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VOLUME:117 No.95, APRIL 7TH, 2020

THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1

HEALTH: KEEPING FIT WHEN YOU’RE TRAPPED INDOORS

GET USED TO IT • Weekend shutdowns for whole of April • Easter written off by five-day ‘stay in’ • Shops deluged by families stocking up

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net ANOTHER nationwide lockdown will begin at 9pm on Wednesday and last until 5am next Tuesday as the country fights the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced in the House of Assembly yesterday.

“We will experience five days of pain, but a lifetime of resolution,” he said.

He said such strong measures are needed because some people did not listen to warnings to take the COVID19 threat seriously. Health officials, he said, need time to identify super-spreaders of the virus who may be asymptomatic. He also warned the increase in unemployment as a result of economic fallout from the disease will be “tremendous and greater than most of us have seen in our lifetime.”

Dr Minnis, pictured, acknowledged the fiveday lockdown could be especially painful for poor people who may not have a stock of food supplies.

“Growing up in the inner city,” he said, “our grocery shopping pattern was somewhat different from

the average person. One day (we would) go to the supermarket and buy one onion and one tomato, may also buy one can of corned beef and a bag of rice. That might last for a day. The following day we may return and buy one onion, a loaf of Purity bread, a pound or two of sausage and one can of tomato paste. That would last one day again.

The point I’m driving here is it’s very difficult for the poor individual who is accustomed to shopping just one day at a time and (has) no form of storage or savings.

(However) this is essential because there is what we call a ‘super-spreader’.

“The lockdown means you may not leave the confines of your property for any reason, unless there is an emergency or unless you are working in an entity which will be specifically named, or identified by the function being performed, in the lockdown order.”

Dr Minnis said the 24-hour curfew with exemptions for some essential services and activities will resume on April 14 and continue for the remainder of April.

SEE PAGE THREE

SHOPPERS line up outside Super Value in Winton yesterday.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

MEDICAL MASKS ONLY FOR FRONTLINE STAFF

IF WE CARRY ON LIKE THIS, WE WILL NOT COPE

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has encouraged residents to wear non-medical masks in public to fight COVID-19 and prevent asymptomatic carriers from unknowingly spreading the disease.

However, he stressed only frontline healthcare workers should wear medical-grade masks and said others wearing masks

with public health logos on them will at some point be prosecuted.

Dr Minnis also urged people or merchants with large stocks of medical masks to contact the Ministry of Health to sell them to officials, adding that in the near future the sale of such masks to the general public will be prohibited. “(The) Ministry of Health has been urged to place special markers on their SEE PAGE TWO

THE number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has risen to 33, with four new cases diagnosed in New Providence.

The update from health officials came hours after Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands told Parliament that The Bahamas has not yet reached the peak of this outbreak.

With five patients dead

out of 33 confirmed cases, the country has a COVID19 mortality rate of 15%.

Dr Sands said if the nation continues on this path, the healthcare system will be overwhelmed and unable to meet mounting demands. The situation has also highlighted the vulnerability of healthcare workers. Almost one in every five confirmed cases has been a medical professional.

SEE PAGE TWO

HOTELS MELTDOWN IN JUST THREE WEEKS

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas’ suffered “the steepest” COVID19 tourism decline of all Caribbean nations with its number one industry virtually wiped out in three weeks, new research suggests.

Data from STR, formerly Smith’s Travel Research and a widely-used tourism information tool, reveals that Bahamian average

CLOSED: Atlantis hotel occupancies went from suffering a 19.4 percent year-over-year decline

in March’s second week to a catastrophic 90.8 percent plunge compared to prior year levels as the mix of border closures, travel warnings and airline cancellations truly bit.

The data shows why properties such as Atlantis, Baha Mar, Sandals, the British Colonial Hilton and the RIU had no choice but to close and temporarily lay-off thousands of staff once the guests had left.

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STRUGGLING TO COPE? IMAGINE IF YOU WERE BLIND SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

MEDICAL MASKS ONLY FOR FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE WORKERS from page one

material, face mask etc, so we could identify such masks and at the appropriate time, if individuals are caught wearing hospital masks with the ministry’s emblem, those individuals will be prosecuted because we must protect our healthcare workers,” Dr Minnis said.

He said this is needed to prevent a run on masks needed for healthcare workers. He said the

government has enabled the production of re-usable, washable cotton masks in New Providence through various companies.

“I would at this moment urge every retail store, or persons, who have any stocks or supplies, of any medically approved surgical or face masks for sale, to contact the Ministry of Health immediately, in order to sell the same to public health (officials), as the sale of any medical masks to the general

public will at some time be prohibited.”

To encourage and enable the large-scale production of cotton masks in the Family Islands, Dr Minnis said the Small Business Development Centre has been directed to provide funding to tailors and seamstresses so that sufficient masks are also available throughout the country.

He said the production of cloth masks presents an economic opportunity for business people and entrepreneurs.

“Going forward, The Bahamas will have to begin to manufacture a number of items for domestic needs.

This will provide economic opportunities and jobs for Bahamians,” he said.

Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control recommended that Americans wear cloth masks in public to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The CDC says such cloth masks should: fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face; be secured with ties or ear loops; include multiple layers of fabric; allow for breathing without restriction and be able to be laundered and machine

dried without damage or change to shape.

“CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (eg, grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission,” the CDC’s website notes.

“CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.

Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home

from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

“Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age two, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance. The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators. Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance,” the CDC said.

If we carry on like this, we won’t be able to cope from page one Five people, ages 57 to 80, including noted kidney specialist Dr Judson Eneas, have died as a result of virus related symptoms.

Up to press time, there have been five confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Grand Bahama, 27 confirmed cases in New Providence and one confirmed case from Bimini.

The newest confirmed

cases are: case #30, a 54-year-old female resident of New Providence with no history of travel; case #31, a 50-year-old male resident of New Providence with no history of travel; case #32, a 62-year-old female of New Providence with no history of travel and case #33, 65-year-old female of New Providence with no history of travel.

Health officials continue to follow the condition of the other 24 COVID-19 positivecases. Three hundred and thirty-nine people are in quarantine.

“On March 13, 2020, The Bahamas recorded its first case of COVID-19. As previously reported, this case was admitted to hospital, subsequently discharged, and clinically has recovered.

In less than one month, confirmed COVID-19 positive cases have increased to 29,” Dr Sands told the House of Assembly. He spoke before the cases rose to 33. “…Epidemics and pandemics do not have linear growth. Look at the curves from every country. They start flat, then curve upward steeply. If we continue on this path, our healthcare system will be overwhelmed and unable to meet the demands. Social and physical distancing and responsible handwashing are the two mitigating actions that will help us to combat the strength of this virus.”

The Elizabeth MP said officials have been considering statistical data to make sound public health decisions and guide policies for returning citizens to work, children to school, and the relaxation of currently imposed restrictions.

Demographically, most of the cases are 40 to 80-years-old. “. . .There is confirmed community spread of the virus; the way we culturally

DR Sands yesterday

socialise has fostered this spread; and we have not yet reached the peak of the outbreak in The Bahamas,” he said.

Regarding healthcare workers, he urged Bahamians to stay home as this was the best way to protect frontline staff.

“We are keenly aware of the heightened vulnerability of healthcare workers.

Frontline warriors have been exposed to the virus when ill persons visit health facilities. They also come into contact with asymptomatic carriers or persons who show no symptoms but are sources of the virus.

“Interestingly almost one in five confirmed cases, 18 percent, have been healthcare workers. Among these confirmed positive COVID19 healthcare workers, two have had to be hospitalised.

What is more worrisome, is that more than 50 healthcare workers have been identified as contacts of diagnosed/confirmed cases.

These healthcare workers are currently in quarantine and are being monitored for the development of symptoms.

“Clearly, if more healthcare workers are removed from the available pool, there will be no soldiers left to fight the COVID war. We must protect our frontline workers. The best way to do this is to stay at home.”

He said the government was mindful that healthcare workers have families. No one is safe at home if someone in the house is serving on the frontline, Dr Sands noted.

To ease this concern, he said the ministry is exploring relief accommodations that can house at least 100 healthcare workers.

Such accommodations will permit these workers to rest up in between shifts and even take showers before leaving to go home.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 7, 2020, PAGE 3

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

SHOPPERS FLOCK TO STORES AS SHUTDOWN BITES

By EARYEL BOWLEG ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

RESIDENTS in New Providence flocked to grocery stores yesterday shortly after Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced the five-day lockdown.

Day one of the national food shopping schedule also took effect yesterday, which only allowed adults with a last name beginning with A through F to shop.

At Super Value in Winton, a queue stretched into the parking lot and

almost out to the road as customers tried to practise social distancing.

One customer, Lysle Chase only had to wait two minutes to get inside the store as he was an essential worker and the store workers allowed him to come to the front of the lengthy queue. “You can see that they’re running out of things….. everything. When you start to see cans pulled to the front of the line you know like the food store running out of things,” he said.

One customer told The Tribune she was not asked

for a photo ID to show proof of her surname when she went into the store.

Quality Markets at Sea Grapes Shopping Centre had a line which wrapped around the plaza. One customer felt the line was moving and people were obeying the rules. Despite her fears of beng infected with COVID-19, she said she needed to get food.

“The prime minister just issued out that we’re going to be lockdown from Wednesday, so you still have to make sure you have food in your house to eat,” she said.

It was a similar scene at Solomon’s in Yamacraw.

Although security officers said they were checking IDs, one customer said she was allowed to go in despite not being able to present her ID. Customer Mack Altidor agreed with the prime minister’s measure but did not agree with the timing of it.

He said the ad hoc measures led to panic buying. “ I think if he wanted to do this he should have announced it some time this weekend and people could have gotten ready for it,” he said.

QVS Pharmacy at Sea

Grapes Shopping Centre did not have nearly the amount of people on grocery lines.

Alyssa Storr said she had a 10 minute wait and those on the lines were mainly for prescriptions. As for social distancing practiced inside, she claimed to not see that happening.

“When you go inside the store you don’t know who you’re passing (or brushing up on you),” she said.

According to the new alphabetical shopping roster people with surnames ending in P through Z are eligible to shop today from

1pm to 7pm. Their other two weekly shopping times are Thursday morning and Friday afternoon which means today will be their only opportunity to stock up for the five day break if they are to adhere to tomorrow night’s rigid shutdown.

• The Family Islands have been exempted from the current food shopping schedule. All Family Island food stores will be allowed to operate until 7pm on Thursday to accommodate the delivery of food and supplies via mailboat and other shipping services.

CROWDS of people lined up outside food stores yesterday with new food shopping schedule in effect.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

Country faces another nationwide lockdown from page one

However, the complete shutdown will happen every weekend for the rest of this month.

Exempted groups from the complete lockdown include essential workers at hospitals, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the media, security services, hotels with guests, emergency units of core publicly and privately owned public utilities that provide electricity, water and telecommunication services and a “strictly limited number of excepted undertakings, such as international import/export trade,” he said.

“As Prime Minister and as a medical doctor, it is my duty to do what is necessary to protect our people.

My mind is clear,” he said.

“I am focused on what must be done. The best medicine to stop this virus is physical distancing. We must stay apart as much as possible to prevent the spread of this coronavirus and more deaths. That is why I began the curfew and lockdown measures.

They are essential to save lives.

“We have watched on the news the consequences around the world of waiting too long to act aggressively.

Some countries and jurisdictions that did not act fast enough are experiencing hundreds of deaths per day.

We are learning from what happened in those places and applying the lessons to The Bahamas.

“I assure the country that our best minds in public health are working hard behind the scenes to keep Bahamians and residents safe.

“The Bahamas does not have the resources of larger countries. We do not have their production capacity to create drugs and equipment to fight the virus.

“In The Bahamas we must put our focus and our efforts on prevention. That is why we instituted the curfews, shutdowns and lockdown. But for this to work, all of us must do our part. We need our citizens and residents and visitors to comply and to follow the rules. Compliance will help to determine how many deaths there are.

We all have it in our hands to save lives. If we follow the rules and listen, if we stay at home, fewer people

Since 1892 Bahamians have been protecting the environment with the passage of the Sea Gardens Protection Act, which prohibited dredging or removal of coral, sea fans or other organisms from the seabed.

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will die and will get sick. If we are slack, if we do not listen, if some sneak out and break the rules, more people may die.”

Dr Minnis said his

government will take “unprecedented” action to help the poor, the vulnerable and those who are no longer employed,” though he did not

outline new measures.

He said the government will help small, medium and larger businesses and will aggressively stimulate the economy.

Dr Minnis later said supermarkets will remain open on Thursday from 6am-noon for healthcare workers, police and defence force officers only.

PAGE 4, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net THE National Insurance Board will have to brace for a massive drawdown on its financial resources of at least an additional $16 million per month.

According to NIB Minister Brensil Rolle yesterday, this is not only the consequence of the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian but added strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused more people to rely on the assistance of the board.

