08052020 NEWS AND SPORT

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VOLUME:117 No.173, AUGUST 5TH, 2020

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PMH STAFF PLEA FOR PROTECTION

Doctors and nurses beg for equipment to guard against COVID

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net WITH the situation at Princess Margaret Hospital at “a boiling point”, doctors and nurses yesterday called on health officials to implement the “necessary protocols” to better protect workers amid safety concerns at the hospital about the COVID-19 threat.

Their calls for more safety measures come as the country continues to experience a surge of COVID-19 cases, with 715 cases on record up to press time and 14 related deaths. Thirty-six new

FAMILY Island restauranteurs like Dwight Hart are frustrated with the one-size-fits-all COVID-19 restrictions that will force him to shutter his business for two weeks even though Exuma only has three confirmed cases of the virus.

Mr Hart told The Tribune he burned through his emergency reserves to keep

cases were reported yesterday: 20 in New Providence, 11 in Grand Bahama, three in Bimini and two in the Berry Islands.

Officials have said the recent surge of cases has started to strain the country’s health care system, with ICU beds already full.

Speaking to reporters outside PMH yesterday morning, head of the Bahamas Doctors Union Dr Melisandre Bassett said some workers have been left compromised due to overcrowding at the Accident and Emergency Department at the medical facility.

SEE PAGE EIGHT

JOHNSON’S WARNING ON WORK VISAS AMID economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Immigration Minister Elsworth Johnson said the government will not be issuing any new work permits, except under “urgent circumstances”.

Mr Johnson yesterday reiterated the government’s long-standing policy that qualified Bahamians who are available to do the work SEE PAGE FIVE

PASSENGER DEATH SEES JET DIVERT

SEE PAGE THREE

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

himself and his employees afloat during the last lockdown period and does not have the finances to pay staff for the next two weeks.

His restaurant, the YOLO Grill and Hookah Bar, is attached to the Exuma Palms Hotel and employs ten people.

“I’m not clear on the position of my business,” he said yesterday as the country awaited release of SEE PAGE THREE

WE NEED TO DEAL WITH HOW COVID AFFECTS US ALL

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

WHY CLOSE DOWN ISLANDS WITH NO RECORDED CASES?

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ALICIA WALLACE

AN American Airlines plane from Puerto Rico landed at the Lynden Pindling International Airport on Monday night to disembark an elderly man who died. According to government officials, the diversion took place after the 84-yearold man experienced a medical event and became unresponsive. He was given medical assistance but died.

HOSPITAL staff gather outside Princess Margaret Hospital yesterday

SEE PAGE SEVEN

‘FULL’ ANIMAL CENTRE CRIES FOR HELP

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas Humane Society is at full capacity with over 400 animals in the shelter and representatives have made an appeal for donations of food and cash.

“We’re full, you know we don’t need to be that full,” BHS General Manager Percy Grant said. “You can say we’re (at) full capacity.”

He said many of the

THE BHS is appealing for cash animals at BHS have been surrendered to the facility by members of the public.

BHS is asking for donations for its COVID-19 campaign on Fundrazr where all the donations made will be matched up to $25,000.

In a Facebook post, BHS stated the shelter is in “desperate need for dog and cat food,” both wet and dry versions.

“The Bahamas is one of the most expensive places in the world to live. Many people live below the

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE FOUR

Obituaries and religion will be in The Tribune on Friday

PAGE 2, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

MOUNTAIN OF PPE EQUIPMENT ARRIVES FROM CHINA THE shortage of Personal Protection Equipment has been a problem for countries all over the world since the COVID-19 crisis first exploded.

Suddenly under-funded health services were overwhelmed with requests for face masks, gloves, boots, hand sanitiser – and in numbers they could never imagine they would need.

Companies which supplied PPE - not just to health services but to businesses and the public - turned to their usual suppliers to meet the tsunami of requests for equipment descending on them.

In-house stocks were quickly run down. Governments, like here in The Bahamas, were quickly aware of the potential for crisis and urged local businesses to adapt and see if they could help meet PPE demand.

The situation was suddenly made dramatically worse when the US - one of the biggest manufacturers of

THE BOEING 747-400 f at Lynden Pindling Airport. Right: Some of the equipment PPE equipment in the world - put a block on all PPE exports to ensure its own health requirements were met first. Some exceptions were made with orders held up at US ports by the export embargo given the go-ahead after individual requests were made.

Here in Nassau, Bahamas Medical and Surgical Suppliers realised early in

the COVID crisis it would have to find alternative sources if it were to meet the demands that the whole country was going to face.

China was the only viable option but a complicated - and lengthy - sourcing operation would have to take place ensuring quality controls were met and that permission to fulfil any export orders were

approved by the authorities in Beijing.

On Saturday the company’s extraordinary efforts paid off when a Boeing 747-400 fully loaded with $170,000 of PPE equipment touched down at Lynden Pindling Airport and over the next few days passed through Bahamian customs.

This mountain of PPE equipment now sits in

BMSS’ warehouse ready to meet as many requests as are made of it.

A similar tale can be told

by John Watling’s Distillery.

Just a few months ago then-Health Minister Dr Duane Sands was on hand when the company retooled part of its operation to produce badly needed hand-sanitiser drawing on large stocks of alcohol it

had originally earmarked for producing liquor.

Originally sales were ahead of expectations as the desperate local market suddenly found a local supplier to replenish this vital tool in the fight with COVID. “We have more than enough in stock to last for the foreseeable future,” said a spokesman for the company.

“For some reason in July sales dropped off. We have a warehouse full ready to ship out. I am not sure what the problem is and why people have been running short.”

Salons fear they will not survive second lockdown

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT ts-cartwright @tribunemedia.net AFTER the initial COVID-19 lockdown forced them to close for three months earlier this year, some salon and barbershop owners fear they won’t be able to survive this new restrictive period.

On Monday, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis

announced a two- week minimum lockdown, which began last night, to slow the spread of COVID-19.

This came as a blow to the cosmetology sector, which was only allowed to reopen under strict guidelines in mid-June after the industry had been closed since March.

Some businesses in the industry have seen up to a 75 percent decline in business, since many customers

are out of work. Others have closed their businesses because of the crisis.

Ormonique Joffre, proprietor of Unique Hair and Nails, although experiencing difficulty like others in the industry, managed to keep her doors open after the first lockdown. She is concerned about the new lockdown and hopes that it does not go over the initial two weeks.

“Well, it’s going to affect

PUBLIC NOTICE Leno Corporate Services at Pineapple Place will be closed during the Government lockdown.

However, our staff will be working remotely.

Clients may contact your Relationship Manager via email.

For any inquiries contact Info@lenobahamas.com www.lenobahamas.com

us,” she said. “The thing about it is that you have your utility bills. You spend all of your funds on buying all of your products and all of that and then this happens. It’s like you are watching your savings just disappear.

“So it’s going to be hard and a little tight, but you know you just pray that they will say two weeks and it really is two weeks.

Remember that last time it was a whole three months.

That wasn’t easy because you still have to go to the food store and you still have to buy groceries so where are these funds coming from? And, it also does not stop the bills from coming.

The light bill, the phone bill and all the other bills you have them in your hands and you are like, ‘What to do?’ I trust God will see us through.”

Trevor Johnson, owner of Johnson and Johnson Barber and Beauty Shop, has a grim outlook on his current situation. He, like Ms Joffre, managed to keep the doors to his grooming establishment open after the first lockdown, but he is struggling with expenses.

“Well the thing about it is that with our staff, they pay chair rental,” Mr Johnson explained. “So what we did is we already had to reduce the price of the chairs already. Since the lockdown, businesses with

barbers and beauticians have declined at least 75 percent. We must remember there are a lot of people without jobs out there. So they are not thinking about grooming. The thing about it is that even though there is a shutdown, the light bill, the phone bill and the water bill is still coming. We have to struggle just to pay them.

This will cause you to give up. This is killing our industry and our businesses.

“We can’t continue to survive like this. With everything, all these bills, backing up on everybody in this industry. Many have overhead bills that are killing them. This is a lot!

Let’s see if it’s kept to two weeks.”

Both Ms Joffre and Mr Johnson were asked if the government had considered giving them the privilege of being open a few days a week, if that would appease them for the time being.

They both agreed it would.

“We cannot be more careful than we are now in terms of COVID protocols,” Ms Joffre said. “We have removed some of our dryers just to make sure we manage one customer at a time. We have a strict mask policy. We sanitise this place continuously. We definitely can operate for a few days during lockdown.

That would be much better than shutting us down completely.”

Mr Johnson, also in agreement said, “This would at least keep us going. There are some people out there who are still going to work. They need grooming so, yes, we would have loved to be included in the number for opening for a few days during the week. We all took the COVID courses online. So we have been practising all the sanitisation and social distancing. It would be great if they considered that.”

Hair salons and barbershops were allowed to resume business as of June 15, following certification by the Ministry of Health. This came after the industry, like many other sectors, were shut down in mid-March because of the pandemic.

People in the industry were required to attend an infection prevention and control course before returning to work – for which they will receive a certificate to display in their establishments.

On Sunday, Bliss Wax Boutique announced it would close for 14 days after an employee on sick leave tested positive for the virus. Customers who visited the western New Providence location during the exposure period were asked to self-isolate for two weeks or take a COVID-19 test.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, PAGE 3

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

GETTING READY FOR LOCKDOWN

PEOPLE preparing for lockdown

Photos: Donavan McIntosh

workers in New Providence are similar to those in Grand Bahama.

“Freeport have this same challenge in A&E,” she said. “Their (foyer) is full of patients, they’re triaging. . .it’s overwhelming because they have a shortage of nurses in Freeport. “…I think about a week ago, there was 16 nurses (in) quarantine and six positives just for Grand Bahama.

Here (in New Providence), we haven’t gotten a report, but we know that several nurses are quarantine and like we said in Nassau, we have not been testing.

“And the nurses here are saying ‘you’re putting me in harm’s way and you still don’t want to test me.

You only want to test the patient. I work with the patient so test all of us.’”

Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) president Kimsley Ferguson also echoed similar concerns yesterday, calling for officials to put a plan in place to help workers safeguard against the virus.

He said: “There are some persons apart of our bargaining unit that are impacted by what is going on and we’re very very concerned because while there may appear to be one unit that is extremely significant, those persons that we do represent - patient care attendants, the actual patient relation persons…. those that have to do the sanitising and so on and so forth.

“And we’re really concerned that there is no information disseminated to the various staff so they themselves can mitigate against the actual spread of COVID-19 in the workplace.”

Several calls were made to Health Minister Renward Wells but attempts to reach him were unsuccessful up to press time.

Meanwhile, when contacted, an official at the Public Hospitals Authority said a statement would be released on the concerns.

PMH staff plea for COVID protection from page one This, she said, has increased COVID-19 fears among staff, who are concerned about potentially spreading the virus to their families.

“This morning, we are at a tipping point where our staff members have become compromised because of the overwhelming number of patients with suspected COVID symptoms presenting to A&E,” she said.

“As it stands, all of our isolation rooms are occupied and as you know, with the COVID-19 case, they should be in negative pressure rooms even under investigation until that can be ruled out.”

She continued: “Now with the hurricane, we would’ve lost four standalone rooms in the legacy unit. They have yet to be opened. We need those opened up and we need additional rooms and additional spaces to account for the number of patients that we are seeing on a daily basis. Now, our staff is concerned and being compromised because we have those patients under investigation on the floor. So today, they have removed themselves because of the risk to themselves and their families if they contract COVID-19.”

STAFF outside PMH yesterday Dr Bassett also cited the need for more personal protective equipment to help assist in the ongoing fight against the pandemic.

“Now, when you have a patient that is intubated, that requires full PPEs,” she said. “We need to ensure that all of our staff, cleaning staff and doctors have the proper equipment for that level of exposure. So that’s our concern today.”

Describing the ordeal as “an emergency situation that needs to be addressed,” the union president called on the relevant health authorities to meet with union members to address their safety concerns.

Her comments come after union officials told

reporters that some staff members at PMH had called in sick yesterday morning. When The Tribune visited the hospital yesterday, several doctors and nurses were seen sitting in a secluded area near the entrance of PMH. However, Dr Basset maintained that workers were not demonstrating, but only waiting for their concerns to be heard and addressed. She said: “We’re still here, we’re not leaving our jobs and this is not a walk out. This is not a sick out. We want to help the Bahamian people, but we have to do it safely and sensibly.

“We’re waiting for this situation to be rectified

and until that happens you can’t ask anyone to put themselves in harm’s way without the necessary protocol and safety measure in place. That’s all we’re asking.”

It is not clear how many PMH workers are currently in quarantine due to potential COVID-19 exposure, with Dr Basset only telling reporters that numbers are changing daily.

“We have teams out, we have doctors who are out,” she said. “I don’t have a specific number because it’s changing every day.

The situation is at a boiling point, a tipping point, it has erupted actually. More needs to be done to correct it …We have had a whole team of three or four persons out because of one patient exposure.”

