Mums the word at the Parks and Beaches Authority. As staff of various Ministries and Government Departments were expected to return to work on Monday, employees at the Parks and Beaches Authority were left in the dark amid mere whispers.
It was only after the suspicious absence of many staff members was questioned that it was revealed that at least ten members of staff had been exposed to the COVID-19 virus with possibly half of them testing positive.
Much to the astonishment and subsequent disgust of staff who reported to work, a section of the building located on Shirley Street behind Charlotte House was the area in which the infected individuals worked. These staff members sat unknowingly in the contaminated area.
Careless whispers of staff members revealed that the infected individual, who had exposed the staff, had tested positive since last Wednesday. The Gallery discovered that even Chairman Shannondon Cartwright had been exposed and has since been in self-isolation.
Claims of a sanitization exercise on the weekend have not comforted the remaining staff as the building which houses the Parks and Beaches Authority is already mold-infested due to poor ventilation. The Gallery and others cannot help but wonder why the secret of the COVID-19 exposure?
As the Authority has many people from the public traverse in and out of its offices, interacting with staff members, contact tracing may be a challenge.
The only conclusion that could be deduced from the deliberate act of withholding this information is that government officials are ill-prepared to handle this pandemic and, as a result, place no value on the people whose time they claim this to be. Once again, we realize that it is not the average Bahamian’s time.
The working class has suffered since March due to this pandemic and as the country slowly reopens we see that this administration is willing to place people, by omission, in grave danger.