The Garden Hills MP made the announcement yesterday at Parliament, while revealing NIB plans to pay out a total of 9,500 unemployment claims this week at a cost of $4.5m.

“NIB’s executive team is ever mindful of the toll this COVID-19 health and economic crisis will have on NIB’s financials,” Mr Rolle said. “Benefit payments were already outstripping contribution income since 2016. After just feeling

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net LYDIA King is 60-yearsold, unemployed and disabled. She does not know how she and her mentally ill son will get food to eat during the five-day lockdown that begins tomorrow.

When she spoke to The Tribune yesterday, she could not even tell when she would have drinking water in her home again.

There are thousands like her nationwide, according to Bahamas Feeding Network Director Philip Smith, residents who search for meals each day and, without help, will face severe difficulty if charitable organisations are shut down to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus.

“It’s going to be really difficult, particularly for people who don’t have the money readily available so they are depending on donations,” Mr Smith said yesterday. “We have a network of churches and soup kitchens that we distribute 70 percent of our food to and the other 30 percent we go out and deliver to communities ourselves and persons also come to our centre in Fox Hill for food. During the regular lockdown, they exempted us, but with this total lockdown we can’t do anything.

I would think that with a three to five-day lockdown, a number of people would have serious, serious difficulty.”

Keisha Ellis, executive director of Hands for Hunger, said she is also concerned for people who need food assistance. “The reality of the situation is that even though we have more time to prepare for this lockdown, there are many people who simply do not have enough disposable income to purchase enough food to stock up for five days,” she said. “We, and other organisations like ours, are working very hard to make sure that we reach as many families as possible and provide them with food packages to last for the fiveday lockdown.”

Mr Smith said Ms King is typical of the neediest people in the country who

NIB faces demands of $16m per month the effects of Dorian, the board now has to brace for a major drawdown on its resources to the tune of at least an additional $16m per month above expected budgeted expenditures.

“NIB has prepared for increased sickness benefit payouts as a result of quarantines and isolation, and has created a process with the COVID-19 hotline and the Ministry of Health to substitute for the doctors’ forms. NIB’s (executives are) constantly monitoring the liquidity of the fund to ensure that NIB can meet its obligations in the least

disruptive manner for the markets.”

The minister explained yesterday how unemployment benefits have seen a massive increase.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 fallout, NIB has received 16,000 to 17,000 unemployment benefits (UEB). Ordinarily, NIB processes 6,000 to 7,000 yearly.

He assured the public that even if an employer has not been up to date with employees’ NIB contributions, they can still be eligible for the unemployment benefit.

He said: “NIB has organised 60 persons to register these claims and to organise the documents which were received from both the employers and the employees. It should be noted that NIB currently processes between 6,000-7,000 UEB applications in a year.

“NIB has had to innovate, so it concluded special arrangements with companies to pay the unemployment benefit on NIB’s behalf to their eligible laid off workers in two week segments. “For many of these companies they will receive a contributions

payment credit based on the amount that they would have paid to eligible staff. NIB’s core goal is to pay people quicker. NIB encourages other organisations to also make similar payment arrangements.

“Through other special arrangements, NIB will be paying almost 9,500 persons their UEB claims this week at an estimated cost of $4.5m for two weeks of UEB in the coming days once the agreements have been concluded and the claims have been audited.

We are advised that the audit process is near

MEDIA BOSS HAS TO SEND STAFF HOME

I don’t know where my next meal is going to come from, says mother may not receive assistance from the Ministry of Social Services. She lacks funds to buy more than one or two food items at a time and is a frequent grocery shopper, spending small amounts of money as soon as friends, religious or charitable organisations provide support to her from day to day.

She said she has two sons, a 20-year-old security guard who was laid off because of COVID-19 and a 33-year-old with mental illness. In 2008, she was involved in a car accident that left her with a broken hip. She could not afford the “$90,000 surgery.”

She said ordinarily Mr Smith would help her get food for short periods of time or she would get small amounts of money from kindhearted people she knows.

But with the looming, five-day shutdown, she does not know where her meals will come from.

“I think the government should have a place you could go and put your name down and get assistance because we need it,” she said. “Some people don’t have the money to go and get the food and I don’t have the money to get everything in one day. I get help from people who give me a little $10, a little $20, that’s

how I have to do it. It’s really hard for me because I’m disabled. I don’t think I’ll eat anything.”

Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis raised concerns in the House of Assembly yesterday about how some people will get food during the lockdown.

“I got at least two separate texts while sitting here from persons who say they don’t have any food and how are they going to feed themselves over that time,” he said. “(I’m) wondering whether social services (will) set up some hotline where people could call to get assistance for food with a delivery service particularly to the elderly because that is a challenge.”

Social Services Minister Frankie Campbell responded that officials are looking to establish feeding stations. However, it is not clear how food assistance services will be provided during the lockdown.

The Ministry of Social Services’ food assistance programme caters to fewer than 10,000 Bahamians. Mr Campbell said programme registrants have Bank of the Bahamas prepaid cards on which funds are uploaded monthly.

“I am aware that there are a number of persons whose cards have

completion, so payments should be dispersed early this week.”

Mr Rolle said NIB has 20 large companies in the process of using this innovative method which will ensure that persons get paid as soon as possible.

NIB is anticipating that 14,000-15,000 claimants can be handled through these arrangements.

He said these special arrangements allow NIB’s staff to focus on those unemployment claims from companies which are not current with their contributions.

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

expired in the interim,” he said. “Those concerns have been expressed and are being addressed.”

He said his department is also providing special food assistance to people who find themselves on reduced workweeks because of the tourism shutdown.

“This for us is uncharted territory,” he said, adding that within a week 3,000 people in the country applied to an email last week seeking help.

“I want those persons to know that they will begin getting responses starting today and I am advised, and I know that my team is listening and will not make a liar out of me, that as early as this Wednesday, coupons will be ready and person will be contacted and advised, (a) how they can collect those coupons or (b) how the coupons may be delivered to them.”

Nonetheless, Ms Ellis said there are many people that “slip through the cracks” and cannot get help from the Ministry of Social Services for a variety of reasons. “The official numbers from the 2013 Household Expenditure Survey indicate that 43,000 people in The Bahamas live below the poverty line, but we know that there are many more that struggle to

maintain a basic quality of life,” she said. “According to our studies, about 1 in 4 people in The Bahamas regularly worry about not having enough food. That’s where organisations like ours come in.”

In a Facebook post yesterday, acting Financial Secretary Marlon Johnson said the prime minister’s national committee on COVID-19 response is considering exempting nongovernmental organisations that provide food services.

Mr Davis said people in need of food are not the only ones who require special assistance during the lockdown, citing the experience of an elderly friend of his who recently died.

“For three days because of the lockdown no one went to see him,” he said.

“They called multiple times (and could not get through) but someone took the chance and went to the house and they found him on the ground, barely responding. He was taken to the hospital where he eventually died. The elderly persons who live alone, we need to think about and see how we can deal with their circumstances. I lost a good friend whose life may have been saved but for the case that he was discovered late.”

WENDELL Jones, CEO of JCN, said yesterday that the media organisation has “sent some staff home” as the industry grapples with the coronavirus crisis.

JCN’s action comes days after the Freeport News laid off some employees.

“We are practicing social distancing,” Mr Jones said.

“Certain staff we thought we wouldn’t need, we told to go home until this crisis is over. If you come to JCN, we wouldn’t have no receptionist, few people in production, the administration staff, this is (happening in other news organisations as well). One or two junior reporters we just hired whom we thought given the circumstances we won’t need (were also sent home).”

Nonetheless, the media boss said JCN is still producing news. “If the curfew is lifted they’ll be back,” he said. “For all our people who are not working now, if the prime minister announces next week the curfew will be lifted, they’ll be back. We have a newscast every day, television on the air, we have essential workers.

“People in the accounts department, sales — no one is buying any ads right now so there’s no need for the sales department to be here. None for our accounts department needs to be here. The coordinator of sales is coming to work, running commercials on an ongoing basis. We have our television production team keeping the station on air.

“There’s no point in them coming out if it’s not necessary. The business community is essentially closed, only essentials are open. We don’t want our staff to be here twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do. We are providing 24 hour security and fully operational. I come every day.”

‘I HONESTLY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE’

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

A MAN who tested positive for COVID-19 has told The Tribune how he battled the disease through self-medicating, quarantine and advice from his doctor.

The patient, who asked to have his name withheld, says he is now free of the disease and waiting on the curfew and lockdown measures to be lifted so he can go back to work. “I thank the Almighty for pulling me through that ordeal,” said the food services industry worker. “I honestly thought I was going to die. I have never had such a feeling in my chest. I literally could not breathe sitting up. I had to keep my body in a reclined position. I thought about my children and made the conscious decision to live.”

The 52-year-old patient said he felt sick for three days before he called his doctor.

“When I felt like I was going to die, I called him and he told me to come to his office right away.

They took me straight into an examination room and after what seemed like a long time of him making calls and running tests, he told me that it would appear that I had the coronavirus.

“I nearly passed out at those words and the doctor immediately put on a mask and gave me one to put on. He asked me a series of questions of who I was in contact with and told me I had to go to the hospital and then in isolation.

I went straight home and dropped a grocery list and prescription on the kitchen counter for my children to deal with and reported to our guest bedroom with everything I thought I would need.”

Giving his account of the next

few days, the patient said his life was a “living nightmare”. He and his two adult children remained in quarantine for the entire duration of his illness. He said at one point he truly gave up.

“There is no way to totally describe the feeling this virus gives you,” he explained. “I had a very, very high fever and at one point I felt like I was hallucinating... My throat was on fire and felt like it had lacerations, my eyes were red and swollen, the nausea was immeasurable and I was shaking like a leaf in a storm.

My children kept coming to the door to check on me, but I had to ride this one out alone.

“The worst of it was the chest pains and palpitations from my heart when I sat up. My chest felt like it was caving in and the pain - I felt like I was in the ocean and drowning. I ate oranges and threw them up when the nausea

set in. I took every type of vitamin C intake possible and I kept hydrated with Gatorade. I took the prescribed antibiotics as well, but felt like they did nothing. I also gargled with salt and water.”

Miraculously, his children never contracted the virus. He said he stayed in the guest bedroom with the door closed and received what he needed at the door. He also took Bayer aspirin as well to relieve heart palpitations and to abate the fever.

“I had bags and bags of oranges in that bedroom,” he continued.

“And, I kept on eating them as best I could. I had orange juice and water and Gatorade and as fast as they went down they were back up again and I would drink more and the cycle went on. It was rough, but thank God I made it through.”

He said one morning he woke up and the entire bed was soaked

in perspiration, but felt a bit better.

He continued: “I felt exhausted, but was happy to have had some sleep. I got out of bed to take the sheets off to give to my daughter for washing and realised that for the first time in ages I could swallow and I actually felt a bit better.

I took a bath but stayed in the room.

“Although I felt better each day, just for safety I stayed in that bedroom for three more days just to make sure. I would not want my worst enemy to go through that. Besides going through this terrible ordeal, I was watching the news with all the deaths in Italy and listening to our infection rate rise. I wondered if I was going to make it. Glory be to God, I got over it.”

His advice to those who feel they have symptoms of COVID19 is to call their doctor.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 7, 2020, PAGE 5

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

FAMILY SPEAK OF THEIR HEARTACHE AFTER FATHER, 80, DIES OF COVID-19

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Jeff Lloyd speaking in the House yesterday.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

Lloyd urges online learning as schools set to stay closed

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Tribune Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net EDUCATION Minister Jeff Lloyd has said schools will not open until the competent authority gives approval as he urged parents to ensure students are registered for online learning.

He said for the foreseeable future, web-based learning will be the way education continues.

For those without internet connections or devices

to do this, he said officials were communicating with service providers to assist children, beginning with those on the government’s lunch voucher programme.

“When it was initially announced, schools were to close from March 16 to April 14. That is next week Tuesday, the day after Easter Monday,” the minister told Parliament yesterday.

“Obviously schools will not open next week and they will not open until the competent authority

orders that they do so. For this reason - and especially this reason - parents are invited to take this opportunity to seriously have their children registered on the online educational paradigm.

“If they are not able to get on because they don’t have the internet connectivity or they don’t have a device, we are working with Cable Bahamas, Aliv and BTC to provide devices beginning firstly with those students on the lunch voucher programme.”

Additionally, he said beginning April 15 there will live instructions on television for the online learning portal.

“It appears as if for at least the foreseeable future online education will be a mode of education delivery in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and as I have stated before I invite all Bahamians particularly parents and students please stay tuned to the Ministry of Education for regular updates on the state of education in our country.”

CHAD Bartlett will miss his 80-year-old father’s laughter and business-like demeanour the most now that he is gone.

Clarence Bartlett, a father-of-four, died on Friday night shortly after being admitted to Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama. The Eight Mile Rock resident died two days after testing positive for COVID-19.