According to Bahamas Nurses Union president Amancha Williams, some 16 nurses in Grand Bahama were placed under quarantine last week. Mrs Williams said the challenges experienced by healthcare

Editorial View - Page 6

WHY CLOSE DOWN ISLANDS WITH NO RECORDED CASES? from page one

the new emergency powers order. “If we have to close that means we will be sending staff home for two weeks. We’re going to have guests in hotel because we have some folks who are working on the road project who are staying with us and a part of the contract means feeding them so I assume we will be allowed to do that. But that’s a very small percentage of what it takes for us to stay in business. There’s no way I’m going to carry employees for two weeks. It is going to be heartbreaking to tell people they are probably going to look at two weeks

of unpaid leave and very limited work.”

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the nationwide lockdown will be reassessed in two weeks, fuelling complaints of Family Island residents who want different treatment from COVID-19 hotspots like New Providence and Grand Bahama.

“I’m challenged to understand why we’re still locking down the entire country when, as far as we’ve been told, there’s not rapid cases running loose in Exuma,” Mr Hart said.

“It’s kind of confusing. Why does Exuma, Long Island, Ragged Island, Rum Cay, any other island have to be going through the same severe restrictions as an

island like Grand Bahama and New Providence that we know have been having positive cases for the last two weeks? We’re right back to square one where we don’t have clarity as to the mechanisms behind the scene that determines why it’s necessary for the entire country, every little rock and cay, to go through these very restrictive measures again.

“I certainly couldn’t sustain another long lockdown period. I’m at the end of my rope as it relates to emergency resources. I’m right back to having anxiety levels go through the roof when I thought I put that behind me. And again, without having any specific timeline is making it even worse. It’s very difficult to

be in business as this stage in the game. I could only imagine how it is for people who didn’t have that particular luxury of having emergency funds to get through the first period and now have to look at doing this again. The casualties in business if we don’t get out of this soon will be high.”

Mr Hart said he does not yet have to think about closing down permanently, a fact he admits leaves him “with a lot of trepidation.”

“I could be out of business,” he said. “We just came through a hurricane which thank God we didn’t have a lot of damage. Just think if we were to get another storm during this period that can actually do physical damage. After

having used all your cushion to keep people employed during the last few months, it’s really, really scary.”

Meanwhile, Lauren Eldon, the manager of the Green Parrot restaurant in New Providence, said business this year has declined by sixty to seventy percent.

“It’s not good for us,” she said yesterday. “It was difficult getting through the first lockdown. We worked hard to get everything up and running and follow all the rules that were put in place. We brought back 95 percent of our staff, now we get shut down again.”

Ms Eldon said Green Parrot staff will again be placed on temporary leave and have to get money through the government

unemployment assistance programme.

“Most staff already gone through their NIB unemployment benefits,” she said. “We have a somewhat large property and to open up outdoor dining and to open inside when they allowed us, that was costly.

We were doing pretty well when we took indoor and outdoor dining.”

She said: “I do believe we will eventually get back up and running. It depends on how long this continues to go on for. If they continue to do constant lockdowns that’s when it gets a little bit scary. It depends on how long they keep doing this because now we’re back to losing money every month.”

PAGE 4, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net AN Abaco woman, whose son has COVID-19, says she is concerned about the lack of communication from health officials on the island as she and her husband have yet to be tested for the virus.

Donna Bain, 62, told The Tribune yesterday she and her family have received little information from medical professionals since her son tested positive for the virus a week ago Saturday.

Her son, Desron Edwards, was tested for COVID-19 after being exposed to two workers employed at Baker’s Bay resort who contracted the virus in July. Mr Edwards is also a construction

Abaco mother worried about support after her son tests positive worker at the exclusive resort. “The nurses tested him (last) Thursday and Saturday, they told him he tested positive,” Mrs Bain said. “They never told me anything; I asked him and

he keep saying ‘Mummy I don’t have any symptoms’ and he keeps saying he ain’t sick.”

Asked yesterday if he thought the test might have been a false positive, Mr

Private Funeral Service For

Deaconess Barbara Jane Ferguson, 74

of Gilbert Street, Kennedy Subdivision who died on Saturday, July 25, 2020 will be held on Wednesday, 5th August, 2020.

Officiating will be Bishop E. Randy Fraser. Interment will be at the Southern Cemetery, Spikenard and Cowpen Road.

She is pre-deceased by her loving and devoted Husband: Evangelist Cecil Ferguson, Brother: Ivan Herman Reckley, Son: Aaron Ferguson and Granddaughter: Raven Jewel Sands.

She is survived by her Children: Veronica Rolle, Ricardo Ferguson, Eunice Sands & Nadine Cooper; Grandchildren: Rodisha (Edgbert) Gibson & Seth Rolle, Rishara, Rebecca & Ricardo Ferguson II, Raymond & Reshawndra Sands & Aaliyah Cooper; Great grandchildren: Raniyah and Chrishawn Gibson; Sons-in-Law: Pastor Roderick Rolle & Force Chief Petty Officer Raymond Sands; Daughter-in-Law: Charmaine Ferguson; Brothers-in-Law: Admiral Ferguson Sr. and Max Julien; Sister-in-Law: Maxine Julien; Cousins: Laura Duncombe, Judy (Bishop Nicholas) Ferguson, Janice (Craig) Saunders, Devie (Derek) Forbes, Christine (Ashley) Clarke, Arnold (Melony) Davis, Vivian Rahming, Laverne (Johnny) Saunders, Anya, Ernest, Jack (Shelly), Peter (Carol) and Lynden Davis, Dec. Marion Moss, Ethel Cartwright & family, Carolyn Ellis, Jacqueline Rigby, Albert Gray, Rockland and Livingston Barbes, Rev. Stephen (Lydia), William, Davie, Julio, Ester Clarke, Cherien Rahming, Estella (Bishop Joseph) Zonicle, Rev. Andrea Taylor, Linda Pinder, Edward Carey, Bertram Carey, Peter Carey, Machelle Sands, Vandora Johnson, Catherine Sands, Shirley Sands, Jeanette and Donna Saunders, Denise Foster, Deborah Wilson, Ezzard (Julie) and John (Paula) Reckley, Carla (Michael) Smith, Giselle, Muriel, Samuel and Henry Nixon, Frank (Merell) Hinzey, Judith Thompson, Andrea Williams, Dr. Wiona Pratt, Laurell Herrington, Monte Pratt and Edna Hanna; Nephews: Frederick B. Ferguson, Admiral Jr. (Kabrina) Ferguson, Kent Ferguson, Jeffrey (Sophie) Ferguson, Charlton (Sherry) Ferguson, Robert (DeCarla), Garry & Elvis (Shantel) Julien; Nieces: Keturah (Eddie) Ferguson, Valderene (Rev. Jarred) Gardiner, Jacqueline (Bishop E. Randy) Fraser, Nicole Julien, Adriel (Cyril) Bethel, Evane (Dudley) Bascombe; God-Sister: Mary (Elder Arnold) McCartney; Friends: Sis. Delrene & Robert Bullard & Family, Rev Catherine Chisholm & Family, Sis. Craydora Musgrove & Family, Evang. Catherine Roker & Family, Allan and Lashan McPhee, Gloria and Arthur Dorsette & Family, Mr. Arthur Braynen & Family, Leah Johnson & Family, Ms. Lillian Darville & Family, Caroline & Donald Alexander, Mr. Granville Adderley & Family, Ms. Goodman & Family, Mr. Storr & Family, Robert & Teresa Hilton & Family, the neighbors of Kennedy Subdivision, Ms. Marilyn Sands, Ms. Lockhart, Ms. Linda Johnson, Nicola Nicholas, and other former coworkers of Solomon Brothers, Stanley and Rachel Gibbs & Family, Yvonne & Chester Cooper, Cypriana McDonald, Mrs. Lilly Simmons, Min. Marilyn Sands and Family of Governors Harbor, Eleuthera, Dec. Yelverton & Jenniemae Cox, Palms of Victory family, Pilgrim Baptist Temple Family, Believer’s Gospel Chapel Family, Jericho Baptist (Turks & Caicos), Mall at Marathon friends, the staff of Jack Hayward Senior High School, Freeport, Grand Bahama, Dr. Srinivas Bodha, Nurse Verna Greenslade & Family, Min. Pamela Jones & Family, Staff of South Beach Health Centre, Ministry of Health, Staff of Princess Margaret Hospital and a host of others too numerous to mention.

The body will repose at Curtis Memorial Mortuary on Tuesday, 4th August, 2020 from 11:00AM to 5:00PM.

Edwards replied: “I can’t say, but I feel fine.”

Still, Mrs Bain says the family follows all of the health and social distancing protocols as a safety measure.

But what makes the situation particularly worrying is that her husband is a high-risk case. Neither of them, she said, have been tested for the virus despite being exposed to their son.

“Ain’t nobody reached to us. And it is concerning,” she said.

“I would be more worried about my husband more than anything because my husband is a chronic asthmatic and he’s also a cancer patient. The nurse knows his condition. They should’ve called me and let me know the dangers of what is what’s happening. To this day, my husband and I are seniors in here and they never yet called me to say ‘Mrs Bain, now this is what’s going to happen.’”

According to Mrs Bain, it’s been a week since the family was placed under quarantine.

Their daily routine includes taking temperature checks as a precautionary measure to ensure they are still in good health.

“The nurse came by and drop the thermometers on Tuesday,” she said. “I have

it here, my temperature was 96.6. Then I have Wednesday’s reading, Thursday’s reading, Friday’s reading and Saturday’s reading and of course today’s reading.

“So, I’m keeping check of our readings and our readings are good. My son has his own reading. I would send it on my phone.”

She claimed there is little communication between the family and health officials concerning their COVID-19 status.

Asked yesterday how many times police or health officials contact them in a day, she replied: “No, they don’t reach out everyday.

“My friend said when she was taking her temperature, when she was quarantined, there was a nurse in Marsh Harbour, and she used to have video call with her and make sure and watch her doing her temperature and she would have to show it to her.”

Her son added: “They don’t come here. All they ask is for us to do the temperature. They don’t even know if we could be lying with the temperature.”

Mrs Bain said before Hurricane Isaias, the family was not contacted by officials about their level of preparedness for the Category One storm. She said the family was only able to receive their hurricane

supplies, thanks to a close friend.

She said: “I gave my friend, my neighbour who lives another corner from me, she came and she got my card and I called the shop, because I called the police first because I didn’t want no problems after he called me and say ‘you know if you (get) catch out, that’s a $20,000 fine.’

“Ain’t nobody reached out to us. It’s a good thing I’m a prayer warrior and I have prayer partners and a praying family. Because they ain’t even call to say well ‘Mrs Bain.’ I had to call them about my pressure and medicine..”

Mrs Bain said the situation has left a stigma about the family in the community.

She said: “You gat people around here who treating us as if we all are sick and I had everything in my vehicle, everything in my home sanitised from the jump.

We’ve been doing what we’re supposed to do. All of us are in quarantine. “…People calling me who don’t even associate with me and I never associate with them saying ‘I hear somebody in Sandy Point get the virus.’ This one thing from the COVID19, I have learned who is your friend and who is your brother.”

FAMILY GUARDIAN CLOSES OFFICE AFTER EMPLOYEE HAS COVID-19

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net FAMILY Guardian Insurance Company announced that their Carmichael office is closed to the public until further notice after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

The employee from the Carmichael District Office is presently on leave, but not requiring hospitalisation, the insurance company said on their Facebook page. The closure started yesterday.

The company explained: “We will conduct a full, professional sanitisation of our premises. All employees who may have been exposed will work remotely while self-quarantining for 14 days. An assessment of each employee will be conducted before they return to work.

“For additional

information on payments, customer service, remote services and our office hours, and to find your agent, please visit our website at www.familyguardian. com.”

Recently three other local businesses have experienced staff members testing positive for the virus.

On Friday, Dairy Queen (Bahamas) put out a release stating an employee from their Mall at Marathon location tested positive for the virus and the eatery was closed that day for full sanitisation before reopening to customers. The release indicated the worker is currently on sick leave.

The release read: “Any employees who may have had contact have been released to self-quarantine for the recommended 14-day period, before being assessed and allowed to safely return to work.”

On the same day Nassau Tile also gave notice that they would not be open to the public for a two-week quarantine period after a staff member was exposed to COVID-19 and tested positive. The company added all other staff members tested negative and the premises have been professionally sanitised.

Then on Sunday, Bliss Wax Boutique advised in an announcement that they would close to the public for full sanitisation after an employee, who is presently on leave, tested positive for the virus.

The boutique stated: “Additionally, we will not be delivering services and the boutique will be closed for 14 days. All employees who may have been asked to self-quarantine for 14 days, after which a secondary assessment of the employee will be completed before returning to work.”

‘FULL’ ANIMAL CENTRE CRIES FOR EXTRA HELP from page one poverty line and due to the COVID-19 pandemic unemployment levels are soaring,” BHS said in its Facebook post. “We don’t want people to lose their beloved pets so we try and help as best we can.

“Unfortunately this isn’t always possible—we have had a huge number of surrenders over the last few months. We are a no kill shelter, primarily operating on donations—we desperately need your help.”

When contacted, Mr Grant said donations are needed to help sustain the BHS and its operations, as well as purchase shelter necessities.

