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VOLUME:117 No.148, JUNE 29TH, 2020
HO US E & 12 THE PEOPLE’S PAPER: $1
INSIGHT: ROTARY’S $10M HELPING DORIAN RECOVERY
PAGES
DON’T TRAVEL
As PM confirms full re-opening, he begs - don’t go overseas By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis urged residents yesterday not to travel overseas for nonessential travel and outlined revised rules for entry to the country. He said that, beginning July 7, PCR COVID-19 tests that have negative results must be taken no later than seven days prior to the date of arrival, scrapping the previous policy requiring that tests be no later than ten days old. He said ten day old tests will be accepted until July 7. “We have made the window of time for testing shorter for the protection of
HOW COULD ANYONE SHOOT HER?
Bahamians and residents,” he said during a national address. He said Bahamians and residents returning to the country from countries where they cannot obtain a PCR test must show that the test is unavailable and will be subjected to mandatory quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. He also said Bahamians and residents returning to the country after 72 hours or less are not required to produce a negative test result but can be tested in the country at their own cost. “Because of the difficulty in obtaining a PCR COVID-19 test result within three days, SEE PAGE THREE
BEACHES BACK IN BUSINESS - BUT ABUSE IT AND LOSE IT By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced that people who fail to wear masks in public will be fined $200 or face one month imprisonment as the Royal Bahamas Police Force forms a new COVID19 enforcement unit to ensure compliance with his emergency orders. During a national address yesterday, he also warned beaches, which reopen in New Providence, Paradise Island, Grand Bahama and Bimini today, will be immediately closed if there are mass gatherings. Groups
of more than five on public beaches are prohibited, he said. “Masks are to be worn by all persons, Bahamians, residents and visitors, entering and exiting our beaches,” he said. “Please be reminded, gatherings on the beaches of more than five persons are strictly prohibited. This will result in a fine under the emergency orders. Our enforcement teams will be monitoring this risk closely. Mass gatherings may result in the immediate closure of the respective beach. Additionally, depending on the results of the beaches’ SEE PAGE THREE
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MOODY’S WARN COVID IMPACT WILL REMAIN BEYOND 2024
By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
BAHAMIAN economic output will not recover to pre-COVID-19 levels “until after 2024”, Moody’s has warned, in an illustration of the economic devastation unleashed by the pandemic. The rating agency, in a “credit opinion” that accompanied its decision to cut The Bahamas’ creditworthiness by two notches to “junk” status, is forecasting that the economy will take up to five years to recover from this year’s 16 percent to 20 percent contraction. Moody’s also warned the crisis, complete with its tourism and economic shutdown, has inflicted “lasting deterioration” on The Bahamas’ national debt burden. FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS
‘DOWNGRADE SHOWS GOVT POLICIES ARE NOT VIABLE’
By EARYEL BOWLEG ebowleg@tribunemedia.net
TWO-year-old Da’Nyla Roberts is in critical condition in hospital after she was shot by gunmen in Eleuthera on Saturday night Full story - Page 4
PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party deputy leader Chester Cooper has condemned the government for not heeding warnings when Moody’s placed the country under review for downgrade in April. The international credit rating agency had predicted the Bahamian economy would shrink by eight percent this year. The agency has now forecast the economy will shrink between 16 percent and 20 percent. A two-notch downgrade and a negative outlook was placed on The Bahamas, stripping the nation of its investment grade status with both Moody’s and Standard & Poor (S&P). SEE PAGE SEVEN
ROLLE DEFENDS POLICE KILLING PROBES Don’t By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net
POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle said he has “every confidence” in how police-involved killings are investigated despite calls for an independent body to investigate the matters. Commissioner Rolle said the Coroner’s Court is responsible for investigating the killings and that
COMMISSIONER: Paul Rolle nothing is done involving fatal shootings unless the coroner is present. Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez,
however, has denied that her body is responsible for investigating such events. Before jurors decided last year that police unlawfully killed 22-year-old Osworth Rolle, she told them: “We have no special task force to investigate an officer in a police-involved shooting. In this jurisdiction, if there is a fatal police shooting, it is the police who will investigate the police.”
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SEE PAGE FIVE
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