He was identified by healthcare officials as case #23, with no history of travel nor direct links to previous cases.

Health officials confirmed the virus to be the cause of Mr Bartlett’s death; he was the fourth patient of the five people in The Bahamas to die from the infectious disease.

Asked yesterday how his father might have contracted the disease, Chad Bartlett briefly replied: “I would say that it is our belief that he did not go in (to) the hospital with the virus.”

Noting him to be a generally healthy person given his old age, Mr Bartlett’s other son, Clarron Bartlett said his death was not an easy pill for the family to swallow. “(My dad) he was close with all of his kids. He would call his kids everyday, every morning, every evening,” he told The Tribune.

“The last time I spoke to him was that Friday morning before I went in the hospital. I was literally footsteps away from him every morning. I would see him every morning, see him every afternoon. We were that close,” Clarron Bartlett said. “I’m going to miss his presence, his guiding words.”

Meanwhile, his brother Chad, who also described

Mr Bartlett as a familyoriented man, said the entire Eight Mile Rock community suffered a loss as a result of his death.

“He was well-loved and well-respected in the community. He was straight by the book and no shortcut type of person…everything had to be done the right way,” he said.

“At home, he was the same way, always making sure his kids did their school work and he used to go over it when we were done. He always believed in spending time with his family.

“He was the youngest in the family but was like the head of everything.

Growing up he was a no-nonsense person and believed in rules.”

Describing Mr Bartlett as an “entrepreneur, political activist and civic leader” in the Grand Bahama community, Progressive Liberal Party leader, Phillip “Brave” Davis said he will be “sorely missed”.

“I had the pleasure of knowing and working closely with Clarence during my practice of law in Grand Bahama. His fierce defence of the progressive movement coupled with his love for and commitment to the growth and development of Eight Mile Rock left an indelible impression on me,” Mr Davis said in a press statement. “… Clarence ran a good race; he did not faint and has now gone on to receive his eternal and just reward.

He will be sorely missed.”

To date, there are 33 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, with more than 300 persons under quarantine.

Asked yesterday if the Bartlett family was currently under quarantine, Chad Bartlett replied that they were.

“The whole country is in quarantine as we are,” he said.

COURT DEALS WITH CURFEW VIOLATION CHARGES

By FARRAH JOHNSON fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

SEVERAL people appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, charged with violating the national curfew and the weekend lockdown recently implemented by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.

Irvin Rolle, 42, appeared before Magistrate Andrew Forbes charged with violating the lockdown after police found him in the area of Abraham Street on Sunday around 10.55 am.

Rolle, who was also charged with disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest, pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay $350 for violating the lockdown or spend three months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services (BCDS).

He was also fined $25 for behaving disorderly and another $200 for resisting arrest.

Rolle was arraigned alongside his brother, Antonio Brown, who was also charged with disorderly behaviour, obstruction and three counts of assaulting a police officer.

Brown also pleaded guilty to all of his charges and was consequently fined $25 for count one, $200 for count two and another $200 each for assaulting three police officers while they were on duty.

Failure to pay the fines would result in Brown spending two months at BCDS. Prosecutor Lincoln McKenzie told the court at the time of the incident, officers in the Kemp Road area observed Brown

outside and asked him why he was in the street. Sgt Mckenzie said Brown told police he was not used to being on lockdown and when officers attempted to arrest Brown, he ran away.

According to the prosecutor, at that point, Rolle appeared and told police they were not taking his brother. Sgt McKenzie said both defendants resisted arrest and were taken to the nearest police station where they denied committing the offence.

During the arraignment their lawyer told the judge the gate for Rolle and Brown’s home was on the street. She said when Rolle was approached by officers, he was going next door to get gas for cooking and added that it was at that moment when the officers told him to go back inside.

The attorney claimed that the officers decided to reverse, hop over the fence and place one of her clients in handcuffs. In defending her clients, the lawyer noted that the brothers had 20 children —all under the age of 16—living at their residence.

She explained that seven of the children belonged to Rolle while eight were Brown’s. She also said that the remaining children belonged to a third brother.

Insisting that it was a situation that escalated, she asked the judge to be lenient when sentencing. The attorney also noted that her clients had never been to court before. She said the men were breadwinners for their families and asked the court to consider their financial situation.

In response, Magistrate Forbes said people should

think wisely when making decisions because the choices they make impact themselves and their families. He also emphasised that decisions should be based on facts rather than emotion because the latter can get a person killed.

Cameron Johnson, 27, was charged for violating the lockdown after police found him in the Parkgate area around 9.10 pm on Saturday. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $300 or two months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

When given the opportunity to speak, Johnson told the judge he was arrested after he went out with a trolley with jugs to get water from a public pump for his family. He said he was still under the impression that the national curfew was still being enforced between 9pm5am because he got most of his news and updates from WhatsApp chats.

In response, Magistrate Forbes asked the defendant how he was sure the information he was getting from WhatsApp was accurate.

He also asked him if he was prepared to risk being sentenced to 18 months in prison over misinformation.

In pleading his case, Brown insisted that he was the only male in his household and noted that his grandmother was over seventy.

Still, Magistrate Forbes said while he understands the challenges people living without running water face, the defendant was on WhatsApp which meant he had access to the internet and legitimate news sources.

Jason Newbold, 40, was also charged with violating the curfew after he was found in the area of Hospital Lane last Tuesday.

He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $500 or four months at the BDCS. Newbold was ordered to pay half of the fine yesterday and was given until May 11 to pay off the remaining balance.

According to the facts read by prosecutor Lincoln McKenzie, around 8.14pm that night, officers observed Newbold outside in the Mackey Street area. When they approached him to ask if he was aware that he was in breach of the curfew, Newbold told them he was on the road to get food. Sgt McKenzie said Newbold was arrested and interviewed where he repeated his previous explanation which led to him being further cautioned and charged.

Newbold was represented by attorney Ian Cargill. He told the judge his client had no previous convictions and had young children who he was getting the food for.

Brenton Thompson, 32, also pleaded guilty to violating the national curfew after police found him in the Culmer’s Alley area on Thursday around 10.30pm.

He was convicted of the offence and fined $1,000 or six months in prison. He was also ordered to pay half of the fine yesterday and given until May 11 to pay off the balance.

Thomspon was also represented by Mr Cargill who told Magistrate Forbes his client had only violated the curfew because he was trying to get home.

He told the judge that

Thompson had a pending matter before the court which resulted in him wearing an anklet bracelet that required him to return to his residence at 6pm.

Still, Magistrate Forbes said his situation was not an excuse because the fact that he was found outdoors around 10.30pm in the night meant that he was already violating his bail.

Hank Knowles, 43, also pleaded guilty to violating the lockdown after he was found outside near Semana Drive on Sunday night.

His attorney, Keevon Maynard, told the judge Knowles’ child was severely asthmatic and that he had only violated the lockdown so he could get a ventilator for him. Still, Magistrate Forbes said that Knowles should have called the COVID-19 hotline if he had a medical emergency.

Knowles was fined $350 or two months at BCDS. Two homeless men were also charged for violating the lockdown over the weekend. Police arrested 50-year-old Charlton Saunders after he was found on School Lane, Market Street at 10.15pm on Sunday.

Saunders pleaded guilty to the charge and was subsequently discharged.

Magistrate Forbes also encouraged him to to get in touch with family who can house him during the lockdown.

Brad Albury, 46, was also found in the Market Street area around 8.14pm last Friday. He told the judge he lived in an abandoned car because he had to move out of the apartment he was staying in when he couldn’t keep up with the rent.

Albury was also discharged and encouraged to find a shelter that would be able to assist him.

Jean Vanderpool was also charged after he was found outside in the Blue Hill and Wulff Road area around 8.45pm on March 27. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $350 or two months at BDCS. Nicholas Stanko, 35, was found in the Montagu Beach area at 9.10pm on Saturday.

He apologised for “unintentionally breaking the law” and begged for the court’s leniency. He was subsequently fined $350 or two months at BDCS. Deangelo McDonald, 33, was charged after officers found him in the area of Poinciana Drive 8.35pm last Friday. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $350 or two months in prison.

Rakil Gardiner was also charged after he was found on East Street around 8.45 pm that same night. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was discharged.

According to the facts read by the prosecutor, Sergeant Kendrick Bauld, officers on mobile patrol observed a flatbed truck travelling north on East Street. They stopped the vehicle and asked Gardiner if he was aware of the curfew. He was then taken to the station where he told officers he was heading home from work.

During the arraignment, it was revealed that Gardiner dealt with surveillance and audio systems for Super Value as an IT technician.

PAGE 6, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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It’s going to be a long week WHEN the country shuts down again on Wednesday, through the Easter Weekend until it returns to 24-hour curfew status on Tuesday morning, it will be an experience few of us will have experienced.

The restrictions we’ve had to deal with so far will be magnified, just as they were at the weekend past. There will be no going out. There will be no places to go out to. No stores will be open. No gas stations to fill your tank. No bars or restaurants.

The Tribune will continue to report – and a skeleton staff of essential workers in BPL and WSC will keep the nation ticking over while police and defence force officers stand guard.

People rushed to the stores yesterday to make the preparations for such a prolonged closure. That will likely happen again today and tomorrow – and we can only urge people to follow advice on social distancing. The stores themselves need to be firm on this too – to protect the staff and to protect their customers.

It’s not likely to be the only such shutdown either – the list of shopping days by surname notably left off weekends, and Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis signaled that we would have regular shutdowns for the rest of the month in an effort to stop this virus.

In other words, get used to it. It will be hard. But it is necessary.

For what is the alternative? To let the virus spread freely? To let it infect people young and old? Already among

those diagnosed with the virus has been a nine-year-old girl. Already, five lives have been lost.

The virus itself does not discriminate between rich and poor – as the news that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been moved into intensive care because of the virus shows.

Poor people will however be most affected by the shutdown. People who can’t afford to stock up easily for prolonged periods indoors. People who might have depended on double stamp schemes to make it through the month.

For those people, the government needs to do all it can. It must work with volunteer organisations such as Hands For Hunger with experience in seeking out those who need aid and delivering it. It must recruit the expertise of those who helped after Hurricane Dorian.

We must find ways to help those who are most vulnerable to get through this.

But we must get through this.

The alternative is simple, and it is horrible – that people will die. If we don’t isolate and stop this virus leaping from one person to another then it will kill more.

Isolation achieves one thing: it denies the virus the chance to spread. That’s why we’re doing it. So abide by the rules, even though the days may seem long. Make the most of the time with your household. By doing so, you save lives.

It’s going to be a long week. But we’re doing this to give people longer lives.

That’s a deal worth making.

Start of the meltdown EDITOR, The Tribune THE United States have gone berserk. As the ancient proverb says, those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad. From last September 2019 the Federal Reserve have put over US $ 500 billion in the banks for the Repo market. On March 15 , 2020, the Federal Reserve decided to put another $US 700 billion in the economy and the Fed recently announced $300 billion to keep credit following. Additionally, a 2 trillion bailout stimulus has been passed into law. The Federal Reserve has announced unlimited asset purchase or unlimited Quantitative easing (money creation). Currently, the Federal Reserve balance sheet is at US$ 5.6 trillion. Investors and foreign central banks are dumping US treasures at an unprecedented rate.

WHEN businessman Brent Burrows told Tribune Business that it was “the worst decision I’ve had to make in my life” to temporarily lay-off nearly 70 staff in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, you were quick to respons.

John had this to say: “At least the hardware and food stores benefited from Dorian and now stores from Corona. But some businesses lost sales in hurricane straight to now.

And the owners are the

The one-month Treasury bill yield closed at minus-0.112% and the three-month bill ended at minus-0.072%. We will have a lot of cash chasing few products. Prices will increase based on the law of supply and demand. The economic Security Act ( the CARES Act) authorize an additional US $ 4.5 trillion in additional debt. It is guaranteed that there will be additional creation of money by issuing debt to the US taxpayers before the year is out. This will accelerate the decline of its world reserve currency status. China, Russia, Turkey and Eastern European countries have been buying tons of gold. The US dollar is not backed by anything but confidence in the US government although the pedro dollar has forced the world to use the US dollar to buy oil.

Oil is the most traded commodity in the world. I think

business. No other income.

And they too didn’t want to lay off staff but either it’s that or be responsible for them. So if you were paying their National Insurance over the years or months,

sophisticated countries will not have confidence in the US dollar. The US dollar of foreign reserve has been steadily decreasing from a high of 71% in 2001 to a low of 62% in 2018 according to the IMF. Quantitative easing and low interest rate was to be temporary to get us through the 2008 Great Recession, but it has become permanent.

The Institute of International Finance data shows global debt to GDP hits a record high of 322% in 2019. The world central banks have created an additional US$ 7 trillion in debt for Covid-19 pandemic stimulus package.