He said BHS is constantly in need of food along with cleaning supplies. According to Mr Grant, BHS is a non-profit thus the society’s finances “stay in the red”.

“It is a toll on food and cleaning supplies and all of that…because we’re nonprofit we are constantly in need.”

He added: “Medical supplies... that has been extremely expensive.

Along with food and cleaning supplies. They are all expensive. That’s an expensive operation.”

Donations can be made online at http://fnd. us/31fJb3?ref=ab_290Wtd_ Editorial View - Page 6

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, PAGE 5

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

IMMIGRATION MINISTER ISSUES WARNING ON WORK VISAS from page one

will be given first priority for any new job opportunities.

“We’re working, and I’ve spoken to the director of labour and the minister and we’re to work closely with them to ensure as the Immigration Act says that where there is not the expertise you bring persons in but where they are qualified, Bahamians – they get first chance,” he said.

“As I said earlier, we will only entertain new applications in urgent circumstances, but we encourage every employer, persons who want to employ persons, to ensure

that those persons are in their country of origin.”

As it relates to work permit renewals, he said: “For renewals, we go through the process to see if there are any available Bahamians and we know in many cases, persons who have been laid off well if they could sustain themselves… but when that that contract of employment has come to an end we encourage the employers and we encourage employees to return to their country of origin.”

His comments came as COVID-19 cases continue to mount, with Mr Johnson revealing that some 30 immigration officers have tested positive for virus.

“We have no less than 30,” he told reporters when asked about the COVID-19 status of those workers. However, the minster refrained from providing further details into the cases but warned people to take the threat seriously.

“Listen. You have frontline workers, you have police officers, you have nurses, this thing is dangerous. I’m not going to speak to the figures. But to the extent that you have to come out and put on these masks and be about, your life is at risk.

“This is not a joke and and why I’m so impassioned. How you know I wasn’t shell shocked when of the strongest of my

father’s children went down.

This is no game so we must listen to the medical experts who at themselves (are) trying their best in these difficult times.”

The minister was speaking about the death of his sister, Kim Johnson Rolle, who died from the illness back in April - the country’s first COVID-19 death.

“I’ve lost a sister so when you talk about in terms of cost, you’re talking about someone being dead,” he said. “That’s the ultimate cost that we’re having to pay in this and when people are irresponsible. And so, I want persons to take this very seriously.”

Mr Johnson also singled out opposition leader

FINANCE Minister Peter Turnquest said while officials expect some changes to happen in the “family budget” due to the re-imposed national shutdown, decisions have yet to be made concerning the future of public servants.

Noting the government is still on track with its revenue projections, Mr Turnquest also said if the lockdown and tourism fall off continues into the autumn, officials will have to “make new decisions and adjustments”.

The minister made the comments while speaking to reporters ahead of a Cabinet meeting yesterday.

In April, it was rumoured that the Minnis administration had planned to cut civil service salaries and benefits in an effort to reduce current expenditure to assist

with the economic fall out from the COVID-19 virus.

However, government officials shot down those claims.

Asked about the issue yesterday, Mr Turnquest said: “At the moment, we still have not made any decisions about the public servants and any kind of adjustments there and so hopefully we’ll be able to sustain our current levels and ensure that persons are able to meet their commitments particularly as it relates to getting back to school and all the other commitments that people would ordinarily have.

“Yes, we do anticipate that there’s going to be significant adjustments in the family budget that is going to have to be made as a result of this new shutdown.

As you know, we have had programmes in place to try and assist residents as best as possible either through rental assistance or food assistance.”

He added: “The prime minister would’ve talked about (the) food assistance programme that we launched nationally, and that programme is feeding thousands of Bahamians and we will continue to do that as were committed to ensuring that nobody goes hungry to the best of our ability.

“Up to now, we’ve been tracking where we pretty much projected and we’re just about 50 percent of our usual revenue for this period. Fortunately, this is the slow tourist period so we’re not totally off our mark.

“The expenditure is elevated as a result of the social programmes that we’re trying to follow through but the good news is we budgeted for this. We are where we anticipated we would be.”

He also said: “Once we get into the fall, if we continue to have lockdowns

Phillip “Brave” Davis, warning him to act more responsibly.

The opposition party has heavily criticised the Minnis administration’s COVID-19 response since the start of the pandemic, often referencing its policies as being not “well thought out.”

Yesterday, Mr Johnson

DAVIS BLASTS THE GOVERNMENT FOR ITS ‘FAILURE OVER LOCKDOWN’

Turnquest: Expect big changes to family budget

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter lrolle@tribunemedia.net

MINISTER: Elsworth Johnson

said this: “I want to say something for my cousin from Cat Island, Mr Davis.

That he must be much more responsible. When I see the recklessness being demonstrated by the leader of opposition, it reminds of just prior to the election when they put up billboards (about the murder count).

“COVID-19 is nothing to play with. It’s not that I’m saying that you must do away with the freedom of expression, conscience and all those different things, there’s away that you can be legitimately responsible, this about the lives of Bahamians. It’s not trifling. And if he wants something to do, let him consider how Cat Island has suffered over the years.”

and our tourism business is not starting to come back, then as I’ve always said we will have to start making some new decisions and adjustments.”

Asked yesterday about the government’s strategies to contain the COVID-19 threat for when it re-opens the country’s borders again, the minister replied: “So I think everybody will have to admit that there was some unexpected developments as a result of the previous reopening. “…When we get past this current lockdown, we will have additional tools available to us. We will be a bit more vigilant about the testing and the quarantining. Additionally, there are some exciting developments in term of testing that I think is going to really help us have more proactive handle on the situation once we come out of this lockdown.”

PLP leader Philip “Brave” Davis labelled the Minnis administration a failure over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the new lockdown is “only necessary because of a series of specific mistakes” made by the government.

Mr Davis, pictured, also voiced frustration with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ recent revelation that ICU beds are full, saying months into this crisis more should have been done to shore up healthcare capacity. “A lockdown is a blunt instrument, a last resort, when everything else has failed,” Mr Davis said in a statement yesterday.

“And the government has failed. The prime minister announced a date for opening our borders, then failed to sufficiently adjust policies ahead of that date, even though cases in the US, and especially in Florida, were exploding. “. . .We asked questions about the nation’s ability to test, trace and isolate dozens of times,” he said.

“No answers were given.”

He also took aim at Dr Minnis’ frequent national addresses, while shying away from regular press conferences where he can face questions from the media.

“For weeks, the prime minister has used these national addresses as a crutch, a way to issue orders but shield himself from tough questions from the media. I am furious to learn that our ICU beds are full. A patient with COVID-19 can require weeks of critical care treatment. What will happen to

those being diagnosed now with the virus? Where will they go when they need critical care? It is indefensible that the government waited until this moment to act. In the meantime, doctors and nurses are being treated as disposable.

“We are months into this crisis. How is it that the government has failed to support and protect them? Earlier lockdowns, in which economic activity was stopped, at enormous cost to small businesses and families, bought the government some time to act. They should have used that time to upgrade our hospitals and clinics to meet this moment of crisis.”

He outlined a series of questions he thinks the government should answer about testing capacity and contact tracing. Mr Davis and members of the opposition were invited to a health briefing at Cabinet on Monday. He said the group was given “a limited opportunity to ask a few questions about the current state of infections”.

He added: “My colleagues were then asked to leave so that the prime minister and the Cabinet could decide how to proceed. Our views were not invited. The prime minister’s implication in his statement last night that he made a joint decision with the opposition is not true.

We were simply given information a few hours ahead of the general public. That is not consultation and it is not collaboration.”

He also said the government must reduce the suffering the lockdown will bring and take steps so that future lockdowns are not necessary.

SCHOOLS WILL STILL REOPEN IN SEPTEMBER, SAYS LLOYD

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

THE Ministry of Education still intends to reopen public schools on September 21 with virtual education first and then move on to “blended learning” to be a combination of virtual and face-to-face classrooms, according to Education Minister Jeff Lloyd.

Mr Lloyd made the announcement as he spoke to the media before going into a Cabinet meeting yesterday. He said the “blended learning” phase will start on October 5.

Challenged as to whether or not this was a set plan, he said, “It is unfair to say there is no set plan. It has been announced in the House of Assembly that school is going to begin on the Monday, September 21, 2020 and we will begin virtually with online learning.

We have said that over and over and over again.

“Now the only thing that can change or will change is if the competent authority makes another order (emergency order) that is going to affect that. This is as clear as I can be. School will open on the 21st of September, 2020 at the regular hours online. It is our intention, that after about three weeks, we are going to move into what we consider, blended learning, or some sort of consolidation with online and face-to-face and our anticipation for that is October 5.”

Mr Lloyd stressed that these dates were given in the House of Assembly followed by statements to that effect that were sent out. He said he thought it was clear. “I don’t see why there is any confusion or why there should be any confusion. Again, we begin school on September 21, 2020, virtually and then we will move into some kind of blended environment which would be around October 5.”

Moving on from the dates, Mr Lloyd said teachers, who are recent graduates of the University of The Bahamas, are currently being processed into the system. He said this process normally takes a few weeks.

He also addressed the sore subject of the national exams, which had started after a delay earlier this year only to be postponed again after some tests had been taken as COVID-19 cases increased. He said a new date for the exams has not yet been set.

MINISTER: Jeff Lloyd

“A question that you may want to ask is if we postponed the national exams so will those exams resume,” he said. “We are not able at this time to say so. We are considering that because, as you know this lockdown ends, according to the prime minister, on the 18th August - that is two weeks. And, he also said that it is likely, that if conditions require, it will probably be extended.

“So we will have to wait and see if we will be able to resume those national exams and if we do what form that will take - if we will do all exams or whether we will suspend the BJCs and have it next year or only do the BGCSEs. We are obviously being guided by the health authorities, as this government is, and we will make a decision accordingly.”

Due to the pandemic and associated economic fall out, it is expected parents may pull some students out

of private school and enroll them in public institutions.

Mr Lloyd said the public sector can accommodate some of these students.

“I don’t have the data in terms of what numbers are registering for school at this time,” Mr Lloyd said. “I guess you can deduce that there will be some movement from the private sector to the public sector, but yes, online registration for school is underway and yes the government is able to accommodate some of those private students.

“Of course we are not able to accommodate if 20,000, which is the number of private school students, decide they want to come in the government sector.

What we have been able to determine at this time, is that a number of students in the private sector are continuing to remain in the private sector and that schools are working with parents who may find themselves financially

disaffected, in order to meet the requirements of tuition.”

The education minister also shared some good news for working parents who are having a challenge with the virtual learning aspect of the upcoming school year. He said those children will be accommodated as well.

“That is why the government has stepped in for instance to this new environment in September,” he explained. “We are preparing care centres for those parents who might be out into the work world during the time when their children would be in a virtual environment. The children will be in those care centres.”

Minister Lloyd said it is a pity that COVID had to awaken some parents as to their responsibility where their children’s education is concerned. He said COVID is a blessing in disguise as many “wonderful lessons” are being taught by COVID.

PAGE 6, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

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

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We must protect our frontline workers TIME and again during the COVID19 pandemic, we have been reminded of the importance of the work being done by medical personnel – and the need to do our part to help protect those workers.

When a number of medical workers were quarantined because of one incident at Princess Margaret Hospital, we were warned of the strain that put the rest of the medical system under.

So with doctors and nurses calling for officials to implement “necessary protocols” to better protect workers, we have to wonder if the government has been doing its part.

As far back as April 6, then Health Minister Dr Duane Sands was reassuring the public that the country had adequate supplies of PPE gear – personal protective equipment. That’s the gloves, masks, gowns, goggles and so on that help to prevent the transmission of the virus by reducing the exposure to skin and the chance of breathing in COVID-19.

Now, however, medics are saying there is not enough PPE gear, with Bahamas Doctors Union head Dr Melisandre Bassett calling for the need to ensure that “all of our staff, cleaning staff and doctors have the proper equipment”.

More than that, Dr Barrett says that some workers have been left compromised in the face of the COVID-19

threat by overcrowding “because of the overwhelming number of patients with suspected COVID symptoms” at the Accident & Emergency Department.

There is also reportedly a concern that nurses have been put into quarantine but have not been tested – with only patients reportedly being tested.

This is the frontline staff whose efforts we have been depending on – and who we point at as one of the reasons why we take the measures we do, so that they don’t become infected and our healthcare system does not become overwhelmed. They have every right for their concerns to be taken seriously, and for their questions to be answered.

Where, for example, are the supposedly adequate supplies of PPE? What measures are being taken to reduce the risk of A&E departments being overwhelmed? Why can’t nurses get tests if they have been exposed to risk?

We would ask these questions ourselves of the new Minister of Health, Renward Wells, but he had not replied to our calls as we went to press last night.

The important thing is to ensure the safety of our doctors, nurses and hospital staff. They are risking their health on the frontline for the sake of the rest of us. The least the rest of us can do is make sure their needs are met. And quickly.

Pets in need THE economic impacts of COVID-19 can be seen in many ways, some more obvious than others.

But one of the most heartbreaking is the news that the Bahamas Humane Society is full to capacity because members of the public have had to surrender animals to their care.

