTPONING TOKYO OLYMPICS IN FOUR WEEKS OF TALKS

Changes to Cheque Encashment Policy In order to protect our customer against the increasing instances of cheque fraud, effective March 23, 2020 in-branch cheque encashment will be discontinued.

Scotiabank Retail Customers Scotiabank customers wishing to cash cheques will be required to deposit the cheque(s) to their account, and wait for clearance before accessing the funds through the usual channels.

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LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The IOC will look at postponing the Tokyo Olympics during four weeks of talks announced yesterday amid mounting criticism by athletes and sports officials during the coronavirus pandemic.

Consultation with Japanese public authorities, global sports officials, broadcasters and sponsors will deal with “scenario planning” for the July 24 to August 9 games, the International Olympic Committee said.

This includes “the scenario of postponement,” the IOC said in a statement, adding “cancellation is not on the agenda.”

“These scenarios relate to modifying existing operational plans for the Games to go ahead on July 24, 2020, and also for changes to the start date of the

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Games.” the Olympic body said.

The change in strategy followed IOC president Thomas Bach leading a conference call with executive board members.

Bach has consistently said organisers are fully committed to opening the games on July 24 – despite athlete training, qualifying events and games preparations being disrupted more and more by the virus outbreak causing the COVID-19 disease.

Criticism of the stance grew in recent days from Olympic gold medallists and by an IOC member last Tuesday, before Bach finally acknowledged an alternative plan was possible. “Of course we are considering different scenarios,” Bach told the New York Times in an interview late Thursday.

National Olympic committees in Brazil and

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Slovenia later called for a postponement to 2021.

Norway’s Olympic body said it did not want athletes going to Tokyo until the global health crisis is under control.

The United States governing bodies of swimming and track — two of the three top-tier Summer Games sports — have called on their national Olympic officials to push for a postponement.

“There is a dramatic increase in cases and new outbreaks of COVID19 in different countries on different continents,” the IOC said. “This led the (board) to the conclusion that the IOC needs to take the next step in its scenario-planning.”

“The (board) emphasized that a cancellation ... would not solve any of the problems or help anybody.”

In a separate statement, Bach addressed athletes who wish to compete at the Tokyo Olympics. Of the 11,000 athlete places available in 33 sports, around 4,700 have yet to be allocated.

“Human lives take precedence over everything, including the staging of the games,” Bach wrote. “The IOC wants to be part of the solution.”

Any postponement of the Summer Games would impact the Tokyo Paralympics scheduled for August 25 to September 6.

“As you can imagine, potentially changing the dates of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a huge logistical challenge, and the IPC will support the IOC every step of the way,” the International Paralympic Committee said.

“Currently it is vital that everyone, including athletes, stay at home to help prevent the further spread of this horrible disease which is impacting the global community,” the Germany-based IPC said.