My advice is that the Central Bank of the Bahamas must buy gold to protect the country from inflation.

This is just the beginning of an economic meltdown.

BRIAN E PLUMMER Nassau March 30, 2020 you have to bite the bullet and let the insurance cover them. If you don’t then you become complicit.”

Joeblow came in with this: “This means going forward that both businesses and individuals must have an emergency hardship fund set aside to ensure they can survive at least 3 months in case something like this happens again.

Both people and businesses have to get out of the living by the seat of your pants mentality!”

Inequalities of lockdown EDITOR, The Tribune AS a (construction) owner’s representative/Project Manager in the Bahamas I spend the vast majority of my time refereeing and (trying to) keep a fair balance between some extraordinarily wealthy globe-trotting foreigners and some incredibly poor and downtrodden local construction workers (plus a fair share of legal Haitian immigrants). What has taken me some time to get my head around and put a voice to – is the glaring inequality of this lockdown.

In case anyone needs reminding. The poor in this country wake up every day without knowing if they are going to make it.

They spend their entire lives surrounded by friends and family dying young.

Disease, murder, domestic violence, childbirth, lack of adequate diet and healthcare, industrial accidents, etc, etc. For a lot of the able-bodied young men that chose construction, they only had two choices.

A short and fruitful life of crime or long hard years of labour on a building site. Toiling in the hot sun for peanuts. Making just enough money each week to hopefully pay the rent and buy enough overpriced food to feed their family.

When I say to these guys they cannot work because there is a mysterious disease out there that might spread and kill, the overwhelming response is “Oh, just another thing to die from this week!” They do not understand why that means they should not go to work. All they understand is that without an income their children are going to go hungry because there is no safety net for these people here.

On the flip side, you have this minority of middle class and wealthy people who do not need to think about where the next meal is coming from (yes, myself included). They/we have wonderful lives full of selfexpression, vacations and pursuing the next material reward whilst planning on living another 20 or 30 years beyond the average life expectancy. A class of people that have nothing

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net better to do than get completely hysterical about the possibility of an untimely death regardless of what the probabilities of it actually are.

Can you feel the disparity? We fortunate minority have been OK with the majority of people in this country living in a permanently hostile environment and now that the environment has gotten just a tad hostile for us, we are asking the majority to stay at home and behave themselves so that “they” do not spread the disease to “us”.

And! It is unbelievable how indignant and angry these entitled few are getting at all these poor people that cannot possibly imagine what all the fuss about dying is.

People vilifying their brother and sisters and as if this weekend’s 48-hour house arrest was not some kind of corporal punishment for the masses? This is nothing but fear and anger bringing out the worst in us. The next problem is that I can see all these fit young construction workers staying at home right now and being obedient whilst the wealthy ruling elite plays with graphs and charts and makes up new rules every day. The virus can go around the globe in a month but apparently the scientists can cordon off an island that is 20 by 10 in a weekend? Anyway, at some point when people’s bellies are groaning for food and the risk of dying from this virus seriously takes a back seat - the government is probably going to lose credibility. At this point, if we are very, very lucky, all the working class will do is demand to go back to work. I am guessing the first stage of lawlessness is going to be the workers going back to work whether we like it or not. I don’t even want to think about the next stage of lawlessness beyond that but if the government thinks they can forcibly contain an army of free-spirited, starving Bahamians, all of our lives

are going to take a very serious turn for the worse.

So in the meantime, I recommend that you all do everything that you can to beef up your immunity system. There is nothing like a healthy immune system to stave off a virus and I am very surprised our top doctor is not talking about this fact a little more often.

I do want you all to be safe and do as the government says but just try and think about what’s really going on and ask yourself what is going to happen after the shutdown. Are too many of you sitting on your couch chanting ‘stay at home’ and trusting that this government-run ‘science experiment’ of global isolation is going to work when the reality is that no one really knows what is going to happen next. The richer and more you have to lose the better and longer the lockdown is right but we just don’t really know what will happen next. What if the lockdown doesn’t get rid of the virus and a second wave hits as soon as curfew is lifted? What if the government starts making demands that are not acceptable to the majority? What if the global food supply network fails in two months and we could have started farming already?

What happens if the B$ collapses because of zero foreign income and our dependence on imports?

What if the international drug companies can’t figure out a vaccine for years?

What if the lockdown drags out so long that it fails because all of the poor people have to go back to work because of the socioeconomic model that we have subjected them to for all these years? As the compulsive referee between the have’s and have-nots, if the lockdown does fail, please just be reminded that we all have had 50 years of independence to raise everyone’s standard of living and create social nets ...... and we haven’t.......so “what’s next” will be all of our responsibility.

PEACE & LOVE TO ALL Grand Bahama April 6, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 7, 2020, PAGE 7

MAN FINED $7,000 FOR DEALING IN MARIJUANA

By FARRAH JOHNSON fjohnson@tribunemedia.net A MAN was ordered to pay $7,000 or face two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to drug possession in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Marvin Clarke, 33, appeared before Magistrate Andrew Forbes charged with possession of dangerous drugs with the intent to supply.

Prosecutor Sergeant Lincoln McKenzie told the court that last Friday around 3.40pm, officers in the area of Kemp Road went to J’s Convenience Store and approached the

defendant after suspecting him of being in possession of drugs. While searching Clarke, police found a clear package with two pounds and eight ounces of marijuana inside. During the arraignment, Sgt McKenzie also noted Clarke had previously appeared before the court for similar charges in 2016 and 2019.

In pleading his case, Clarke’s attorney, Keevon Maynard told the judge his client had an “infant child” with his girlfriend who was stuck in Canada.

He also said Clarke had a drug problem, although he insisted the defendant understood the

“seriousness of the issue”.

Mr Maynard added Clarke suffered from chronic stress and insomnia and maintained the drugs were in his client’s possession for personal use and not for sale. He also noted the country was possibly moving towards a time where marijuana may be legalised and asked Magistrate Forbes not to burden the public’s purse by imposing a sentence that would cause Clarke to lose his job as an employee at J’s Convenience Store.

Noting that Clarke was extremely remorseful for his actions, Mr Maynard also said the defendant

was the primary breadwinner of his family because his girlfriend was currently pregnant and unemployed.

He added his client was willing to pay a fine or do community service for his offence.

Still, Magistrate Forbes noted Clarke had served 18 months after being convicted for the same offence three years ago. He also said that it seemed as if 18 months behind bars did not motivate Clarke to avoid committing the same crime again.

He fined Clarke $7,000 and ordered the defendant to pay it that same day.

Theodore Brown, 22,

was also fined $350 or two months at the BCDS after he pleaded guilty to drug possession.

Sgt McKenzie said police also found 20 grams of marijuana on Brown last Friday. The defendant, who was also in the area of J’s Convenience Store, was approached by officers around 3.40pm that afternoon, after he was suspected of being in possession of drugs.

Sgt McKenzie said while searching Brown, officers found 20 grams of marijuana in his possession.

Brown was also represented by Mr Maynard.

He told Magistrate

Forbes his client was remorseful and didn’t want to waste the court’s time.

Adding Brown had an unstable living situation, Mr Maynard also begged the court not to impose a custodial sentence.

In response, Magistrate Forbes said despite the legalisation of marijuana being a popular topic, the drug has not been legalised in the country yet, which meant that those found with it in their possession were subject to a fine or time behind bars. Magistrate Forbes subsequently warned Brown and invited him to consider that fact in the future.

Experts warn 2020 hurricane season will be ‘above average’

By EARYEL BOWLEG ebowleg@tribunemedia.net WEATHER experts are warning that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is poised to be an above average one, with two to four major hurricanes expected.

Chief Meteorological Officer at the Bahamas

Department of Meteorology Arnold King noted a normal season would have 12 storms, six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes.

It is reported that Colorado State University has forecasted 16 tropical systems, eight hurricanes, four major hurricanes this upcoming season. Meanwhile, weather service

Accuweather predicted 14-18 tropical storms, six to seven hurricanes, and two to four major hurricanes.

Mr King noted there has been an increase in hurricane intensity over the past few years and encouraged the public to do pre-season preparation.

“It doesn’t matter if you have an above-average

season or below-average season,” he said. “You could have one major hurricane or one hurricane and that’s the hurricane that could strike The Bahamas. If you remember 1992, that was a belowaverage season and we had Hurricane Andrew that was the first named hurricane of the season and

took a beeline directly to The Bahamas.

“We always ask Bahamians or residents to do the same thing every year. Start your pre-season preparation and prepare the same way for each time. Whether you have a low average season or above-average season you have to prepare the same.”

He said another prediction will be released in May and June.

Mr King said the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is aware of the prediction and the agency will lead the way in getting the word out on preparations.

Hurricane season is June 1 through November 30.

PAGE 8, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

‘I USE MY WHITE CANE TO MOVE ABOUT. BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC CAUSED BY THE CORONAVIRUS, WE CAN’T MOVE ABOUT ON OUR OWN LIKE WE USED TO. IT HAS BECOME A COSTLY TIME FOR US.’

TYRONE Johnson pastor, youth counsellor, drug prevention educator, and advocate for persons with disabilities with his wife Larisa, daughters Chelsea and Ashley, and grandchildren

THE global pandemic created by the Covid-19 virus has resulted in fear and anxiety for many as people the world over face uncertain times. People are taking measures to protect themselves, including distancing themselves from others, wearing masks and gloves. But think of how difficult all of this may be for people with disabilities.

They rely on others for help and their level of mobility is different. All of the precautions others are taking are not as easy or as straightforward for them.

Take the time to think of those who are blind, for example. They have to touch surfaces more than most in order to feel their surroundings. The world must seem a much scarier place for someone in this predicament. I decided to find out from Tyrone Johnson, a professional counsellor and advocate for those with disabilities.

“There is a fear of going out… period,” Tyrone said.

“I use my white cane to move about. As I use it to touch the ground in front of me, I can’t see if someone spat on the ground. When we are done with the cane, we have to touch it to fold it and put it away. We can’t see the surfaces we touch.

We need a sighted guide.

Because of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, we can’t move about on our own like we used to. It has become a costly time for us, because we have to pay for various services.

“We are thankful that there are some services being offered at this time.

For example, there are people offering to do our grocery shopping. But they have to be trustworthy people. I have had instances in the past where people purchased items for themselves out of my funds and it is not discovered until

- TYRONE JOHNSON

Struggling to cope in this crisis? Imagine if you couldn’t see... someone assists me and checks the items I received against my receipt.”

While many people have the ability to work from home as the Government institutes more restrictions in movement, Tyrone still has to work, because he works in a clinic which is considered an essential service. He cannot take the bus since the restrictions, so he has to pay for a ride to work. His supervisor has granted him a more relaxed schedule, for which he is grateful. But he still considers it a challenge having to face a world of uncertainty with a virus invisible to everyone. For this reason, he said, a fund could be created for people with disabilities to help them cope through pandemics such as this.

Tyrone is a drug counselling outreach officer and a behavioural management counsellor for the

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Adolescent Health Centre on School Lane, governed by the Department of Public Health. He is also a certified drug abuse prevention educator who regularly hosts seminars on drug use and prevention. In addition to that, Tyrone also works as a facilitator for the Parenting Programme hosted by the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development.

His job includes counselling young people between the ages of 10 and 19. Some of them are involved in drug use, immoral sexual lifestyles and gang activity.

Others exhibit behavioural problems and may require anger management intervention.

Tyrone goes into schools and holds about nine sessions each week. He works mostly with Governmentrun primary, junior and senior high schools, but he also serves a few private schools from time to time.

In the primary schools, his work is mostly preventative. His unit tracks the children from Grade 4 to Grade 6, and then follows them straight from junior high to their graduation from senior high school.

He has found that by using prevention counselling, and by sticking with the kids as they grow, they have a much higher chance of being successful, productive citizens.

“We see a significant difference for the better in the children we have been able to track,” Tyrone shared.

“It gives me joy and a sense of purpose… the gratification that comes when you meet a child out of school and they say, ‘Mr Johnson, I remember everything you taught me in my life’. They appreciate what you have done for them and they are the better for it. It happens almost every day of my life as I go out.

I called a landscaper to my home the other day and when he came, he remembered me and said, ‘Thank you! I have my own business now… thanks for what you taught me in my life!”

I wondered if he came across the occasional child who would try to take advantage of his blindness.

“Sometimes people try to take advantage, but I nip it in the bud and put my foot down,” he responded. For the most part, I don’t have a problem, they respect me.

They don’t just see me as blind, but as a man. I am not hustling or begging. I am doing something positive. It’s encouraging for the kids who see that if I can do something good and make a difference, they can too.”

I have seen Tyrone in action at his office at Gerald Cash Primary. The kids there adore him and rush to him to hug him, nearly throwing him down with all the love.

Currently, Tyrone works out of the Adolescent Health Centre. There, health services are given to young people, including pregnant teenagers. Additional measures have been taken to sanitise the building in light of Covid-19.