Right now, people are hurting and struggling to feed their families, and struggling to feed an animal is an extra challenge. It must be the hardest of choices to give a pet to the Humane

EDITOR, The Tribune

Society but credit to people who turn to others when they need help.

And now the Humane Society could do with your help. A little can go a long way. Your donations will help pay for food, cleaning supplies and more. Better yet, each donation you make will be matched on Fundrazr.

You can make a difference. You might even check in to see if you can offer a home – temporary or long-term – for animals that just need a little food, and a lot of love.

Archie Nairn, a consummate professional EDITOR, The Tribune I HAD the honour and pleasure of working with Archie Nairn, who was the Permanent Secretary of the Office of the AttorneyGeneral and Ministry of Legal Affairs for the first few years of my second stint as Attorney-General and Minister.

PS Nairn was a consummate professional who spent most of his life in public service. He knew how to get things done. I always got his best advice, given respectfully, professionally, with a deep caring for Bahamians, especially those less fortunate and a desire for everyone to see the public service as giving first class service.

He loved God, and

Mitchell’s personal agenda does us no good

frequently led prayer when we started meetings. Never losing an opportunity to mentor and encourage, he would explain to team members why what we do in the public service is important, life impacting and always to be well done.

Fostering teamwork, he frequently stressed that the public’s view of our service was important and not our view of ourselves.

I recall him looking forward to his retirement, acknowledging that he would miss the public service but most anxious to commence, full time, his call to Ministry. His beloved wife, Pauline, was right by his side, supporting him in this new phase of his life.

On one of our many flights to Freeport while speaking of his call to

Ministry, he took out a dog eared book, The Principle of The Path, by Andy Stanley. He told me why it was an important book to him.

I’ve never forgotten that conversation. It’s a book that I’ve recommended to many people since. As we face life changing challenges in The Bahamas, I encourage everyone to read this short and insightful book.

Thank you Permanent Secretary and Minister of the Gospel, Archie Nairn, for walking your path with spirituality, quiet dignity, love of humanity and patriotism.

Rest in peace.

ALLYSON GIBSON, QC., Nassau, August 3, 2020

TODAY, I am once again left confused as to whether the opposition wants The Bahamas to win this fight against COVID or are they hell bent on playing politics with this matter? Prime Minister, Most Honourable, Dr Hubert Minnis, who in the execution of his duties, continues to address the nation by updating us as to how we are faring with this virus as a country. On countless opportunities, the Prime Minister has called on the PLP opposition to show unity during this process as the unwanted global pandemic continues to threaten more jobs, crush our economy and, most importantly, to put more Bahamian lives at risk.

As a young man, I don’t get it. What I don’t get is, why would the PLP chairman, who is also my parliamentary colleague in the senate, Senator Hon. Fred Mitchell, continue to go down this road of being divisive, cold-hearted and naive by telling Bahamians last week that the “FNM is going to kill us before the virus does.” This comment, approached behaviour during a Global Pandemic, is unbecoming of someone who hails himself as a senior politician and know it all. In a time where our fellow Bahamians are looking to its leaders, whether in the halls of the houses of parliament, churches or in the civic, community to lead by example, put down our agendas and instead work together on One agenda by hoisting the nation’s sails and guiding us through these rough seas through uncharted waters of uncertainty.

Mistakes will be made.

This is a given, especially when you are dealing with something we, or may I dare say, the world has never dealt with before. But what is also a known fact is

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net when we work together, we can become successful as a unified country by defeating this virus.

Instead, Senator Mitchell, continues to slam his foot on the gas pedal, determined to zoom to getting to the finish line of playing politics during a pandemic even if it means Bahamians suffer through ignorance all because of his unwavering lust for power. Today, on the grounds of righteousness and common sense, I come to slap up Senator Mitchell and remind him to cease and desist his personal agenda, immediately.

The Bahamas, especially young people, are not supporting this kind of behaviour. We are dealing with a real storm out there that is affecting the health of our people. We are dealing with a storm that is affecting future jobs for our people. We are dealing with a storm that affects the way we traditionally do things as a people. We are dealing with a storm that affects the livelihood of fishermen, farmers, garbage men, our military, bankers, etc. We are dealing with a storm that has now caused Junkanoo leaders to come together and cancel Junkanoo, just to keep their members and public, SAFE! We are dealing with a storm that is putting a beating on our economy, which is leaving Bahamians who already are barely holding onto their jobs, hoping not to be another one on the unemployment lines, but yet, all that Senator Mitchell cares about, feeds off, lives for and thrives off, is playing politics when we are dealing with Real Life Issues!

What bothers me as a young man is that every

time those dashboards come out, I see women are the ones being greatly affected by this virus. This is troubling because when our women are affected, the children are possibly next. We must find ways to reverse this trend. I cry shame on you, Senator Mitchell. I cry shame on you for playing politics during a time like this. I cry shame on your colleagues for not distancing themselves from your reckless comments. I cry shame on the PLP for not throwing a tape on your mouth and telling you to be quiet; but I understand why they won’t do so. They will not do so, because this type of behaviour is the PLP way.

To my fellow Bahamians, we have now entered the second wave of this virus.

The Captain of the ship is Prime Minister the Most Hon. Dr Hubert Minnis.

He has taken on an unseeable unforeseen burden that no leader or country saw coming. He is steering the ship through choppy and uncharted waters and so far, he has done a great job. He will need OUR prayers as a nation, asking God to keep him strong, healthy and focused in times like these – especially from those who will throw a rock at him just so he and we, can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. He needs our support, my fellow Bahamians.

I end with the word from Psalm 23:4 and encourage Bahamians that if we work together and condemn those who try to sneak their seeds of wickedness to divide us in a time like this, then we will see the light through this dark and difficult journey.

May God continue to bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

SENATOR JAMAL MOSS Nassau, August 4, 2020.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, PAGE 7

Two brothers accused of stabbing uncle to death

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net TWO brothers were remanded to prison yesterday accused of murdering their uncle during a family dispute last week. Albert Mortimer, Jr, 35, and Albrion Mortimer, 32, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt charged with the stabbing death of George Smith on July 30.

According to initial police reports, shortly after 7 o’clock that night, three male relatives were involved in a physical argument that resulted in all of the participants being injured. Police said paramedics responded to the incident and examined all of the injured parties. One of the men died at the scene. At the time, the other two men were taken to hospital where they were listed in stable condition.

During the hearing yesterday, neither defendant was required to enter a plea and the case was adjourned to December 7 for service of a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI). Bail was denied and the brothers were remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services until trial.

The men are represented by attorney Keevon Maynard.

BROTHERS Albert Mortimer, Jr, above, and Albrion Mortimer, left.

Photos: Donavan McInosh

JAMAICAN TO CONTINUE CLAIM FOR FALSE IMPRISONMENT

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A JAMAICAN man who spent nearly a decade unlawfully detained in prison and the Carmichael Road Detention Centre, will return to court on August 19 to continue his legal battle over his false imprisonment case.

In 2015, the court ruled that Matthew Sewell had been wrongfully incarcerated for nine years without ever being convicted of a crime. He was given bail in 2016 and was recently granted a $60,000 interim payment within 60 days.

Mr Sewell was 18 years old when he was first detained. He is suing the government for damages pertaining to assault, battery, arbitrary and unlawful detention, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and breaches of his fundamental rights under the Constitution.

An excerpt from an

affidavit filed by Mr Sewell in 2015 said he entered the country as a tourist in 2006 to spend time with his father. He said after his arrival, he had been a “victim of a sequence of false accusations,” for which he spent over six years at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services without trial.

Mr Sewell said within 10 days of his arrival, he was falsely accused of raping a six-year-old girl who lived next door to him at the time. He said he was detained at BDCS for two years before he was granted bail in 2008. The case was dismissed without trial in 2013.

In 2009, Mr Sewell said he was charged with rape once again, based on allegations made against him by his then girlfriend. He said he remained in custody for over four years without trial for that case as well.

In August 2013, Mr Sewell was granted bail and the rape charges from 2006

and 2009 were dismissed.

Still, he said two months later, he was arrested in connection with a housebreaking incident. He said while in custody, officers questioned him before calling the Jamaican Registrar General’s Department and Jamaican commissioner of police, who both said they had no record of him.

Mr Sewell said shortly afterward, he was arrested once again and charged with housebreaking. As a result, he was taken into custody until December 13 when he was granted bail.

“While on bail I was approached by a police officer in January 2014, who said that I was wanted for murder,” the court documents read. “I was taken to the Grove Police Station and then the CDU. One police officer said he was going to take me to Clifton Pier and when he was finished with me I will tell them who I killed and the police officer said he hoped I could swim. I was never

TWO MEN GIVEN PROBATION AFTER STEALING GAS TANKS

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

TWO men were placed on 12 months probation and ordered to fully compensate a man and woman from whom they stole gas tanks last month.

Deangelo Lowe, 27, and Abraham Thibeaud, 23, were accused of causing $291.43 worth of damage to the northern fence of a Pride Estates residence to steal a gas tank worth $338.04 on July 17. The pair were further accused of stealing another 100-pound gas tank on July 29. The prosecution alleged the stolen tank was worth another $338.

PASSENGER DEATH SEES JET DIVERT from page one The Tribune was told the man will be tested for COVID-19.

There were 123 people on board the American Airlines flight.

Police asked a local funeral home to pick up the man’s body. An official at that business told The Tribune personal protective equipment was used at all times.

The plane was headed for Florida.

During their hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes yesterday, both men pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them. Thibeaud claimed he only committed the offences because his girlfriend was eight months pregnant and he needed money to help support the child. Lowe also said he was struggling to find a job that would provide a steady income.

In response, Magistrate Forbes said while he understood the difficulty many young men were experiencing in the current economic climate, every bad decision had a consequence. He also

noted that while Thibeaud’s concern about feeding his child was “honourable,” his actions could not be justified since he stole another person’s gas tank and potentially stopped them from being able to cook during the pandemic.

As a result, he ordered both defendants to reimburse the two people they stole from on or before August 21. He also placed them on probation for a year and ordered them to complete 100 hours of community service. Magistrate Forbes said if Lowe and Thibeaud fail to do so, they will spend three months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

POLICE HUNT FOR ARMED ROBBERS

POLICE are looking for the suspects behind several recent armed robberies.

The latest robbery occurred before 9pm on Monday. Police said two women were on Caspian Road when they were accosted by two darkskinned men, one who was armed with a handgun. The suspects stole a gold 2007 Nissan March and other personal property.

On Friday morning, a woman was robbed while walking on Dorson Street

off Soldier Road around 10am. Police said a man in a silver Nissan Cube approached the woman, produced a handgun and robbed the woman of her handbag.

Hours later, shortly before 4pm, two men in ski masks robbed a business on Ragged Island Street.

One of the men produced a silver handgun and robbed a woman cashier before fleeing the scene.

Investigations are ongoing.

charged, but was sent to Fox Hill again.”

On March 2, 2014, Mr Sewell was granted bail by a magistrate. He said after the hearing, he was “taken out” by an officer who “tore up” his discharge papers.

He also said when they left the Magistrate’s Court, the officer called the Immigration Department and told an immigration officer Mr Sewell had been discharged, but could not be released since he had no legal status in the country.

“I was brought to the Detention Centre. The police told me I would be in prison for the rest of my life. I was later transferred from the Detention Centre back to Fox Hill as I was told the Detention Centre was not the appropriate place for me since I was awaiting trial.”

Mr Sewell said he pleaded

not guilty to housebreaking charges on October 17, 2014 and the charges were dismissed. Two weeks later, he said he appeared before a justice, who told him “all the charges against him were dismissed and he was free to go”. Still, Mr Sewell said officers took him back to Fox Hill.

“On November 1, 2014, I was sent from Fox Hill to the Detention Centre where I have been ever since,” Mr Sewell wrote at the time. “...It has now been almost nine years since my original detention in 2006. No court has ruled on my legal status in the Bahamas. I am not currently charged with a violation of any law whatsoever, nor have I stood trial for any of the charges aforementioned.”

In June, the Rights Bahamas organisation

congratulated Mr Sewell on his latest court victory with the Supreme Court ordering a $60,000 interim payment within 60 days.

In a statement the advocacy group said: “We further urge the government to stop advocating on behalf of the purveyors of injustice by fighting tooth and nail against each and every claim of abuse – through the initial case, to the Court of Appeal and often beyond.

“This not only wastes the court’s time and costs the public a great deal of money in the form of aggravated damages, it also encourages and facilitates the continuation of egregious and widespread abuse at the hands of law enforcement.

The powers that be should do the right thing and seek to settle when they know they are in the wrong.”

A Private Graveside Service For

Claudette Carolyn Young, 77 of #98 Graham Drive, Yellow Elder Gardens, who died at the Princess Margaret Hospital on Friday, 24th July, 2020, will be held at Lakeview Memorial Gardens & Mausoleums, on Thursday, 6th August, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. Canon Basil Tynes will officiate.

In compliance with the Government’s directives, attendance is limited to five (5) family members.

She is survived by her Children: Yvette Young Francis and Monique Bain Harris; Step children: Deborah Stubbs, Alethea Farrington, Tanya Young and Clarice Farrington; Sister: Rowena Kerr; Grandchildren: Laquera, Simone & (D’Angelo), Shatara & (Ron), Stephan, Meshia, Michael Jr, Nioshi & (Perron), Lesley, Miguel, Meico, Mikialla, Melissa, Mataya, Demetrius, Logan, Trinity, Nevaeh, Kyle & (Jacqui), McTair, Madison, Kendall, Courtney, and Caitlyn; Great grandchildren: Taj, Eldin III, Savan, Cordae, Aria, Skylar, Adelyn, P’ajhanae, and Lawson III; Sister in law: Viola Hanna; Godchildren: Tamara Storr, Edvardo Burrows, Britney Russell, Indira Henfield and Nicolas King (deceased); Nieces and Nephews: Toni Jessop, Freddie Hanna, Kayla Cargill, Kyle Kerr, Dalton, Millicent and Sharmaine Hanna; Great Grandnieces: Tyler Pajardo, Courtnee Stevens, Malhon Darville, Caash Johnson and Dawson Hanna. Other Relatives and friends: Boyer Young, Anthony Adderly, John Gordon, Patricia Beckles (deceased) and family, Siciline Rolle & family, Cora Rolle and family, Marjorie Tynes and family, Pauline Turnquest and family, Pauline Holmes and family, Billy Hanna and family, Iris Tynes and family, Vance Tynes, Orry Sands and family, Crayvaughn Rolle and family, Copeland Rolle and Family, Beryl Rolle and family, Carolyn Major and family, Rosiland Mackey and family, Madlyn Finley and family, Portia Taylor and family, Carol Pinder and family, Flossee Darville and family, The Kings Family, Iva Mills and family, Janet Hepburn and family, Althea Ferguson and family, Isabelle Miller and family, Mitchellene Culmer and family, Nettica Daxson and family, Patrick Gardiner and family, Dora Rolle and family, Aura Maycock and family, Jennifer Jones and family, Nicolette Strachan and family, Sheena Dawkins and family, Hazel Moncur and family, The Batelco retirees, The Yellow Elder community, St. Barnabas church family and the entire Hanna, Heastie and Tynes family.

Relatives and friends may pay their respects at Grace Funeral Home, #36 Rosetta Street, on Wednesday (TODAY) from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

PAGE 8, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

MAKING TOURISM WORK WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THIS VIRUS LOOKING to the weeks and months ahead we need a plan on how to deal with visitors coming into The Bahamas with our borders still open (provided people quarantine on arrival for two weeks).

A few weeks ago Pamela Burnside of Creative Nassau and Doongalik Studios Art Gallery shared a great idea on her Facebook page that she had already offered in June. Given the requirement of mandatory quarantine for all visitors, The Bahamas should offer luxury quarantine experiences. She suggested “reconfiguring resorts into certified health-protected quarantine modules”.

This is a way to make tourism work within the confines dictated by our response to COVID-19. We can get tourists and their US dollars in the country and manage the risk by giving them a great experience in their hotel rooms.

To go further, there could be options at a lower price point, offering family-friendly

photo: Dominic Duncombe

quarantine experiences. Guests remain in their rooms, but have access to a range of events and activities from their balconies.

These could include concerts, plays and games. With the help of technology and by booking rooms according to guests’ interests and proximity to performance space, The Bahamas could be the best place to quarantine.

Some may doubt that this is appealing, but there are many people who feel stuck at home and would like a change of scenery and less household tasks.

Three meals per day, air conditioning, cable television, internet and entertainment in a safe environment is all it takes to make a vacation for many. For some guests, this would be their pre-vacation and at the end of the two weeks, upon receipt of a negative test result, they would be able to explore.

We have to think differently. We have to come up with new ideas.

We need to take account of all COVID’s symptoms mental, financial and social

PEOPLE preparing yesterday for the next two-week lockdown

Photo: Donavan McIntosh

WE’VE spent another holiday weekend on lockdown followed by one day to prepare for a two-week nationwide lockdown. It was predictable. Many of us expected it and just wondered when it would come and how much notice we would get. We got a little more than 24 hours. For those who did not predict nor plan for this, the next two weeks may be particularly difficult. The lockdown means no small number of businesses have been forced to close and many of them are not able to pay staff their full salaries. People are back to depending on the National Insurance Board (NIB) for assistance that does not cover their expenses.

It did not just become apparent to the Prime Minister nor his advisers on Monday that there would need to be another lockdown.

This was certainly conversations over the period of a few days or, more likely, weeks.

The number of reported COVID-19 cases has been quickly increasing since the opening of the borders in July.

A lockdown was certainly a consideration from the time this became apparent.

Why then not let the people know they need to plan for a lockdown?

Why not provide tools and resources to help people to deal with it? The impact these decisions are having on people are being grossly underestimated.

The financial consequences are terrible, but there is more than that. It directly impacts people’s health and wellbeing. Can we afford to buy healthy food items?

Can we afford to keep the water and electricity on?

Are we able to get to the grocery store without public transportation? Can people work from home and take care of their children?

The

Alicia Wallace column It seems there is so much focus on COVID-19 itself that other aspects of our health — mental, financial, social — are being completely overlooked.

People under stress and in constantly changing circumstances are often unable to think through every step and find the necessary resources. The government could have worked with various agencies, experts and practitioners to develop accessible, comprehensive guides to the process many must now figure out and go through on their own.

We need a document with complete information on financial assistance. It should include details on eligibility for NIB benefits and the payout amounts, eligibility for assistance from Social Services and the types of assistance available, procedures for making payment arrangements and deferrals for utility bills, commitments from commercial banks to facilitate payment arrangements and deferrals, and the process for getting food assistance.

It should be made available online, printed in newspapers, and promoted on television and radio to reach as many people as possible.

We need a mental health hub, accessible from the COVID-19 website and the social media pages of the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Health.

It needs to be accessible through the existing networks without internet service and made available

in print. It should include the Bahamas Psychological Association mental health hotlines (819-7652, 816-3799, 812-0576, and 815-5850), the Bahamas Crisis Centre hotline (328-0922), grounding techniques, breathing exercises, activities appropriate for all ages, relevant media including podcasts and YouTube videos and checklists and quizzes to help people determine what they are feeling, what it means, and what kind of help is available to them.

We need guides to budgeting, meal planning, grocery shopping and meal preparation. People need to go to grocery stores less, spend less money and still be able to feed themselves.

With restaurants completely closed, more people are having to figure this out every day. It would be helpful to have shopping lists — with Nassau and Family Island prices — paired with meal ideas and recipes.

Provide options to suit different budgets to make it easier for families to get through these weeks without wasting or running out of food.

The government’s job does not end at implementing measures. It needs to enforce them. It needs to support the people in complying with them. It needs to make sure we can all live through this, and there are very simple ways to do it. Anticipate our needs, develop practical tools and make them accessible to everyone.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCES OF LABOUR, LEISURE AND LUXURY WHEN the beaches were closed on Independence weekend, some people could not understand why it was so upsetting. They argued that we can go to the beach any time, so one holiday doesn’t make a difference. It was clear that some do not understand that there are Bahamians who cannot go to the beach on a weekday or even on a weekend for various reasons. Some people only go to the beach on holidays because it is the only time they have. This raised several questions.

Who truly has time for leisure? Who has access to luxury? Is the beach leisure for some and luxury for others? How much time does labour consume?

Does our labour increase our access to luxury? What

is the difference between leisure and luxury? How do we understand these concepts? How do we experience them?

I am working with a group of people inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement to think and talk more about issues of race and class in The Bahamas.

In thinking about the beach fiasco, we came to the conclusion that we move through three cycles of being — labour, leisure and luxury. At times, we are in more than one at a time.

Some of us cannot access all three or our versions of them are very different.

We invite the general public to contribute to the conversation about what these states look like, who experiences them, and how we tell the difference

between them. Join the conversation by sharing an experience of your own.

Submit an image depicting labour, leisure, luxury, or a combination to our digital gallery by posting on Instagram. Use the hashtag #LaborLeisureLuxury, tell your followers why you chose it, and tell them which state(s) it represents or get them to weigh in.

If you don’t have an Instagram account, send your submission to postfreedom242@gmail.com with a desired caption and let us know whether or not you would like it to be attributed to you. While we have all this time at home, let’s take a look at how we see these three states of being and what it says about freedom and our lives, in paradise, after emancipation

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, PAGE 9

GOOGLE UNVEILS BUDGET PIXEL PHONE AS COVID-19 PANDEMIC CURBS SPENDING

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Google has started selling a long-delayed budget smartphone boasting the same high-quality camera and several other features available in fancier Pixel models that cost hundreds of dollars more.

The Pixel 4a unveiled Monday will be available Aug. 20 after months of delay caused by supply problems triggered by the pandemic.

It will cost $349, a $50 discount from a cheap Pixel released last year. It’s also a major markdown from other higher-end models in the existing product line-up that start at $799. The next versions of Google’s top-of-the-line Pixel phones will be released sometime this fall, Google said, without revealing their their price.

The budget-minded Pixel 4a is coming out four months after Apple released a discount iPhone, the SE, priced at $399. The low price helped spur iPhone sales at a time of soaring unemployment, as the economy plunged into a deep recession that is causing millions of households to curb their spending so they can pay rent and buy food.

The availability of a lower-priced model was one of the big reasons Apple’s iPhone shipments during the April-June period climbed 11% from the same time, according to research firm Internal Data Corp.

That was in stark contrast to the overall smartphone market, which

registered a 16% decline in shipments from last year during the same three months, the steepest drop in the industry’s history, IDC said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also cited the iPhone SE’s popularity as a major factor in the company’s unexpectedly strong performance during the April-June period. The stellar results have helped Apple’s stock rise 13% to new highs since Apple announced the numbers last week.

It’s doubtful the Pixel 4a will reel in as many consumers as the iPhone SE, based on Google’s inability to make significant inroads as a device maker so far, despite generally positive reviews for the devices, especially their cameras.

Google so far has been selling fewer than 10 million Pixel phones a year since rolling out the product line in 2016, barely making a dent a market where more than 1 billion phones are shipped annually, according to IDC. The Pixel phones primarily serve as a showcase for Google’s Android operating system, which includes its search engine and other services, such as digital maps, that help sell the ads that generate most of the company’s revenue.

Google gives away Android to other smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, which is expected to show off its next Galaxy phones in a virtual event scheduled for Wednesday.

The new Galaxy phone is expected to cost around $1,000.

TECHTALK AMAZON CLOSER TO LAUNCHING SATELLITES, UPPING ITS INTERNET REACH

By JOSEPH PISANI AP Retail Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon.com is one step closer to space.

The company received government approval to put more than 3,200 satellites into orbit with the goal of beaming internet service to earth.

Amazon said the satellites could provide internet to parts of the world that don’t have it. It could also become a new business for Amazon, selling internet service to people or companies.

Job

AN IMAGE provided by Google shows the Pixel 4A budget smartphone, which has the same high-quality camera and several other features available in fancier Pixel models. The phone, unveiled Monday, will be available Aug. 20 after months of delay caused by supply problems triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. It will cost $349, a $50 discount from a cheap Pixel released last year. It’s also a major markdown from other higher-end models in the existing product line-up that start at $799. (Google via AP)

PLUG IT IN: ELECTRIC CAR CHARGING STATION NUMBERS ARE RISING

By TOM KRISHER AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) — When the electric car revolution arrives, will there be enough places to plug in?

There are now 26,000 electric vehicle charging stations open to the public in the U.S., with more than 84,000 plugs.

But the country, and the world, will need thousands more if drivers are going to adopt vehicles powered by batteries alone. And because they’re being asked to invest before that demand arrives, automakers and charging companies are struggling to raise the numbers.

Currently electric vehicles make up only about 1.3% of total new vehicle sales in the U.S., according to the Edmunds.com auto site.

Electrics are much bigger in other countries, accounting for 2.6% of global new vehicle sales last year, the International Energy Agency says.

With more than 40 fully electric vehicles on the market in the U.S. or coming within the next three years, however, auto and charging company executives say the demand is on the way.

“The automakers, more and more of them, are committing to manufacture electric vehicles,” said Mike

Moran, spokesman for Electrify America, a network of charging stations being built with $2 billion in settlement money from Volkswagen’s diesel emissions cheating scandal. “Last year automakers announced a combined $225 billion in investments in electrification.”

On Friday, General Motors and charging company EVGo announced plans to add about 700 fastcharging stations, tripling the number on the EVGo network over the next five years.

They wouldn’t say how much they’ll invest, but plan to add 2,700 fast-charging plugs.

They’ll focus on 40 unspecified metropolitan areas, with emphasis on California, Texas, Florida and Illinois.

And they’ll build the stations near where people go to run errands, like grocery stores or pharmacies. Typically a fast-charger can refill a battery in 30-40 minutes, so the idea is for charging to be done while people are shopping.

“We’ve done extensive consumer research in understanding what’s important to the customer,” GM CEO Mary Barra said. “Clearly having a robust charging infrastructure is something that our customers have told us is important.”