Nurse in charge Monique

Terecita Rahming has done a great job at ensuring that staff members have all the masks, gloves and other supplies they need, Tyrone said.

Working with young people is a passion for Tyrone. Even before it became his profession, he served as youth leader at Angelic Baptist Church, Joe Farrington Road, with Rev Rolston Smith as Pastor. He also led the children’s choir and was coordinator of the children’s ministry. He went on to serve in the Baptist Young People Fellowship.

He is currently Assistant Pastor at Judah Worship Center on Davis Street, Oakes Field, where he is also Director of the Youth Ministry. In addition to young people, Tyrone advocates for the rights of persons with disabilities. He is the current Public Relations Officer for the Disabled Persons Organisation, with Antoine Munroe as President.

August 19, 1992 was an historical day in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

The Free National Movement had won the General Elections.

People were celebrating, but emotions and even tempers were also high. A group of men had an altercation with one of Tyrone’s brothers.

They came through the neighbourhood “causing trouble”. Tyrone ended up getting shot for his brother on that fateful day. He was hit in the eye.

He developed Glaucoma in one eye and somehow, it spread to the other. He gradually lost his sight and by 1998, he was totally blind.

In 1997 when the

inevitable was imminent, Tyrone decided to take a course in psychology to help him cope with going from a life of sight to blindness. He wanted to know how he could make such an adjustment. The course was so inspiring he continued to study psychology. By the year 2000, he decided to volunteer at the Adolescent Health Centre. He was so good with the youngsters that he was hired the following year. He celebrated his 19th year at the centre last week.

Tyrone is also celebrating 20 years of marriage to his wife Larisa this year.

He is the proud father of a son, Tyrone Jr and two daughters, Ashley and Chelsea. He is also a grandfather-of-three.

Tyrone boasts of a full life, and one that he is happy for. He wants the general public to understand how important it is to take consideration for persons with disabilities.

For example, there are still businesses that are not accessible by wheelchair. During a health crisis such as this, some are having trouble being able to wash their hands with warm, soapy water as instructed, because bathrooms are not outfitted for them. The United Nations, he says, indicates that persons with disabilities account for at least ten per cent of the population.

In this case, there are at least 3,500 in our population. He encourages all those with disabilities to join the DPO to help make their voice stronger and have their rights and needs met. Email dpo. nassau242@gmail.com or call 829-7274.

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 7, 2020, PAGE 9

Winning the war against COVID-19 SPEAKER Halson Moultrie wearing a protective mask in the House yesterday.

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

By Dr ROBIN ROBERTS, MD

C

OVID-19 has moved with lightning speed around the globe.

From a cluster in Wuhan, China declared on December 31, it has caused over 1 million cases with 50,000 deaths worldwide in three months. In the USA, it’s spiraling; 1059 people died in one day, and it’s yet to peak. The world is at war with an invisible enemy.

Armies have been mobilized literally, on every front. The world faces “the disease of all diseases.”

To Christian believers, it’s prophesy fulfilled; it heralds Armageddon.

Every day we learn more about COVID-19 at a phenomenal rate. Our medical information databases have long passed gigabits and terabytes, and even petabytes. Scientific research has gone “off the chain.”

We know the virus jumped from animals to human, and it belongs to the corona family of viruses like SARS. It’s deadly. We cracked the viral DNA code in one week, and subsequently, identified proteins as a point to attack. The vaccines have been made.

We are moving so fast, even the FDA allowed the scientists to bypass the animal studies and move directly to humans. We know the patterns of the disease in humans; it’s a respiratory attack. Most people will present with common flulike symptoms and resolve completely. But 10% will get seriously ill requiring hospitalization and about 1 to 3% will die, depending on how many people we get to test in a population.

We felt safe with the early information that the virus spread is by surface contact and droplets when we sneeze and cough. We wondered if it was light enough to linger in the air for aerosol spread. Now we know it does, maybe up to 3 hours or more. Recent studies suggest that up to 80% of the infected persons may initially have no symptoms at all. Add this to our current knowledge of how the disease is transmitted.

Frightening!

Now this really throws a spanner in the WHO and PAHO guidelines that have directed our national policies so far. Social isolation, curfews, and border closures remain a mainstay of preventing transmission.

We were told initially that routine wearing of mask was needed only for people at risk of being exposed, those having symptoms, or those diagnosed with the virus. Aerosol transmission makes the case that everyone should wear a mask.

With a world shortage of masks, the new policies and guidelines propose that we can make our own; even out of scarfs and paper towels.

Who would have imagined that COVID-19 would generate a fashion industry of face masks?

COVID-19 has definitely changed our traditional medical approach to treating diseases. And it’s not only the approach for finding a vaccine. We are entertaining using known anti-viral agents, even an old anti-malarial agent.

Researchers have thrown out the policies of evidence-based and sound experimental clinical trials.

‘It’s time for government to allow the private sector health services do their part. Let’s prime the country to test every resident. We must win this war and take our country back!’

Even the FDA “authorized widespread use of unproven drugs to treat coronavirus, saying possible benefit outweighs risk”. President Trump on national TV “touted hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19.” Who says you have to be a scientist to validate proof of drug effectiveness and safety?

COVID-19 is changing everything and fast! Literally, overnight.

Now this brings me to what I really want to talk about. In the absence of a vaccine and effective Public Health measures, Secondary Prevention has become our main focus – identifying the population at risk and implementing measures to preventing the disease namely, universal hygiene precautions like hand washing, and protective equipment for healthcare providers treating COVID19 positive or exposed persons. This is the essence of our medical course of action. It’s Public Health at its best. On the face of it, it’s simple and cheap.

O

nce a person has been diagnosed, you isolate immediately. Apply aggressive contact tracing for anyone and everyone who has been in contact with this positive case. And then isolate them all for the 14 days – the period during which the virus is active for transmission.

Depending on the presence and severity of symptoms, suspected exposed persons would be tested formally.

The policies were also quite clear with regards to testing for the COVID-19 virus: ‘who’, ‘when’ ‘how’, and the ‘what’ of the test.

This is a new virus; test kits are few and limited. For a cluster in a community, yes - but for a pandemic? No way! The world was unprepared. What made matters worse was the virus is infective before symptoms occur, unlike the SARS virus. The testing sites to identify the virus at its point of entry

into humans are in the airways, in the back of the nose and throat. But it takes at least overnight to get the results. Presently only government has the equipment to do the testing. That machine required to do this type of genetic-engineered testing is very expensive.

We are fortunate that we have such a lab in the Bahamas, one of the benefits of our HIV research – kudos to Dr. Perry Gomez and his pioneering work.

The other test is quite different. It tests for antibodies. These are protein molecules made by the body’s immune system to recognize and destroy the virus. The immune response is the body’s defenses against any foreign entity like germs – the microorganisms that can invade our bodies and do harm. The problem is that the virus must take a foothold first, the body must recognize and then make the antibodies. This usually takes some 5 to 14 days. This, unfortunately, is the aftermath and so, this test would miss the first days of the body’s invasion when the virus is quite infectious and transmissible. How many people would actually develop an immune response? People who have weak immune systems, like diabetics, senior citizens, people on drugs that suppress the immune system like cancer patients, could have false negative results. So, while the antibody test can be done as rapidly, within 30 minutes, some recent ones that are self-administered can yield results in 10 minutes. Not applicable to detect the onset of infection, these antibody tests are limited, but have the value of determining the prevalence or occurrence of the number of persons in the community who have been exposed and are unlikely to be infected again. Maybe this is the safe group that can go back to work and keep the country and community going; not everyone and everything needs to be locked down.

Kudos to Singapore and

South Korea for doing this.

Were it COVID-19 a simple flu disorder requiring some over-the-counter meds, in a week of nightly news, it would have been history. Gone and forgotten.

But it has stricken, not only people but all our social systems too. Like a lightning bolt wreaking havoc over the globe leaving a trail of death. At the same time, it severely damaged the world’s economy. Stock markets worldwide are experiencing record falls.

A global economic is in full bloom, not unlike the 1930s’ market meltdown. Major cities across the world have become ghost towns. Factories have closed. Supply chains disrupted. In addition to the unprecedented demands on the healthcare systems, COVID-19 crippled the governments’ financial forecasts. As businesses are forced to close and people can’t work, there are no tax revenues.

Governments must step up to the plate and assure continued viability of businesses and people’s ability to sustain themselves. Deficits will fly through the roof as governments do whatever it takes to stimulate their economies.

This is the challenge, balancing this dilemma: going to work to put bread on the table, pay rent or mortgages versus staying at home to prevent disease transmission to save lives. In our tourism and service-based economy, we are damned if we do, and damned if we don’t.

This discussion proposes that we strike a balance. At the onset, we doubled our public health initiatives, namely contact tracing, social distancing, isolation and quarantine. But now, the time has come to test aggressively, with the goal to test everyone. We must make a national mandate to test everyone. Whatever it takes. If this is what is being said about the government stimulus to reboot the economy, why not make the investment in testing too?

Testing will identify who is safe to go to work and

who must be locked down at home. We can set out to do the rapid test on everyone starting with the cities.

The new rapid test has an accuracy of 92.8 % on the first antibody response and 98.6% on the next one that remains long lasting. If the recent research is correct, that 80% of infected persons are asymptomatic; a significant number in the population who already have immunity will be identified. They can go to work.

All others must stay inside for their recovery period.

T

he most effective way to control the spread of the virus is through both secondary prevention and testing the population, as proven by the Chinese, South Korean, and Icelandic governments. The UK and the US governments have bought into this too.

It’s the race of their lifetime to catch up and save their people and the economy.

The UK Health Secretary has set an ambitious target of performing 100,000 test per day in England by the end of April 2020. The BBC outlined the British government’s five-point plan: • Swab tests for those who already have the virus, to be done by their public health national labs; • Use commercial partners such as universities and private businesses to do more swab testing; • Introduce antibody blood tests to check whether people have had the virus; • Surveillance to determine the rate of infection and how it is spreading across the country; • Building a British diagnostics industry, with help from pharmaceutical giants To do this in the Bahamas we must expand our testing capacity. We must partner with all our private labs. We make them accountable.

Every test they perform, when, on who, and their results, must be reported to the Public Health authorities on a daily basis. Let’s

expand our testing to do both the swab test and the antibody test. Let’s invest in our provider labs too, to help them purchase the testing equipment and supplies. It’s time to be on the offensive with COVID-19.

As we double our efforts to contact tracing, social distancing, isolation and quarantine, so too, quadruple our testing. This could take some of the financial burden off the government.

I propose that most people would be willing to pay for their tests in the private sector for the expediency and their comfort of mind.

I have been isolated at home for 14 days because of exposure to a COVID19 positive patient. I remain out of action like the other persons on quarantine, not knowing if we are and praying to remain asymptomatic. A rapid test with positive antibodies makes for a different outcomes and assurances.

What else can the government do? The government can leverage the power of country to buy tests in bulk and to access tests kits to purchase directly from the pharmaceutical juggernauts. More convincingly, they are members of the CARICOM. Together, they can leverage the entire 7 million population to purchase in bulk to test the whole English-speaking region, seeking to identify our COVID-19 positive and negative populations and get our tourism-based economy, up and running. By the time we have done this, the vaccines would probably be ready for regular use. The English-Speaking Caribbean leads the world with the highest vaccination rates, slam dunk.

COVID19 will be curtailed only through a shared responsibility and action of the government, the people and full participation of the private sector. It’s time for the government to allow the private sector health services do their part. Let’s prime the country to test every resident. We must win this war, and take our country back!

PAGE 10, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

AND WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? HISTORY shows that times of upheaval are invariably followed by radical change. But the question is whether the result will be better or worse. It would have been unthinkable as recently as the end of February that only weeks later all schools would be closed and public gatherings cancelled and millions out of work, mortgage payments deferred and the homeless living in hotels free of charge.

Nor could it have been believed the US and UK governments would have produced enormous and unprecedented financial stimulus packages to bail out

struggling businesses and individuals while people all across the globe would be practising social distancing and be forced to stay at home in self-isolation.

The view of the pessimists is that global capitalism with the constant movement of people and goods across the world makes it vulnerable to pandemics. So the coronavirus crisis will only become worse and may be followed by something similar. This could lead to calls for isolationism and the rise of authoritarian governments which is already happening in countries like Hungary and Israel, both of which

The

Peter Young column SUCH is the plethora of information in the media about coronavirus, particularly the serious developments in the US which are worsening by the day with a rising death toll, that the facts do not bear repetition. But there has been little news about the situation in Britain where normal life has been brought to a standstill. So it might be worth looking at the UK government’s reaction to the enormous challenges it is facing in case there may be some useful lessons in relation to our own problems here in The Bahamas.