“We have heard so many stories lately about people who are unable to do their job or complete schoolwork because they don’t have reliable internet at home,” said Amazon executive Dave Limp, in a written statement.

Amazon said it will spend $10 billion on the initiative, called Project Kuiper.

It’s opening a research facility in Redmond, Washington, where the satellites will be designed and tested.

That would be about twice the profit that the Seattle company made in its most recent threemonth financial reporting period.

Companies A CHEVROLET Volt hybrid car charging at a ChargePoint charging station at a parking garage in Los Angeles. (AP) Detroit-based GM says it’s moving away from the internal combustion engine to an all-electric future, and it plans to roll out 20 new electric vehicles globally by 2023.

Crosstown rival Ford has an all-electric SUV coming with 300 miles (480 kilometres) of range, and it’s planning a fully electric version of the F-150 pickup, the nation’s top-selling vehicle.

Batteries Fast-charging stations have higher kilowatt capacities than home chargers, and they’re important to quickly recharge batteries on newer electric vehicles that can travel 300 or more miles on a single charge. But the bulk of the nation’s public charging network is much slower.

The U.S. Department of Energy says there are 3,884 public fast-charging stations

in the country now with 14,858 outlets.

As more electric vehicles are sold, more fast chargers will be needed, especially for people who live in apartment buildings who can’t charge at home, said Cathy Zoi, EVGo’s CEO. The 2,700 new fastcharging outlets will start to become available early next year. GM and EVGo say they’ll invest in the outlets, but many will be built with funding from utilities, governments and public-private partnerships.

More public charging stations will allow GM and other automakers to better compete with Tesla, which now leads the world in electric vehicle sales and has its own private network of fastcharging stations. Tesla has network of 1,971 charging stations with 17,467 outlets worldwide. A U.S. number wasn’t available.

Electrify America now has over 450 charging stations in the U.S. with more than 2,000 fast-charging outlets, Moran said. It plans to have 800 stations and about 3,500 outlets by the end of next year.

Guidehouse analyst Sam Abuelsamid said the number of chargers is increasing rapidly and should be enough to meet demand as more electric vehicles are sold.

A big problem now is that each network has its own payment system, so owners need multiple accounts to access all chargers, he said.

But Ford, GM and others are working to aggregate all the networks into one account.

“As more and more vehicles come to market that support faster charging and have longer ranges, especially with aggregating, enabling roaming, that’s where I think it will start to make a difference,” he said.

Other companies have already put satellites into orbit, including SpaceX, the rocket company owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX received government approval for the project in 2018.

Space is a major focus of Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man.

He privately owns a space exploration company and has spoken of, at some point in the distant future, the potential of relocating manufacturing and other heavy industries to space, keeping the resulting emissions out of the earth’s atmosphere.

Amazon didn’t say when it expects to have Project Kuiper operating, but the Federal Communications Commission, which approved the initiative on Thursday, said half of its satellites must be in orbit by July 2026.

PAGE 10, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

A

MID the feverish work to cope with both the public health and economic effects of COVID-19 on their populations, Caribbean governments can be forgiven for dropping their guard against the existential dangers posed by climate change.

But their guard must be raised again. The dangers are enlarging; they need continuous and comprehensive attention, as the present hurricane season reminds.

The difference between the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change is that, while the circumstances that the disease has engendered seem interminable, they will pass or be significantly improved in the medium term, but the effects of climate change are set to worsen for a very long time.

Reports indicate that the planet could see a greater temperature increase in the next 50 years than it did in the previous 6,000 years combined. Recent studies show that today, one percent of the world is a hot zone, in which life is barely possible. It is now projected that, by 2070, that figure will rise to 19 percent.

Fifty years from now might seem far away, requiring no immediate action. However, the destruction of global warming and sea-level rise, scientifically linked to climate change, is accretive.

While in 2070 its impact will be grave, in each year, until then, it will affect almost every aspect of human life negatively and severely, in a gradual build-up. And, each year, crucial productive sectors of Caribbean economies will be steadily eroded, including agriculture, fisheries, and tourism.

Consequently, farming communities will be driven off land that will either cease to be arable, or that are subjected to such rapid extremes of weather that crops are destroyed year

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Climate change is killing the Caribbean one cut after another after year. This pattern has already emerged in Central America, causing migration of farmers both within countries and across borders. The refugees, who have been desperately trying to enter the United States through its southern border, are living testimony to climate disruption.

On July 23, ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, published an article on Climate Migration, which chronicles the large number of people, particularly farmers, across the world who have become refugees. The publication cites a 2108 World Bank report that says, if nothing is done, by 2050 “there will be 143 million internal climate migrants across three regions of the world”. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the figure could reach as high as 17 million. The Caribbean has already witnessed such refugees – Dominica, continuously since 1979; Antigua and Barbuda in 2017; and The Bahamas in 2019. Fortunately, these refugees could be accommodated within national boundaries or in neighbouring countries; the

doors to other countries were locked.

This phenomenon flags up the big issue of our time.

Rich countries are among the largest contributors to global warming and sea level rise, causing migration and refugees. Yet, many of them across the world – the United States in North America; Britain, France and Italy in Europe, and Australia in the Pacific - are paying lip service to providing funds to help affected countries, while closing their borders to migrants.

As this trend continues, Caribbean migrants will have no place to go.

The effects of global warming over the last five decades have been devastating agricultural production.

CARICOM countries, except for Belize and Guyana, are now net food importers. At least seven of the 14 countries import more than 80 percent of the food they consume, resulting in the region’s annual food import bill estimated in 2019 at US$5 billion.

This serious vulnerability has been alarmingly exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the foreign

exchange earnings of countries have diminished.

Stark choices have had to be made about foreign purchases. Should the priority be medicines, food, or building materials? This has caused governments to encourage more local food production.

However, these belated efforts in agriculture will be frustrated, if not overturned, by uncurbed climate change. Extreme heat, droughts, floods, saltwater encroachment due to rising sea levels and storms have harmed agricultural productivity and caused food price hikes and income losses. These events have wiped out crops, bankrupted farmers and forced them out of business, in many cases permanently.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, crop yield declines of 10-25% may be prevalent by 2050 because of climate change.

The effects on tourism would also be devastating.

Suffice to say, that the challenges and dangers posed by global warming and sea-level rise are enlarging, requiring strenuous and sustained responses at the national, regional, and international levels.

Even now, there should be a joined-up effort by national government agencies to factor the effects of climate change into their economic planning. That planning should be advised by scientific research and data. National blueprints

should also dovetail into a regional action plan. Integral to the plan should be coordinated international advocacy about the Caribbean plight.

In Washington, DC, CARICOM Ambassadors have started an international outreach by soliciting the convening power of the Organization of American States (OAS) and its Secretary-General, Luis Almagro. The idea to which Mr. Almagro has given full support is to gather the leading financial and development institutions to consider actions to save the Caribbean from the catastrophic consequences of unrestrained climate change. There is good reason to give the Caribbean special attention; it accounts for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions and suffers hugely disproportional impacts.

Actions, like that taken by the OAS secretarygeneral, should be secured from other heads of multilateral institutions such

as the Commonwealth of which Caribbean countries are members.

Since 2010, more than 30 studies, aimed at quantifying the economic impacts of climate change on various vulnerable sectors of the Caribbean have been conducted. Therefore, the nature and scope of the problem are well known; it is time to stop the studies and to start the action.

In the words of the poet Dylan Thomas: “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight; rage, rage against the dying of the light”. And do so from the rooftops of the world.

The writer is Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the U.S. and the OAS. He is also a senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London and at Massey College in the University of Toronto. The views expressed are entirely his own. Responses and previous comments: www. sirronaldsanders.com

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, PAGE 11

‘TOO MANY ARE SELFISH’: US NEARS 5M VIRUS CASES BOSTON Associated Press

FOURTH of July gatherings, graduation parties, no-mask weddings, crowded bars — there are reasons the US has racked up more than 155,000 coronavirus deaths, by far the most of any country, and is fast approaching an off-the-charts five million confirmed infections, easily the highest in the world.

Many Americans have resisted wearing masks and social distancing, calling such precautions an overreaction or an infringement on their liberty. Public

health experts say the problem has been compounded by confusing and inconsistent guidance from politicians and a patchwork quilt of approaches to containing the scourge by county, state and federal governments. “The thing that’s maddening is country after country and state after state have shown us how we can contain the virus,” said Dr. Jonathan Quick of the Duke Global Health Institute.

“It’s not like we don’t know what works. We do.”

Confirmed infections in the US have topped 4.7 million, with new cases running at more than 60,000 a day. While that’s down from a

peak of well over 70,000 in the second half of July, cases are on the rise in 26 states, many in the South and West, and deaths are climbing in 35 states.

On average, the number of COVID-19 deaths per day in the U.S. over the past two weeks has gone from about 780 to 1,056.

In Massachusetts, health officials are investigating at least a half-dozen new clusters of cases connected to such events as a lifeguard party, a high school graduation party, a prom party, an unsanctioned football camp and a packed harbor cruise trip.

One recent house party on

Cape Cod attended by as many as 60 people led to more than a dozen new cases and prompted some restaurants to close or limit service at the height of tourist season. Hot spots around the US are popping up in what once seemed like ideal places to ride out the outbreak: rural, less populated and with lots of outdoor space. In South Dakota, a spike erupted at a Christian youth summer camp in the Black Hills, with cases growing to 96 among 328 people who attended.

“We’re at a point where there’s enough spread of COVID-19 that people throughout the U.S.

are at an increased likelihood of encountering the virus and getting exposed,” University of Florida epidemiologist Dr Cindy Prins said.

She added: “This is a behavioral disease right now for a lot of people.” Prevention means “changing our behavior, and it’s so hard for humans to do. We’re social creatures.”

In Mississippi, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves grudgingly reversed course and announced a statewide order requiring the wearing of masks because of a resurgence of the virus. He also delayed the start of the school year for upper grades in eight hard-hit counties.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC FILES FOR US BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION NEW YORK Associated Press

HUGE explosions rocked Beirut yesterday and flattening much of the port as a giant mushroom cloud rose above the capital.

Massive Beirut blast kills more than 70 BEIRUT Associated Press

A MASSIVE explosion yesterday rocked Beirut, flattening much of the city’s port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky.

More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said.

The blast struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake, according to Germany’s geosciences center GFZ, and it was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus more than 200 kms across the Mediterranean.

The sudden devastation overwhelmed a country already struggling with both the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis.

For hours afterward, ambulances rushing in from around Lebanon carried away the wounded. Hospitals quickly filled beyond capacity, pleading for blood supplies, and generators to keep their lights on.

For blocks around the port,

where the explosion took place, bloodied residents staggered through streets lined with overturned cars and littered with rubble from shattered buildings. Windows and doors were blown out. Army helicopters helped battle fires raging at Beirut’s port.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known, but initial reports suggested a fire had detonated a warehouse at the port.

Abbas Ibrahim, chief of Lebanese General Security, said it might have been caused by highly explosive material that was confiscated from a ship some time ago and stored at the port. Local television channel LBC said the material was sodium nitrate. Witnesses reported seeing a strange orange-coloured cloud like that which appears when toxic nitrogen dioxide gas is released after an explosion involving nitrates.

The explosion came amid ongoing tensions between Israel and the Hezbollah military group on Lebanon’s southern border. Many residents reported hearing planes

AN AUSTRALIAN Army helicopter lands on Pikelot Island

THREE MEN RESCUED FROM PACIFIC ISLAND AFTER WRITING SOS IN SAND NEW ZEALAND Associated Press THREE men have been rescued from a tiny Pacific island after writing a giant SOS sign in the sand that was spotted from above.

The men had been missing in the Micronesia archipelago for nearly three days when their distress signal was spotted ON Sunday on uninhabited Pikelot Island by searchers on Australian and U.S. aircraft. The men had apparently set out from Pulawat atoll in a 7-meter boat on July 30 and had intended to travel about 43 kilometers to Pulap atoll

when they sailed off course and ran out of fuel.

Searchers in Guam asked for Australian help. The military ship, Canberra, which was returning to Australia from exercises in Hawaii, diverted to the area and joined forces with U.S. searchers from Guam.

The men were found about 190 kilometers from where they had set out.

“I am proud of the response and professionalism of all on board as we fulfill our obligation to contribute to the safety of life at sea wherever we are in the world,” said the Canberra’s commanding officer, Capt. Terry Morrison.

overhead just before the blast, fueling rumors of an attack, though Israeli military overflights are common. An Israeli government official said Israel “had nothing to do” with the blast.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended his “deepest condolences” to the people of Beirut and said the United States is closely monitoring the situation.

“Our team in Beirut has reported to me the extensive damage to a city and a people that I hold dear, an additional challenge in a time of already deep crisis,” Pompeo said.

The blast was stunning even for a city that has seen civil war, suicide bombings and bombardment by Israel. “It was a real horror show.

I haven’t seen anything like that since the days of the (civil) war,” said Marwan Ramadan, who was about 500 metres from the port and was knocked off his feet by the force of the explosion.

Health Minister Hassan Hamad said the preliminary toll was more than 70 dead and more than 3,000

wounded.

Emergency teams streamed in from across Lebanon to help, and the injured had to be taken to hospitals outside the capital. Hamad added that hospitals were barely coping and offers of aid were pouring in from Arab states and friends of Lebanon.

Beirut’s governor, Marwan Abboud, broke into tears as he toured the site, exclaiming, “Beirut is a devastated city.” Prime Minister Hassan Diab vowed that “those responsible will pay”.

Initially, video taken by residents showed a fire raging at the port, sending up a giant column of smoke, illuminated by flashes of what appeared to be fireworks.

Local TV stations reported that a fireworks warehouse was involved.

The fire then appeared to spread to a nearby building, triggering a more massive explosion, sending up a mushroom cloud and generating a shock wave.

Confusion reigned across the city, as people cleared out of damaged homes or tried to locate family.

VIRGIN Atlantic, the airline founded by British businessman Richard Branson, yesterday filed for protection in US bankruptcy court as it tries to survive the virus pandemic that is hammering the airline industry.

The airline made the Chapter 15 filing in US federal bankruptcy court in New York after a proceeding in the United Kingdom.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said the bankruptcy filing is part of a court process in the United Kingdom to carry out a restructuring plan that the airline announced last month. The process is supported by a majority of the airline’s creditors, and the company hopes to emerge from the process in September, she said.

A Virgin Atlantic lawyer said in a court filing that the company needs an order from a US court to make terms of the restructuring apply in the US. The airline is primarily a long-haul operator, including flights between the UK and the US. It stopped flying in April due to the pandemic and only resumed flights in July. It closed a base at London’s Gatwick Airport and cut about 3,500 jobs. Branson appealed to the British government for financial help earlier this year — even saying that he would pledge his Caribbean island resort as collateral for a loan — but was rebuffed.

Virgin Atlantic’s court moves follow bankruptcy filings in the US by Latin America’s two biggest airlines, Latam and Avianca, and by Mexico’s Aeromexico since the start of the pandemic. Virgin’s sister airline Virgin Australia filed for protection from creditors in its home country in April.

The International Air Transport Association estimates the industry will lose $84 billion this year and revenue will drop by half from 2019 levels.

SPORTS SECTION E

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2020

NBA - Page 14, 15

BBF WITHDRAWS FROM FIBA WCUP SKILLS CHALLENGE TRYOUTS

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribvunemedia.net

W

ithout any response to their request to stage practice to select the national teams for the under-17 boys and girls skills challenge, the Bahamas Basketball Federation had no other choice than to withdraw from the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Americas Region competition for qualification for the World Cup Skills Challenge.

Federation president Mario Bowleg said they were so disappointed in not getting any response from the Ministry of Health, they had to inform FIBA yesterday that they will be withdrawing the teams, even though

they had missed the deadline of August 1 for the competition scheduled for this weekend.

“Understanding the Competent Authority and agreeing to their decision to impose such measures to control this pandemic, it’s in poor taste when you don’t get a response from those who we would have sent an e-mail to, explaining the protocol for the competition and the protocol imposed by the health officials from the Bahamas,” Bowleg said.

“The skills challenge is only one person on the court at a time.

It’s similar to what they do in the NBA All-Star weekend. But we never received a response, even after we explained to them and indicating the time frame that was against us to practice and to cut a team. We never got a response. So

we did the next best thing and that is to contact FIBA and explained to them that we will have to withdraw the teams.”

The teams, whose coaching staff was headed by Marvin Henfield, had a total of 116 athletes, including 89 males from New Providence and eight from Grand Bahama with 19 females from New Providence, registered to participate in the trials.

While it would not have been practical for the players to travel from Grand Bahama as the borders were closed, Bowleg said they felt they had sufficient players in Nassau to make up the 10-member teams for the boys and girls.

“We just couldn’t put a team out there who never had an opportunity to practice, or to prepare

themselves for the competition,” Bowleg said.

“But with this being a virtual competition, which means there’s no contact whatsoever, if they had taken the opportunity to read what we had presented to them or to try and figure it out, they would have been able to see that we would have taken the steps guided by them to protect the players, we could have still prepared a team.”

Bowleg, however, said it was not in the best interest for the federation to just try to put the team together without a practice to compete. The good thing, he noted, is that FIBA will not be penalising the Bahamas for withdrawing because of the circumstances. But he said he was just disappointed that they never got a response.

“Life has to go on. We are trying to live in this new norm and sports is one that we have to live with,” Bowleg said. “The NBA and the WNBA is playing in a bubble in Florida.

“So we have to find ways and means of how we are going to proceed with sports in the various disciplines. The skills challenge would have been an ideal way for us to show and prove that contact sports can still be played without any contact in a virtual competition with social distance.”

Once the teams were selected, the federation was hoping to play either out of the Kendal Isaacs or AF Adderley Gymnasium for the Americas tournament, scheduled for August 10-16. If successful, the teams will advance to the World Cup finals, set for August 17-23.

Steven Gardiner closes season with a victory

A

s he completed what turned out to be the climax of a shortened track and field season, Bahamian quarter-miler Steven Gardiner went out with a bang at the American Track Meet in Georgia over the weekend.

Gardiner, who didn’t get a chance to compete in any 400m races this season, won the men’s 200 metres on Saturday in a time of 20.19 seconds.

The reigning world champion in Doha, Qatar, last year won the race over American Chris Belcher, who was second in 21.12. Aurel Tchunbi got third in 21.57.

Bahamian Cameron Parker also competed in the event, finishing fourth in in 21.79. Parker also ran in the men’s 100m where he was seventh in 10.83. American Kendall Williams won the race in 10.29.

Gardiner, the 24-year-old native of Abaco, was coming off his victory in his heat, but second place overall in the timed final at the Back to the Track: Clermont Series.

In his third meet then at the National Training Centre, Gardiner clocked 19.96 as he trailed American Noah Lyles, the fastest finisher in 19.94.

At the end of the race, Gardiner noted that it was his fastest opener.

It was Gardiner’s first normal race for the year, coming off his Bahamian national record-breaking feat at the V12 Summer Games where he won in 31.83 to erase Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown’s previous mark of 31.91 that he posted in Osaka, Japan, in 2007.

Gardiner’s time was posted as the fastest for the year and 23rd on the world’s all-time list.

The previous weekend, the lanky 6-foot, 5-inch Gardiner came out with a victory in his season opener in his first 300m at the B3R Sports Invitational in 31.95.

The meets were used to help the athletes get through the coronavirus pandemic, which put a halt to sports around the global in March.

However, track and field made a gradual return with a few meets staged without any fans in the stands watching because of the social distancing protocol.

It’s not known if any meets will take place on the European circuit and if they do, if Gardiner will be participating in any.

Gardiner, coached by Gary Evans, was preparing for the 2020 Olympic Games, which would have been wrapping up this week in Tokyo, Japan.

Instead, the games were postponed until July 23 to August 8, 2021 because of the coronavirus.

BAHAMIAN quarter-miler Steven Gardiner (file photo) went out with a bang at the American Track Meet in Georgia over the weekend. Gardiner, who didn’t get a chance to compete in any 400m races this season, won the men’s 200 metres in a time of 20.19 seconds on Saturday.

Jean: ‘It’s important for us to be ready for this tournament’

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WITH the country now locked down again and no venue to train on, men’s national soccer coach Nesley Jean said he’s hoping that he can still get the Bahamas Football Association’s team ready for the CONCACAF Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup QATAR 2022.

The Bahamas will be one of 30 teams in the new CONCACAF Qualifiers with three rounds for three and-a-half World Cup slots.

The first round (30 teams) will be played between the CONCACAF Member Associations ranked 6-35 (Bah-33), based on the FIFA Rankings as of July 16, 2020.

The 30 men’s national teams will be drawn into six groups of five teams in a seeded draw. Each team will play every team in their group once, playing a total of 4 matches - two home and two away. These games will be played in the FIFA match windows of October 2020 and November 2020. At the end of the first round, the six group

winners will progress to the second round.

In preparation for the qualifier, Jean said there are at least 50 players based locally and abroad, who are eligible for the team selection. But he noted that the problem is getting the players together for a tryout.

“We have an app programme that we are using to try and keep the guys motivated, but there’s only so much you can do to keep them motivated for so long using the app,” Jean said.

“In terms of the tournament, we’re looking forward to it, but with this virus going around, we have to take the necessary precautions and we are waiting for some answers from the Ministry of Health on how we should proceed.”

With the games tentatively set for either October or November, Jean said they still have a very small window to prepare, but it won’t be sufficient, considering that they have to look at players from home and abroad.

“It’s important for us to be ready for this tournament because we have never qualified for the second round so going into

NESLEY JEAN these games, it’s a major boost for ourselves and the country on a whole,” he lamented.

“But with this pandemic, there’s nothing we can do at the moment. So we are waiting and watching to see what happens because if this virus doesn’t go away, they might have to cancel the tournament.”

Jean, who took over as the head coaching job two years ago, said every

tournament he goes into, he wants to evaluate the current team members on their previous performances and assess the younger players who have the potential to make the team.

“We have some players in Europe whom we didn’t call the last tournament because they were too far away and there are some players who are in the United States, who couldn’t get out of school, so all of these players we will look at and see if they available so that we can start to put a squad together.”

Looking at the players available for national team duties, Jean said there’s much more than when he was an active member of the team when the numbers were much smaller for consideration.

“Now everyone knows that they have to be on top of their toes because they know there’s a lot at stake,” he stated. “It’s good competition for me as a coach, but I like it. That is what we need. We need competition in every area to get this team much better.”

After playing on the national team as a striker for more than 20 years,

Jean hung up his soccer boots to roam the sidelines as the new coach, replacing Dion Godet, the last coach he played for.

“When the BFA came around and asked me if I wanted to be the new coach, I told them I would give it a shot and see how it goes,” he said.

“With my experience, I was happy to be able to give my experience to the young players. It’s not easy being a coach. You have to be up late at night, watching videos and trying to find ways that you can push the team forward.”

Last year, the Bahamas finished as group winners with 10 points, and earned a berth in both League B and the 2021 Gold Cup qualifiers.

The team, coached by Jean, began the series when they defeated Bonaire 2-1 at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium back in September, the first game of the homeand-away series.

The Bahamas topped the British Virgin Islands 4-0 on October 9 at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis.

On November 14, the team returned home with

a 3-0 win over BVI. They closed out the stage with a 1-1 draw against Bonaire at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curacao, to solidify the top spot in League C, Group B. Based on what he saw then and what he has in the pipeline, Jean said he is confident that the federation can field a solid team to make their presence felt in the region.

“The team is pretty strong. If we can get all of the players that we want, we could be very strong,” Jean said. “We want to try and get a base core of players at home that we can put in a training squad. If we can do that, it would make it a lot easier when we have to look at those players who are away and how we can insert them into the team rotation.”

The coronavirus, however, has made it difficult for Jean to accomplish that goal. Although the players are using an app that the federation can track to ensure that they are doing the right training regimen, Jean said there’s nothing like getting the players on the field to further assess their skills.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, PAGE 13

RETOOLED MARLINS MAKE TRIUMPHANT RETURN, BEAT ORIOLES 4-0

By DAVID GINSBURG AP Sports Writer BALTIMORE (AP) — Finally back on the baseball diamond after enduring eight days of virus testing, hotel room service and lengthy bus rides, the Miami Marlins scratched out a victory worth savouring.

Following one final delay in their effort to return from a miserable coronavirusinduced hiatus, the Marlins found enough power and pitching within their vastly overhauled roster to beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-0 last night.

Francisco Cervelli and Jesús Aguilar homered for the Marlins, who had their season halted after 18 players tested positive for COVID-19 following the opening series in Philadelphia.

All the happiness that playing baseball brings was displayed when Cervelli slammed a 3-1 pitch from John Means over the leftfield wall to give Miami a 1-0 lead in the fifth.

The players in the dugout cheered, and Cervelli saluted them as the rounded third and headed for home.

“These guys love to play, right? That’s what you see,” manager Don Mattingly said.

“We’ve been in a hotel for a long time. Guys are happy to be out.”

Pablo López threw five innings of two-hit ball and the bullpen allowed just one hit in Miami’s first shutout victory since Sept. 8 against Kansas City.

“Give him credit. He threw a really nice game,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said of Lopez. “We

just didn’t swing the bats well.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, the Marlins were still awaiting the result of further COVID-19 tests, a process that stalled their arrival at Camden Yards and pushed back the scheduled 7:35 p.m. start by 41 minutes.

Once they finally got back on the diamond, the Marlins backed up the assertion of president of baseball operations Michael Hill, who said beforehand: “We expect to win games.”

So does Mattingly.

“We lost some guys, but we like our guys who are coming up.,” he said.

Who knows how it will play out? For now, however, Miami stands atop the NL East in terms of winning percentage. Before this season, the Marlins have never been in first place after June 30. “Finally

we got out on the field and we do what we’re supposed to do,” Aguilar said. “Now we’ve got to keep going.”

Miami put a whopping 18 players on the injured list and showed up with an equal number of replacements on their 30-man roster — some from their minor league camp, others obtained via trade and a few plucked off the waiver wire. Mattingly wrote up his lineup card, there’s a good chance he had to introduce himself to a few of the newcomers.