Some people contend the COVID-19 crisis has had the effect of uniting the people of Britain against an invisible, silent and common enemy and, coincidentally, this is helping to heal the recent divisions over Brexit. The nation has enjoyed many years of peace and prosperity, but there has been a greater emphasis on rights rather than responsibilities

and this has led, in some cases, to a breakdown of trust within society. It is said, however, that when people’s very existence is turned upside down and they go through tough times together - involving life and death - a curious bonding can happen so that they become more united than divided and society as a whole becomes more caring and compassionate.

Human beings are social animals who derive pleasure from giving as well as receiving. If, in a crisis, people see the need to balance self-interest and the common good, not only will they continue to want to compete with others but they will at the same time be willing to cooperate more. The positive side of human nature comes to the fore with people reaching out to help one another and to protect the old, the frail and vulnerable.

One example in the UK is the thousands of retired National Health Service staff who have volunteered

are seeking to rule by decree. It could also result in greater state powers like increased surveillance of a nation’s own citizens, and other emergency measures that – on the evidence of history are likely to become permanent.

This leads people like Noam Chomsky - the American philosopher and political analyst labelled by some as an eternal left-wing polemicist - to consider the crisis may result in the rise of such authoritarianism.

By contrast, optimists believe COVID-19 might open the door to helpful political change and progress since people will want

conserve and protect the national environment. In the belief that there is more to life than the pursuit of money and power, he suggests the pandemic may be an opportunity for people to change the way they live by steering away from an emphasis on consumption and the quest for economic gain and growth and turning instead to sustaining the environment on which humans depend for their existence.

Perhaps he is right - for, despite all our affluence and technological power and development, a tiny virus has brought the world to its knees.

We’ve seen it before - British bonding when their backs are against the wall to help out in hard-pressed hospitals, knowing they themselves could become infected. Another heartwarming development is the regular ‘clap for carers’ ritual with people coming together in communities at a certain designated time to partake in a national round of applause showing appreciation for NHS staff and care workers. Yet another is chefs at Premier League football club Southampton providing food for the club’s supporters who have lost their jobs and are out of money.

Nonetheless, it is a truism that adversity brings out the worst as well as the best in human beings. There are

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE BAHAMAS COMMERCIAL DIVISION

to re-think what kind of world they want to live in; in particular, how much power should be in the hands of a state to enable it to intervene in order to meet its responsibility to protect its citizens. They might wonder, too, whether it will be possible to view the world differently so that problems can somehow be shared by society rather than having masses of individuals competing against one another for wealth and personal standing.

On this theme, I am indebted to a friend for sending me an article by David Suzuki whose foundation in Vancouver works to

CAUSE NO. 00014 OF 2020

IN THE MATTER OF the Companies Act, Ch. 308 AND IN THE MATTER OF an Application under the Securities Industry Act, 2011 AND IN THE MATTER of MINTBROKER INTERNATIONAL LTD. (FORMERLY SWISS AMERICA SECURITIES LTD.) T/A SURE TRADER Swiss America Securities, a Registered Securities Firm.

ADVERTISEMENT OF WINDING UP PETITION TAKE NOTICE that a petition for an order that SWISS AMERICA SECURITIES LTD., whose offices were formerly situated at Elizabeth on Bay Plaza, Suite 17, Bay Street, Nassau, The Bahamas (the “Company”), be put into liquidation and wound up in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, was on 5 March 2020, presented to the Supreme Court of The Bahamas.

The petition was presented by the Securities Commission of The Bahamas located at 2nd Floor Poinciana House, North Building, 31A East Bay Street, Nassau, The Bahamas. Joint Provisional Liquidators (JPLs), Mr. Igal Wizman and Ms. Eleanor Fisher, both of Ernst and Young, were appointed by the court on 17 March 2020. Copies of the petition, supporting affidavits and the Order appointing the JPLs, may all be obtained from the petitioner’s website www.scb.gov.bs.

AND FURTHER TAKE NOTICE that the hearing of the petition will take place on Tuesday 19 May 2020 at the Supreme Court, Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas, at 2:00 p.m. and that anycreditor or shareholder of the Company may be heard on the petition provided that he has given three (3) days’ notice to the petitioner at the given address. The notice must state the name and address of the person, or, if a firm, the name and address of the firm, and must be signed by the person or firm, or his or their attorney (if any) and must be served, or if posted, must be sent by post in sufficient time to reach the petitioner not later than 4:00 o’clock on the afternoon of the 13th day of May, 2020.

Securities Commission of The Bahamas (Petitioner) 2nd Floor Poinciana House, North Building 31A East Bay Street Nassau, The Bahamas.

reports of a global surge in domestic violence - and perhaps it should come as no surprise that in the midst of much goodwill there are some in the UK who are bent on doing wrong to others through fraud and scams related to the virus, with confidence tricksters using fake emails to prey on vulnerable people and extort money from them, purportedly for charities.

Be that as it may, Britain is for the most part a law-abiding and orderly country whose freedoms have always depended on a public readiness to follow the rules of civilised behaviour without being compelled to do so by heavy-handed authority and coercive policing. So it must have gone against all the liberal instincts of a Conservative government to impose a lockdown based on the advice of the medical experts about social distancing.

On the whole, in a national emergency Britons are showing a willingness to behave fairly and patiently in accepting restraints on personal freedom and action for the common good, since they recognise such freedom should be tempered if it harms or endangers others.

Reportedly, however, there have been those who refuse to comply.

So, in some cases, the newly-imposed restrictive measures have been hard to enforce in a nation of some 66 million people. The result has been some inappropriate and heavy-handed police action, including selective road blocks which is a type of policing rarely experienced in Britain.

But, even allowing for the easier enforcement conditions in a smaller country, compare those difficulties with the effectiveness of the strong measures taken

by Dr Minnis’ government and the complete lockdown in The Bahamas over this past weekend when New Providence was like a ghost town.

At the time of writing,

PRINCE Charles opens Nightingale Hospital via videolink the UK has recorded some 48,000 cases of the virus and nearly 5,000 deaths. Yesterday the Prime Minister himself, who tested positive recently, was transferred into intensive care such is the concern of the medical staff treating him. An authoritative Oxford University study maintains fewer than one in three of those infected become ill enough to need hospital treatment and the vast majority develop only mild symptoms.

Nevertheless, the figures are horrifying, and there is no vaccination nor cure so the emphasis has to be on avoiding infection by social distancing.

In this crisis I believe it is essential for the government to be clear and consistent in communicating with the British people.

It is now responding vigorously to criticism about the lack of testing for the virus and for failing to provide sufficient ventilators to hospitals and personal protective equipment to health workers. The Minister of Health, Matt Hancock, has committed to carrying out 100,000 tests per day by the end of April, which sounds like a tall order but is a step in the right direction.

He has also announced the opening of new hospitals and other medical facilities - and the most impressive of all has been the building and equipping of the Nightingale Hospital in East London. Converted from a huge convention centre, it has been completed within two and a half

weeks and has a capacity of 4,000 beds. It was opened formally last week by the Prince of Wales via video link from his self-isolation in Scotland.

Rather than attempt this week to analyse the crippling economic consequences of the virus in Britain, suffice it to say that a view seems to be growing in the country that, unless a path is mapped out for a swift return to normal business activity, there could be lasting damage to the national economy.

A protracted lockdown would mean not only the continuing curtailment of personal freedoms but also economic paralysis – and this could cause more suffering than the virus itself.

The UK experienced its worst day of the crisis on April 4 with 708 deaths in 24 hours. But the continuing draconian restrictions could bankrupt the whole nation, so some sort of exit strategy is essential.

This might include partial easing of the lockdown and a selective re-opening subject to the requirements of social distancing.

Thus, political leaders are left with the daunting task of striking a balance between saving lives and protecting – or even saving – the economy. This will involve difficult judgments, but they have to face the reality that a prolonged lockdown could have farreaching consequences which might create irreversible damage to the whole country.

to be intensely personal, not least because her own son, Prince Charles, tested positive for the virus and, of course, she and Prince Philip are themselves both in self-isolation at Windsor Castle.

Rather than my quoting selectively from the broadcast, readers will doubtless wish to read the full text online. But I can say that

it was an inspiring message of hope and reassurance which has been described as an exceptional one in exceptional circumstances that are a defining moment for the nation.

Her address has been much applauded in the UK press for its realistic but optimistic and positive tone and content. There seems to be general agreement that The Queen delivered a powerful message. She also managed to show what has been described as ‘calm empathy’ which many people have found to be comforting.

As the longest-serving Head of State in the world, she enjoys enormous respect and authority and her words are listened to and widely appreciated.

A CALMING VOICE OF HOPE AND REASSURANCE MY wife and I were delighted to have been able to watch live on BBC TV on Sunday afternoon Her Majesty The Queen’s address to the nation.

Reportedly, this attracted an audience of 23 million in Britain, but she was also speaking to the 15 other Realms – including The Bahamas - and, as Head of the Commonwealth, to its other 53 member states.

This was only the fifth time during her 68-year reign that The Queen has made a special address of this sort which is, of course unrelated to her annual televised speech to the nation at Christmas.

This was an historic and heartfelt address at the time of a national emergency and was said

THE TRIBUNE

Tuesday, April 7, 2020, PAGE 11

BRITISH PM JOHNSON MOVED INTO INTENSIVE CARE LONDON Associated Press

BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to the intensive care unit of a London hospital after his coronavirus symptoms dramatically worsened yesterday, just a day after he was admitted for what were said to be routine tests.

Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas’ Hospital late on Sunday, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, the first major world leader to be confirmed to have the virus.

The 55-year-old Conservative

was conscious and did not require ventilation, but he was moved into intensive care in case he needs it later, his office said in a statement.

Britain has no official post of deputy prime minister, but Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been designated to take over should Johnson become incapacitated.

A grave-looking Raab said Johnson was “in safe hands” at the hospital, which is treating many virus patients.

“The government’s business will continue,” Raab said. He said Johnson had asked him “to deputise for him where needed in

driving forward the government’s plans to defeat coronavirus.”

The deterioration of Johnson’s health took many in Britain by surprise. Hours earlier, he had tweeted that he was in good spirits and thanked the National Health Service for taking care of him and others with the disease.

“On the advice of my doctor, I went into hospital for some routine tests as I’m still experiencing coronavirus symptoms,” Johnson said in the tweet. He said he was keeping in touch with his team “as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.”

The prime minister’s spokesman

said earlier that Johnson had spent a comfortable night and remained in charge of government after being admitted to the hospital because his cough and fever persisted.

Speaking earlier at the government’s daily coronavirus press briefing, Raab said Johnson was being “regularly updated,” but said he had not spoken to him since Saturday.

News that Johnson had been transferred to intensive care drew an outpouring of support from around the world. U.S. President Donald Trump said “Americans are all praying for his recovery.”

“He’s been a really good friend,” Trump said during a White House press briefing. “He’s been really something very special — strong, resolute, doesn’t quit, doesn’t give up.”

Trump said he asked two “leading companies” to contact officials in London about therapeutics that could be of help. He did not identify the companies, but said “we have contacted all of Boris’s doctors, and we’ll see what’s going to take place, but they are ready to go.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a tweet that he was sending his support to Johnson.

ALARM OVER FATALITY RATE AMONG BLACK RESIDENTS CHICAGO Associated Press

LEFT: Medical workers wheel bodies to a refrigerated trailer serving as a makeshift morgue in Brooklyn, New York; Above: A coffin sits in a pickup truck before burial in Guayaquil, Ecuador; right: Police arrest doctors demanding facilities and prevention kits to attend to patients, in Quetta, Pakistan.

Deaths slow but ‘this is no time to relax’ NEW YORK Associated Press THE steep rise in coronavirus deaths appeared to be leveling off yesterday in hard-hit New York, echoing a trend underway in Italy and Spain New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced the first, faint signs the outbreak there might be at or near its peak, while warning it’s no time to relax social distancing restrictions. He ordered schools and nonessential businesses to remain closed until the end of the month and doubled fines for rule breakers to $1,000.

“The numbers look like it may be turning. ‘Yay, it’s over!’ No, it’s not.

And other places have made that mistake,” Cuomo said as deaths in the US neared 11,000, with over 365,000 confirmed infections.

The nation’s top infectious

disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was cautiously optimistic that the spread may be slowing, saying that in New York, “what we have been doing has been working.”

Outbreaks in other places moved in the opposite direction: France recorded its highest 24-hour death toll since the epidemic began —833.

Japan considered a state of emergency for Tokyo and other areas because of soaring infections in the country with the world’s thirdlargest economy and its oldest population.

Worldwide, more than 1.3 million people have been confirmed infected and over 74,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are certainly much higher, because of limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate underreporting by some

governments. The latest data suggests social distancing appears to be working in some countries, and better than expected.

One of the main models on the outbreak, the University of Washington’s, is now projecting about 82,000 US deaths through early August, or 12 percent fewer than previously forecast, with the highest number of daily deaths occurring April 16. The model relies on much more robust data from Italy and Spain and from hospitals.

The number of dead in New York state rose past 4,700, and the death toll in New York City closed in on the 2,753 lives lost at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

The state has averaged just under 600 deaths daily for the past four days. Though horrific, the somewhat steady daily totals were seen as a positive sign. Cuomo also

reported that the number of new people entering hospitals daily has dropped, as has the number of critically ill patients needing ventilators.

But the health care system is still strained. To help, Trump said a military hospital ship sent to New York City can now accept COVID-19 patients. Cuomo tweeted that the USNS Comfort would add 1,000 beds staffed by federal personnel, providing “much-needed relief.”

Globally, Austria and the Czech Republic began discussing how to ease some restrictions, starting with reopening some small shops and garden centers next week.

Italy’s day-to-day count of new COVID-19 cases dipped again, for the smallest one-day increase in early three weeks. The country, ravaged by the virus, also saw a drop for the third straight day in intensive care beds occupied by infected patients.

CHICAGO’S mayor pledged an aggressive public health campaign aimed at the city’s black and brown communities yesterday amid alarm that an overwhelming number of African American residents were among the people to die of COVID-19 in early data. Black residents accounted for 72% of deaths from COVID-19 complications in the city and 52% of positive tests for the coronavirus, despite making up only 30% of the city’s population, according to the city’s public health agency.

Public health experts in Chicago said the trend was unsurprising to anyone familiar with decades-old barriers to health care in the geographically divided city; residents of the city’s South and West sides historically have poorer access to health care, higher poverty rates and jobs that require them to keep showing up while others are able to work from home.

Similar conditions mark other large cities with large black populations that are considered hot spots for the coronavirus, including New York, Detroit, Milwaukee and New Orleans.

Figures released Monday

by Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services showed African Americans, who make up 14% of the state population, make up about 33% of cases statewide and 41% of deaths.

Still, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the disparities in Chicago “take your breath away” and required an immediate response.

“We can’t simply stand by and let this disease wreak havoc in our communities,” Lightfoot said. “Lives are truly at stake.”

PAGE 12, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

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SPORTS SECTION E

TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2020

COVID-19 challenging for amatuer and pro athletes

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

B

ahamian athletes, both at home and abroad, have struggled with maintaining their training and physical activity under strict government-mandated lockdowns and curfews.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has halted the world of sport and for professional and amatuer athletes, it poses several challenges for their career paths and immediate futures.

Pro basketball player Willis Mackey Jr is currently in Spain, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak. Up to press time last night, Spain has recorded over 135,000 confirmed cases and over 13,000 deaths.

Mackey is based in Salamanca, Spain, and plays for Aquisima Carbajosa of the Liga Española de Baloncesto Aficionado, commonly known as Liga EBA. The country announced that it would extend its lockdown to April 25 in an attempt to flatten the curve.

“I haven’t been outside many times since the lockdown started, just a couple of times to go to the store, get some snacks and stuff.

The club has been providing us with meals so we don’t have too many reasons to go outside. Things are obviously not the same,” Mackey said.

“It’s clearly a serious situation with over 110,000 cases out here in Spain right now. There’s police in the streets, people questioning you on ‘where you are going’ if you leave. I’m doing fine, just staying inside listening to what everyone has to say. My advice is to stay inside, take what the officials are saying seriously and just keep your family safe.”

In his first year of professional basketball, Mackey led the club with 16.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

• High jumper Jamal Wilson was Tokyo bound for the 2020 Olympic Games and had a career-best season sidetracked.

Back home in Nassau, Wilson said athletes have to find a way to stay in shape amid the 24-hour lockdown and be prepared for life to resume to a state of normalcy at any moment.

“As a professional athlete in the Bahamas, for training, it is difficult during the 24-hour lockdown, with limited resources you just have to do what you can do to stay in shape. They give us 90 minutes to be outside and we just have to use it wisely. We just have to tweak our training so we don’t peak too early, we just have to work our way into tip-top shape when it matters

PAGE 16

BRITISH OPEN CANCELLED, MASTERS TO NOVEMBER IN MAJOR RESCHEDULING

By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer

HIGH jumper Jamal Wilson was Tokyo bound for the 2020 Olympic Games and had a career-best season sidetracked. the most. So we have to push our training a few months back for the meets that were postponed.

“Just like everyone else we have to cope with it, no reason to complain just take it as it comes, wake up every day ready to apply and still get better,” he said.

“Most athletes just want everything to get back to normal and to participate in their sport. The NCAA shut down sports for the rest of the year which was a devastating blow for a lot of young athletes, especially those that have been preparing for such a long time for those opportunities.

Whenever anything opens up, it can be a high school, college meet, I’m just excited to get back out and start competing again because I have been competing well this year.”

Wilson qualified for the Tokyo Games in February at a meet in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. Wilson soared to a second-place finish with his lifetime achievement of 2.33 metres or 7-feet, 7 3/4-inches, which also matched the qualifying standard.

This season he surpassed his previous indoor best of 2.31m (7-7) and outdoors of 2.30m (7-6 1/2).

Bahamas Aquatics has updated the status of its athletes through social media, as athletes from the youth and collegiate levels have expressed similar struggles with training.

The top performer at the 2019 CARIFTA Swimming

Championships, Marvin Johnson, discussed the cancellation of the 2020 event. “It’s really affected me knowing that so much hard work and dedication has gone down the drain. I was really looking forward to representing the Bahamas to the best of my abilities. The pool closure has impacted me and not being able to swim daily has been a tough transition.

“Swimming has been a part of my life since the age of three and I really do miss it,” he said. “It’s stopped all possibility of training.

We can’t utilise beaches or running facilities and it has made it very difficult to train. My coach has sent me various links on YouTube to create some form of training but it is very challenging.”

At the 34th CARIFTA Aquatics Championships in Wildey, Barbados, Johnson led the way for Team Bahamas’ third consecutive CARIFTA title with 14 gold medals, 10 individual and four as a member of relay teams overall en route to the High Point trophy in the 11-12 boys’ category with 90 points.

At the collegiate level, both Albury and Lilly Higgs were able to complete their conference championships but had their seasons cut short when the NCAA cancelled all sporting events ahead just prior to the Division I championships.

Albury is a senior for the South Carolina Gamecocks.

“I think that the decision to postpone [The Olympics] was a

necessary one so that athletes can prioritise their safety with everything that’s happening. We’re at home quarantine. There are no gyms or pools open around us so for me I have just been doing training at home, dry land workouts, what we can do and manage from home. When things get better and we get a hold on the coronavirus, I think once things start going back to normal we can resume our normal schedule,” Albury said.

“With the Olympics being in 2021, it is another year for athletes to get better and just keeping an optimistic mindset and using this year to get better myself.

Lilly, a sophomore for the North Carolina Tar Heels, said: “ Taking some time away from the pool just to refocus and get our mindset right so when we come back in the water we really can focus on training. Other than that, I’ve just been doing my online classes which have been an adjustment but it’s a really good thing to have a schedule.”

At the SEC Championships, Albury finished fifth overall in 100 breaststroke, seventh in the 200 breaststrokes, and 19th overall in the 200 Individual Medley. She was also a member of two recordsetting relay times that set new Gamecocks records.

At the ACC Championships, Lilly recorded a pair of top 10 finishes in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. In the 100, she finished eighth overall and in the 200, she finished 10th overall.

THE British Open will not be played this year for the first time since 1945, golf officials announced yesterday as they tried to reconfigure a major championship schedule that would end with the Masters being played two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Still to be determined is when — or even if — golf can resume depending on the spread of COVID-19 that has shut down sports worldwide.

The R&A announced that the British Open, scheduled for July 16-19 at Royal St George’s in England, will be pushed back until July 15-18 in 2021, leaving the 150th Open for St Andrews in 2022.

“I can assure everyone that we have explored every option for playing The Open this year, but it is not going to be possible,” R&A chief Martin Slumbers said.

The Masters, which was supposed to start Thursday, was rescheduled for November 12-15. That would follow the PGA Championship August 6-9 at Harding Park in San Francisco and the US Open — still at Winged Foot — for September 17-20.

Golf’s major organisations have been trying to piece together a puzzle for the last three weeks and each agreed to announce their schedules at the same time in a show of collaboration. Still missing is the starting line. The PGA Tour has the most moving parts, and it tentatively has planned to complete its FedEx Cup season close to schedule, with the Tour Championship wrapping up the postseason run on Labour Day. “We hope the anticipation of staging the Masters Tournament in the fall brings a moment of joy to the Augusta community and all those who love the sport,” Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley said.

“We want to emphasise that our future plans are incumbent upon favourable counsel and direction from health officials.”

NFL going with virtual format for upcoming draft

By BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer THE NFL draft will be conducted in a virtual format, with team personnel working from their homes.

In a memo sent to the 32 teams yesterday and obtained by The Associated Press, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell outlined procedures for the April 23-25 draft. The guidelines include no group gatherings.

“We have reviewed this matter in the past few days with both the competition committee and CEC (a group of league executives),” Goodell wrote, “and this will confirm that clubs will conduct their draft operations remotely, with club personnel separately located in their homes.”

All team facilities were closed on March 26 and Goodell has ordered them to remain shut indefinitely.

“We will reopen facilities when it is safe to do so based on medical and public health advice, and in compliance with government mandates,” he wrote.

The draft originally was scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, but the NFL cancelled all public events last month as a safeguard against the coronavirus. On Monday, Goodell instructed the teams on how they should plan to make their selections.

“We have made this decision for several reasons,” he wrote.

“All clubs will not have access to their facilities, which is contrary to the fundamental equity principle that all clubs operate in a consistent and fair way.

“Moreover, we want all NFL personnel to comply with government directives and to model safe and appropriate health practices.

“Our staff will carry out its responsibilities in the

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks ahead of the first round of an NFL football draft.

(AP Photo/Steve Helber) Several team general “We are operating in same way, operating in separate locations outside managers had sought a an environment unlike of our offices. And after delay in the draft, basically anything we have expericonsulting with medical citing an unfair playing field. enced before,” Goodell advisers, we cannot identify But the owners pushed for added, “one that requires an alternative that is pref- the draft, the NFL’s biggest flexibility, patience, and erable from a medical or offseason event, to take cooperation.”

The ruling bars the New public health perspective, place as scheduled. It is given the varying needs of up to each team to ensure Orleans Saints from operclubs, the need properly not only safe and healthy ating out of an expansive to screen participants, and conditions, but to offset space in the Dixie Brewery.

Saints coach Sean Payton the unique risk factors that any perceived competitive individual club employees imbalance under the guide- said last week that the he, lines set forth by Goodell. general manager Mickey may face.”

Loomis and a handful of other staffers were set up with video conferencing and other equipment at the brewery. The brewery is part of Saints owner Gayle Benson’s business empire in Louisiana and across town from team headquarters.

Payton said the club had gone to great lengths to ensure the setup conforms to Centers for Disease Control social distancing guidelines for workplaces.

He said no one could enter the room without having their temperature scanned first and that everyone was remaining more than six feet apart.

The Saints did not immediately comment on the NFL’s decision or on the time and effort lost in having to vacate the setup and ultimately dismantle it.

Plans for televising the draft have not been finalised, though it is expected that ESPN and NFL Network will do so, perhaps in a joint effort.

PAGE 14, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

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FIFA EXTENDS MEN’S AGE LIMIT FOR TOKYO OLYMPICS DUE TO CORONAVIRUS LEAGUE TO

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — FIFA has extended the age limit for the men’s soccer tournament at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The amended Olympic rule retains the “players born on or after January 1, 1997” standard for the Tokyo Games following a oneyear postponement agreed last week by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese authorities. It means players eligible for the intended under-23 tournament

in 2020 can still play in Japan at age 24 next year. Men’s soccer kicks off ahead of the July 23, 2021 opening ceremony in Tokyo.

FIFA also postponed two women’s age-group World Cups due this year in Central America and India, and confirmed no international games for men and women will be played in the early June dates protected for national team callups.

Soccer’s world body said “health must always be the first priority and the main criteria in any decision-making process, especially in these challenging times.”

The Olympic decision was made by a FIFA panel of soccer officials worldwide, created to address the soccer shutdown during the health crisis.

The 16 men’s teams at the Tokyo Olympics next year can also select three over-age players in their rosters.

A stellar lineup includes Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Spain.

Two women’s World Cup tournaments — the Under-20s hosted

by Panama and Costa Rica in August and September, and the Under-17s in India in November

— are postponed. No new dates were announced.

Until the COVID-19 outbreak, national team games scheduled in June included the 2020 European Championship.

And the World Cup qualifying games in South America and Asia, and qualifiers for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

After the Euro 2020 was postponed for one year, UEFA hoped to schedule playoff games in June to confirm the last four places in a 24-nation lineup. Those playoffs were postponed indefinitely this week.

Column: COVID-19 will make the timeline for sports, too

By TIM DAHLBERG AP Sports Columnist THE unthinkable, at least for sports fans, already has happened.