“We’ve just got to try to hold down the fort and get some guys back, survive this trip and see where we’re at,” the manager said.

“This one felt good. We’ve been through a lot.”

To say the least.

“I’m going to have to write a book after this one,” Mattingly said. “You get

tested and you persevere and you learn from a lot of situations.”

There were plenty of rookies in the dugout, but the only one in the starting lineup was highly touted prospect fielder Monte Harrison, who played center field and went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts in his major league debut.

A matchup between two teams that each lost more than 100 games last year was oddly intriguing because it was Miami’s first game since July 26 and the Orioles were coming off a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay that lifted them into second place in the AL East.

Orioles starter John Means (0-1) allowed one run and two hits in 4 2/3 innings. He retired 13 in a row before Cervelli’s first long ball of the season

ended the left-hander’s night. Lopez was better, striking out seven and permitting just one runner past first base. The bullpen was also impressive, including Richard Bleier, obtained from the Orioles last week.

The Marlins went up 3-0 in the sixth, and Aguilar hit his third homer in four games.

After the final out, the Marlins lined up and did “air” high-fives in which they didn’t make contact with their hands.

Because of Miami’s precarious situation, the Orioles had two games in Florida postponed and opened at home against the Yankees instead of Marlins on July 29-30. In this anything goes, wacky baseball season, Miami will be the home team for the final two games of this four-game series.

Mets beat Braves 7-2, Atlanta ace Soroka tears Achilles ATLANTA (AP) — Jacob deGrom struck out a season-high 10 in six innings and the New York Mets snapped a five-game skid Monday night with a 7-2 victory over the Braves that was overshadowed by a season-ending injury to Atlanta ace Mike Soroka.

Soroka tore his Achilles tendon in the third inning as he took a step toward first to cover the bag — a huge blow to the twotime defending NL East champions.

Robinson Canó had three RBIs before leaving the game himself — one of three New York infielders who went down with injuries.

Wilson Ramos added a two-run homer for the Mets, who avoided a fourgame sweep and ended Atlanta’s five-game winning streak. Travis d’Arnaud homered off deGrom (1-0) in the fifth.

Soroka (0-1) allowed three hits, walked four and wound up being charged with four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings, the secondshortest outing of his career.

YANKEES 6, PHILLIES 3 NEW YORK (AP) — Gerrit Cole won his debut in Yankee pinstripes for his 19th consecutive regularseason victory, leading New York past Philadelphia.

DJ LeMahieu led off the bottom of the first with a home run off Jake Arrieta (0-1), who made his first appearance since surgery last August to remove a bone spur from his right elbow.

After Jay Bruce tied the score with a home run off Cole in the third, Brett Gardner led off the bottom half with a drive down the left-field line for the first over-the-wall, oppositefield home run of his big league career. Aaron Hicks added an RBI double later in the inning for a 3-1 lead, and Gio Urshela broke open the game with a three-run homer in the sixth on a changeup from Deolis Guerra that landed in the visitors’ bullpen in left-center.

Cole (3-0) allowed one run and five hits, struck out four and walked one on

ATLANTA Braves manager Brian Snitker and a trainer help pitcher Mike Soroka off the field with an apparent injury, during the third inning of the team’s game against the New York Mets on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, in Atlanta.

(Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) 91 pitches. He left after a 67-minute rain delay ahead of the seventh.

PADRES 5, DODGERS 4 SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jake Cronenworth singled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning for San Diego, which hit three solo home runs off Walker Buehler and beat Los Angeles.

Cronenworth’s hit gave ace Chris Paddack (2-0) his first career win against the Dodgers. Cronenworth also made several nice plays at first base, where the rookie made his fifth start.

Trent Grisham, Wil Myers and Fernando Tatis Jr. homered off Buehler.

Paddack allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, struck out five and walked none.

Buehler gave up three home runs for just the second time in his career.

He left after five innings with the score tied at 3 after yielding three hits while striking out three and walking three. Brusdar Graterol fell to 0-2.

ROCKIES 7, GIANTS 6 DENVER (AP) — Nolan Arenado hit his first homer of the season to ignite a five-run sixth inning and Colorado matched its best start in franchise history by beating San Francisco.

The Rockies are 7-2 for the fifth time in team history. They also had that mark in 1995, ‘97, 2011 and ‘15. Trailing 4-1 in the sixth, Arenado lined a two-run homer to left off Johnny Cueto. The breakout inning also included an RBI single from Matt Kemp and a goahead single from David Dahl that also brought in another run on right fielder Alex Dickerson’s errant throw. Chris Owings added an insurance run with a solo homer in the eighth.

REDS 3, INDIANS 2 CINCINNATI (AP) — Joey Votto hit a two-run, go-ahead homer, Nick Castellanos also connected and Cincinnati beat Cleveland.

Sonny Gray (3-0) shook off a tough start to complete six strong innings, and Cincinnati ended a sixgame home losing streak against their in-state rival.

Votto snapped an 0-for11 skid when he followed Shogo Akiyama’s leadoff single in the sixth with a nodoubt shot off Zach Plesac (0-1).

TWINS 5, PIRATES 4 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Nelson Cruz’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Minnesota over Pittsburgh for its fourth straight victory.

Cruz, who knocked in two runs to raise his season total to 14 RBIs, drove a pitch from Pirates reliever and former Twins draft pick Nick Burdi (0-1) over the head of center fielder Cole Tucker with runners at second and third and one out.

The Pirates (2-8), who lost their fifth consecutive game and have the worst record in the major leagues, put a runner on against Twins closer Taylor Rogers (1-0) but were unable to convert.

CUBS 2, ROYALS 0 CHICAGO (AP) — Kris Bryant homered in his return to the lineup and Alec Mills pitched seven effective innings, helping Chicago beat Kansas City for its fourth consecutive win.

Javier Báez had a sacrifice fly and a nice play in the field as the NL Centralleading Cubs improved to 8-2 for the first time since 2016. Bryant also doubled in the first after missing two games with a stomach ailment.

WHITE SOX 6, BREWERS 4 MILWAUKEE (AP) — José Abreu hit a tying, two-run homer in the seventh inning, Leury García scored on a wild pitch in the eighth and Yoan Moncada added a solo shot in the ninth to lift Chicago over Milwaukee.

Chicago has won five straight, all on the road.

Starter Carlos Rodón was pulled after two innings with left shoulder soreness, but Ross Detwiler (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Alex Colomé worked the ninth for his second save.

ATHLETICS 11, MARINERS 1 SEATTLE (AP) — Ramón Laureano and Chad Pinder had two-run singles during Oakland’s big fifth inning against Seattle.

Oakland scored eight times in the fifth inning,

with all the runs coming with two outs.

The A’s gave starter Frankie Montas plenty of run support and finished off a successful first road trip by taking three of four from Seattle.

Oakland sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth and eventually left the bases loaded after Marcus Semien flied out to end the inning. Semien made a pair of outs in the inning.

Laureano’s single knocked out Seattle starter Justus Sheffield (0-2), who had been excellent through the first four innings.

PAGE 14, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

THE TRIBUNE

‘Buddy’ buckets 21 points in loss LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) — Chavano “Buddy” Hield scored 21 points, but the Sacramento Kings could not close out a game they controlled almost from the opening tip until the end of regulation.

Hield also had four rebounds and three assists yesterday in the 114-110 loss to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks, who punctuated an historic triple-double by making the tiebreaking shot with 1:57 left in overtime and leading the Mavericks past the Kings.

“I thought we settled too much down the stretch instead of trying to put pressure on the rim,” Sacramento coach Luke Walton said.

Doncic was sensational, finishing with 34 points, a career-high 20 rebounds and 12 assists. At 21 years, 158 days, he became the youngest player to finish a game with 30 or more points, 20 or more rebounds and 10 or more assists, shattering Oscar Robertson’s previous mark of 23 years, 12 days.

“We needed that,” Doncic said. “We played, I think, one of the worst games ever and we won.

We didn’t play good. We still hang in there, help each other, never give up. I’m proud of the win.”

Kristaps Porzingis added 22 points and seven

rebounds before fouling out late in regulation.

It was the Mavs’ first victory since arriving at Walt Disney World and allowed them to remain the only NBA to avoid three straight losses this season.

De’Aaron Fox scored 28 points for the Kings.

Dallas scored the final six points in regulation to force overtime, then tied the score again at 102 when Tim Hardaway Jr made three free throws with 3:10 to play.

Doncic broke the tie with a short basket and the Mavs scored the next five points and never trailed again.

“I believe we had seven stops in a row to end regulation, which was huge,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “It was a guts win.”

HEAT 111, CELTICS 106 Bam Adebayo had 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Miami never trailed in beating Boston to remain alone in the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Celtics had their lead for the No. 3 seed cut to 1 1/2 games over the Heat. Miami has a game lead on Indiana and improved to 2-1 so far in the seeding games, despite Jimmy Butler sitting out with a sore right ankle after playing Monday in a loss to Toronto.

SACRAMENTO Kings guard Buddy Hield, of the Bahamas, in action against the Dallas Mavericks yesterday. (AP photos)

Duncan Robinson also had 21 points for Miami. Goran Dragic added 20 off the bench, Kelly Olynyk scored 15 and Tyler Herro 11. Jayson Tatum led Boston with 23 points. Jaylen Brown had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Gordon Hayward and Kemba Walker each added 15 points and Enes Kanter scored 10.

PACERS 120, MAGIC 109 T.J. Warren scored 32 points, tying Jermaine O’Neal’s franchise

record for most in a three-game span, to send Indiana past Orlando for its third consecutive victory.

Warren has topped the 30-point mark in each game at Walt Disney World, starting with his 53-point outburst in the opener. He has 119 points (39.7 per game) in the restart.

Myles Turner added 21 points for the Pacers.

Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Magic, whose season-best, five-game

winning streak ended. Aaron Gordon added 20 points for Orlando, trying to claim its second straight playoff appearance for the first time since a six-year run ended in 2011-12.

NETS 119, BUCKS 116 Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Brooklyn ahead to stay, and the Nets beat Milwaukee to keep the Bucks from clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Luwawu-Cabarrot finished with a career-high 26 points.

Garrett Temple scored 19, Tyler Johnson and Justin Anderson each had 11.

And Rodions Kurucs and Chris Chiozza had 10 apiece.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 16 points playing only the first half for Milwaukee, which has lost two of three seeding games.

Kyle Korver scored 13 points, and Ersan Ilyasova had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Frank Mason III added 11 points.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, August 5, 2020, PAGE 15

Ayton scores 19 in victory LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (AP) — Deandre Ayton scored 19 points as the Phoenix Suns yesterday improved to 3-0 in the NBA bubble as they chase a playoff spot.

Ayton also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists in 37 minutes on the floor. And he made one of two threes.

Devin Booker made a turnaround jumper over Paul George as time expired, capping a 35-point performance and giving the Suns a 117-115 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday.

“I’m happy for him, but he’d be the first one to tell you we’re not done,” Phoenix coach Monty Williams said of Booker.

Rubio had 18 points. The Suns improved to 3-0. Phoenix made 17 3-pointers.

“This is a fun team to be a part of and we’re having fun with it,” Booker said.

“This whole experience ... we just wanted to come down here and make some noise and that’s what we’re doing.”

Kawhi Leonard had tied the game with two free throws with 31.3 seconds to go. Ricky Rubio missed a shot after that and Ivica Zubac got the rebound, but he threw a bad pass that Mikal Bridges stole to give the Suns another chance.

Booker dribbled left before being cut off by Leonard. He turned the other direction and shot as George was closing, then crashed to the court as his teammates surrounded him to celebrate the victory.

“You pretty much (saw) the shot,” Leonard said.

“He got to his spot.”

CLIPPERS’ Marcus Morris Sr defends Suns’ Deandre Ayton (22) yesterday in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

(Kevin C Cox/Pool Photo via AP) Booker was asked about get away from them,” he the celebration after his big said.

After setting a franshot.

“I’m not a big celebration chise record by making 25 guy ... but they caught me 3-pointers in a win over on the ground so I couldn’t New Orleans on Saturday,

the Clippers managed just eight in the loss.

Leonard led the Clippers with 27 points and George added 23.

The Suns led by eight in the fourth before the Clippers used an 8-2 run with an alley-oop dunk by Zubac to cut the lead to 107-105 with about 5 minutes to go.

Phoenix got baskets from Booker and Rubio to extend the lead, but Leonard scored the next four points to start a 6-0 run that tied it at 111-all with less than 2 minutes left.

The Suns led by 11 early in the third quarter. But the Clippers chipped away

at the lead and a 7-3 spurt, with all the points from Leonard, cut the lead to 88-87 with about 3 minutes left in the quarter.

But the Suns used a 7-2 run, capped by a 3 from Cameron Johnson, to push the lead to 95-89 near the end of the third.

Marcus Morris added a layup after that to get the Clippers within four entering the fourth.

UP NEXT Suns: Play the Pacers on Thursday.

Clippers: Play Dallas on Thursday.

PAGE 16, Wednesday, August 5, 2020

THE TRIBUNE