The games, as we know them, are shut down. We’ll never know if San Diego State was a Final Four contender or if Tiger Woods would have defended his green jacket at the Masters.

There was no opening day in baseball. The odds are increasingly good there will be no Stanley Cup Final or NBA champion in the year 2020.

And now it’s time to consider the unimaginable, at least when it comes to fun and games as we once knew them.

That means no college football this fall. No Super Bowl next February.

No sports at all as long as the new coronavirus keeps killing people across the country.

Presumably, the commissioners of this country’s major sports leagues already know that. They understand the kind of things — immediate widespread testing tops the list — that would have to happen to allow play to begin again.

If not, a brief review of what the chief medical officer of the NFL told

Barry Wilner of The Associated Press is in order.

Read between the lines — actually, just read the lines — and the prospects of an NFL season later this year seem bleak, no matter how much the president of the United States would like to see sports come back quickly.

“We have got to get a much better handle on the actual spread of this virus and how many new cases there are,” said Dr Allen Sills, a neurosurgeon who has been with the NFL since 2017. “How it is transmitted and how we can mitigate it. We have to get to the point that when someone is tested as positive to the virus that does not mean an immediate quarantine. If that is the case, you can’t think about opening up a team sport.”

That is not how President Donald Trump sees it. He convened a conference call of major sports leaders on Saturday to give them a pep talk on sports coming back and indicated he would like to see it happen by September which, not coincidentally, is the scheduled start of the NFL season.

“I want fans back in the arenas,” Trump said later in a briefing at the White House. “I think it’s

... whenever we’re ready.

As soon as we can, obviously. And the fans want to be back, too. They want to see basketball and baseball and football and hockey.

They want to see their sports.”

On that, most everyone can agree, no matter their political persuasion. Sports offers a pleasant diversion in ordinary life, and it becomes even more important during a time of crisis.

It’s why baseball continued during World War II. It’s why the NFL played two days after President John F Kennedy was assassinated and why both Major League Baseball and the NFL rushed to get back on the field in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The new coronavirus, though, is as sneaky as it is deadly. Even experts have a hard time figuring out the different ways it spreads and how to protect against it.

And no amount of banging on the bully pulpit is going to stop it from coming to a stadium or arena nearest you.

Imagine going to a NFL game in September.

Do they scan your forehead when they scan your ticket? Will you have to present evidence of a negative virus test? Do you really want to sit next to a stranger and worry for three hours about what he or she might be carrying?

The beer lines would be scary and waiting to use the urinal even more frightening.

Indeed, the logistics of simply holding a game would be staggering. And playing in one might be a risk that even NFL players won’t want to take.

Everyone from players to the ball boy in a locker room would have to be tested, that’s a given. But the tests would have to be plentiful and they would have to be instantaneous.

Everyone would need to be tested at least once a week, at minimum, and even that might not be enough.

And if someone tests positive, then what? Do you cancel the game? The season? Does an entire team go into quarantine just as the playoffs near?

And what if the governor of one state won’t allow games even as the governor of another does?

There’s too much that isn’t known to even take the risk. And in California, where three NFL teams play and a new $5 billion stadium is nearing completion in Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom is already on the record as expressing skepticism the season will open on time.

“I’m not anticipating that happening in this state,” Newsom said.

A statement like that would have been unthinkable just a month or so ago. But as the death count rises, the idea of an NFL season this year will seem even more fanciful a month from now.

The virus will make the timeline, as Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s foremost infection disease expert, has been saying to anyone who will listen.

Unfortunately, it’s becoming increasingly clear that timeline won’t include any more games this year.

FUND ITS PRO SWIMMERS THROUGH TOKYO OLYMPICS

By BETH HARRIS AP Sports Writer

THE International Swimming League will fund its professional athletes through next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, starting with payments in September.

The league said it plans a five-week, all-expenses paid combined training and competition event this year from October 14 to November 17 at a location yet to be determined depending on developments involving the coronavirus pandemic.

Every athlete who has signed or will sign a contract with an ISL club will receive an equal amount of money per month, starting September 1 through July 1, 2021.

No financial details were provided.

“This financial grant shall assist the swimmers during these challenging times to prepare for major events in 2021 and a full ISL season in the 2021-22,” the league said.

The ISL said athletes involved in the training and competition event will be allowed to bring their personal coaches.

The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled to start July 18, have been postponed to July 23 to August 8, 2021, due to the pandemic.

The pandemic has wreaked havoc with the international sports calendar.

Swimmers have had their training pools shut down in most locations, idling them at what would have been a critical preparation time leading up to the Olympics.

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Tuesday, April 7, 2020, PAGE 15

NBA coaches prepare for possible intriguing playoff matchups

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer WITH NBA games indefinitely on hold there has been a lot of discussion about postseason possibilities — including by coaches around the league.

They’re preparing for what a resumption of the season that was shut down March 11 could look like in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Toronto coach Nick Nurse said he’s trying to prepare for every possibility that would allow the Raptors a chance to defend their title.

“We’re ready for whatever is thrown at us,” Nurse

said recently during a conference call with reporters.

“I don’t think it really matters. What matters is that we attack the title in whatever format it’s going to be presented in and we go for it.”

No one knows what will be thrown at the NBA or the rest of the sports world.

Looking at guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, if NBA games do resume this season the calendar will play a major factor in how the league proceeds.

The ideas are many, from a shortened version of the remaining schedule played without fans to the very real possibility of jumping

straight to the playoffs to ensure a season is completed before the end of summer.

Milwaukee coach Mike Budenholzer said he has spent part of this hiatus studying the Orlando Magic and Brooklyn Nets — the Bucks’ two most likely firstround playoff foes — as well as other Eastern Conference teams.

Nurse had already begun thinking postseason before the season was suspended.

“When we hit March 1, we’ve got a kind of playoff prepping plan thing that kicks in,” the Raptors coach said. “We spread the teams around our staff members and they prepare a pretty

detailed couple of hour video sessions.

“They would normally come into my office and start showing that to me one-on-one. It’s a two-hour video that we go through probably in about three hours on certain teams in the East and then a handful of them in the West as well.

“The coaches were started in on that already and they’ll continue on that. The only difference is there’s no real one-one-one time with me yet. They’ll probably just have to send me their edit and then I’ll just have to watch them and talk to them on the phone.”

There would be several intriguing matchups if the

NBA resumes the season with the start of the postseason. Nurse and Toronto would be the No. 2 seed in the East and would host No. 7 Brooklyn. Other matchups would be: No. 1 Milwaukee vs. No. 8 Orlando; No. 3 Boston vs No. 6 Philadelphia; No. 4 Miami vs No. 5 Indiana.

In the West: No. 1 LA Lakers vs No. 8 Memphis; No. 2 LA Clippers vs No. 7 Dallas, No. 3 Denver vs No. 6 Houston; No. 4 Utah vs No. 5 Oklahoma City.

As good as the matchups look on paper there could be some sloppy postseason basketball.

Celtics center Enes Kanter estimates it would

take a minimum two to three weeks for players to get their bodies in game shape. Part of the reason, he said, is the shear time players have had away from the court.

Kanter believes a second training camp-like period would probably be needed.

Kanter said a training camp setting would also help players refocus. He said while he’s staying in shape, he’s also taken up other endeavours to avoid going stir crazy such as reading, watching documentaries and teaching himself to cook and play the piano.

It is clear time is not the NBA’s friend.

PAGE 16, Tuesday, April 7, 2020

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THE CLASS OF 2020: A LOOK AT BASKETBALL’S NEW HALL OF FAMERS

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

percentage), now a member of eight Halls of Fame.

Quote: “I don’t coach to get into Hall of Fames.

I don’t coach to get courts named after me.” — Mulkey, at the 2019 Final Four.

A LOOK at the newest members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, announced on Saturday: KOBE BRYANT Key stats: 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists per game in 20 NBA seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Career accomplishments: Five-time NBA champion (2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010), 18-time All-Star, 2008 NBA MVP, No. 4 scorer in NBA history, 15-time All-NBA player, scored career-high 81 points vs. Toronto on January 22, 2006, four-time All-Star Game MVP, twotime NBA Finals MVP, two-time Olympic gold medallist (2008, 2012), 2018 Academy Award winner for “Dear Basketball.”

Quote: “Mamba Out.” — How he ended his remarks at Staples Center after the last game of his career, a 60-point effort in 2016.

TIM DUNCAN Key stats: 19.0 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.2 blocks per game in 19 NBA seasons with the San Antonio Spurs.

Career accomplishments: Five-time NBA champion (1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2014), 15-time All-Star, two-time NBA MVP (2002, 2003), 15-time All-NBA player, 1998 NBA rookie of the year, 1997 NCAA player of the year at Wake Forest, one of three players in NBA history to be part of more than 1,000 regularseason wins.

Quote: “Thank you, Coach Pop, for being more than a coach ... for being more like a father to me.”

— Duncan, to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, at his jersey retirement.

KEVIN GARNETT Key stats: 17.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists per game in 21 NBA

LOS Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, top, goes up for a shot between Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce, left, and Al Jefferson during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles on February 23, 2007.

(AP Photo/Branimir Kvartuc) seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets.

Career accomplishments: 2008 NBA champion, 15-time All-Star, 2004 NBA MVP, 2008 NBA defensive player of the year, 2000 Olympic gold medallist, is only player NBA history with at least 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 blocks and 1,500 steals.

Quote: “Man, I’m so hyped right now. Anything is possible. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!” — Garnett in his on-court interview, moments after the Celtics won the 2008 championship.

TAMIKA CATCHINGS Key stats: 16.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.4 steals per game in 15 WNBA seasons with the Indiana Fever.

Career accomplishments: 2012 WNBA champion and WNBA Finals MVP,

2011 WNBA MVP, 10-time All-Star, five-time defensive player of the year, seven-time steals champion, four-time Olympic gold medallist (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), two-time world champion (2002, 2010), 1998 NCAA champion at Tennessee.

Quote: “I never would have dreamed that the WNBA would start in my freshman year in college and I would have the opportunity to play in a league that was designed just for me.” — Catchings, at her jersey retirement.

RUDY TOMJANOVICH Key stats: 527-416 record in parts of 13 NBA seasons as coach of Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers; 17.4 points, 8.1 rebounds. 2.0 assists per game in 11 seasons as player with Rockets.

Career accomplishments:

Two-time NBA champion coach with Houston (1994, 1995), 2000 Olympic gold medal as coach, five-time NBA All-Star as player, career rebounding leader at Michigan, No. 2 pick in 1970 NBA draft.

Quote: “I have one thing to say to those nonbelievers: Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion.” — Tomjanovich, after the Rockets won the 1995 NBA title as a No. 6 seed.

EDDIE SUTTON Key stats: 806-326 record in parts of 37 seasons at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma State and San Francisco.

Career accomplishments: Two-time AP national coach of the year (1978, 1986), took three teams to the Final Four (Arkansas in 1978, Oklahoma State in 1995 and 2004), one of 12 coaches recognised by

the NCAA for more than 800 Division I victories, nine regular-season conference titles, eight conference tournament titles.

Quote: “You have given me memories, guys, to take with me for the rest of my life.”

— Sutton, when he announced his Oklahoma State retirement in 2006.

KIM MULKEY Key stats: 604-101 record in 20 seasons as Baylor women’s coach.

Career accomplishments: Three-time NCAA champion coach with Baylor (2005, 2012, 2019), two-time national champion player at Louisiana Tech (AIAW in 1981, NCAA in 1982), twotime AP national women’s coach of the year (2012, 2019), combined career record as a Louisiana Tech player, Louisiana Tech assistant and Baylor coach of 1,164-175 (.869 winning

BARBARA STEVENS Key stats: 1,058-291 record in 43 seasons at Clark, Massachusetts and Bentley.

Career accomplishments: Coached 2014 NCAA Division II national champions at Bentley with a 35-0 record, five-time WBCA Division II national coach of the year (1992, 1999, 2001, 2013, 2014), 16-time Northeast-10 coach of the year, coached Bentley for final 28 of its Division II-record 33 consecutive winning seasons and for Division II-record five consecutive 30-win seasons (1988-89 through 1992-93).

Quote: “They know what we are looking for from them. It’s really been somewhat easy in the sense of just giving them kind of the blueprint and letting them go ahead and execute.” — Stevens, during the 2014 NCAA title season.

PATRICK BAUMANN Key stats: Secretary general of FIBA from 2003 through his death in 2018.

Career accomplishments: A player, referee and coach before joining the global basketball governing body FIBA, member of the International Olympic Committee, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, viewed as major proponent of the growth of the 3x3 game and its inclusion in the Olympic programme.

“We are delighted to have our own headquarters that reflect our sport and its values. The House of Basketball is not only a home for FIBA and its members, but for all lovers of basketball.” — Baumann, when FIBA’s new headquarters opened in 2013.