Bahamas - EMERGENCY POWERS (COVID 19)(NO. 1) ORDER, 2020 ???

[sailormike]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

Read the order: it refers to “private commercial” vessels not “private, commercial “ or “private or Commercial” vessels. They mean privately owned commercial boats carrying tourists or locals between the islands. If you are a foreigner and are leaving the country they will not stop you. But if you try to put it off too long and the Bahamas begins to run out of food due to disruptions in Florida don’t be surprised if you are boarded and your supplies are confiscated. The order also allows for the requisitioning of buildings, ships and airplanes.

We have another month on our visa, but we are leaving for Middle Bluff and then Cat Cay as soon as the wind dies early next week. If not sooner. Our big hang up is finding a slip in Florida......

There are mooring balls & slips available in Fort Myers as of today

[AllenRbrts]

Sorry to have left you this morning without saying hi or goodbye. Nice to have been close by for the past week. Decided to go north to the Abacos... SV Gemeaux.

Originally Posted by Safari38LH

We agree. Anchored off Man Island with 4 other boats. We read the rules as we can go where we want via boat but can only go into towns/settlements for necessities. Groceries and fuel docks are open. We feel free to go ashore on remote areas and to go fishing. The mail and cargo boats are constantly coming into Harbour Island. I don’t think they will run out of food anytime soon.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Safari38LH

Spainish Wells

If we had been close to there, that is where we would have headed as I like it there, the town, people etc.
The Chief facilitator or whatever the correct name is, is Robert Roberts, who is a working guy and whom I believe to be very honest.
But we were in George Town, which I didn’t think was a good place so we headed to Long Island.
I wanted to get away from anywhere with an International airport and many visitors from out of country.

[Tonali99]

Consider yourself fortunate. Gov. DeSantis decided that it's dangerous for us to take our boats out. Gave permission to Florida F&W to stop boaters. Can't hang out at the little islets in the ICW now. Even with friends who've been self quarantined since middle of Feb.?
I've got a 35' sloop and there's no way you can keep six feet from each other in the cockpit.
This is not a request either. Asking one to stay home is one thing. A $500.00 ticket because you got sick of TV and video games and went for a ride.
In your own vehicle, with the windows closed and the A/C on.
Not a request, martial law.
They planned this ...

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by Tonali99

Consider yourself fortunate. Gov. DeSantis decided that it's dangerous for us to take our boats out. Gave permission to Florida F&W to stop boaters. Can't hang out at the little islets in the ICW now. Even with friends who've been self quarantined since middle of Feb.?
I've got a 35' sloop and there's no way you can keep six feet from each other in the cockpit.
This is not a request either. Asking one to stay home is one thing. A $500.00 ticket because you got sick of TV and video games and went for a ride.
In your own vehicle, with the windows closed and the A/C on.
Not a request, martial law.
They planned this ...

Did they not tell the hundreds of people we saw today zooming around the ICW in their boats. And the dozens we saw in beach chairs on the various sandbars on the way between Cocoa and Daytona. That dangerous liberal DiSantis must have forgot to give the word to all of his jackbooted stormtroopers in Fish and Wildlife......

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by sailormike

There are mooring balls & slips available in Fort Myers as of today

We got a monthly slip in Jacksonville a dozen or so miles from the Mayo Clinic.

[Timlich]

As much as there are rules may I suggest there is a moral perspective that's being overlooked here. The following article says it so well: (apologies for the length)
Really interesting advice about social isolation behaviour during lockdown.

Jonathan Smith is a lecturer in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and Global Health at Yale University School of Public Health.


“Hey everybody, as an infectious disease epidemiologist, at this point feel morally obligated to provide some information on what we are seeing from a transmission dynamic perspective and how they apply to the social distancing measures. Like any good scientist I have noticed two things that are either not articulated or not present in the “literature” of social media. I am also tagging my much smarter infectious disease epidemiologist friends for peer review of this post. Please correct me if I am wrong (any edits are from peer review). Specifically, I want to make two aspects of these measures very clear and unambiguous.


First, we are in the very infancy of this epidemic’s trajectory. That means even with these measures we will see cases and deaths continue to rise globally, nationally, and in our own communities in the coming weeks. This may lead some people to think that the social distancing measures are not working. They are. They may feel futile. They aren’t. You will feel discouraged. You should. This is normal in chaos. But this is also normal epidemic trajectory. Stay calm. This enemy that we are facing is very good at what it does; we are not failing. We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse. This is not my opinion; this is the unforgiving math of epidemics for which I and my colleagues have dedicated our lives to understanding with great nuance, and this disease is no exception. I want to help the community brace for this impact. Stay strong and with solidarity knowing with absolute certainty that what you are doing is saving lives, even as people begin getting sick and dying. You may feel like giving in. Don’t.


Second, although social distancing measures have been (at least temporarily) well-received, there is an obvious-but-overlooked phenomenon when considering groups (i.e. families) in transmission dynamics. While social distancing decreases contact with members of society, it of course increases your contacts with group (i.e. family) members. This small and obvious fact has surprisingly profound implications on disease transmission dynamics.


Study after study demonstrates that even if there is only a little bit of connection between groups (i.e. social dinners, playdates/playgrounds, etc.), the epidemic trajectory isn’t much different than if there was no measure in place. The same underlying fundamentals of disease transmission apply, and the result is that the community is left with all of the social and economic disruption but very little public health benefit.


You should perceive your entire family to function as a single individual unit; if one person puts themselves at risk, everyone in the unit is at risk. Seemingly small social chains get large and complex with alarming speed. If your son visits his girlfriend, and you later sneak over for coffee with a neighbor, your neighbor is now connected to the infected office worker that your son’s girlfriend’s mother shook hands with. This sounds silly, it’s not. This is not a joke or a hypothetical. We as epidemiologists see it borne out in the data time and time again and no one listens. Conversely, any break in that chain breaks disease transmission along that chain.


In contrast to hand-washing and other personal measures, social distancing measures are not about individuals, they are about societies working in unison. These measures also take a long time to see the results. It is hard (even for me) to conceptualize how ‘one quick little get together’ can undermine the entire framework of a public health intervention, but it does. I promise you it does. I promise. I promise. I promise. You can’t cheat it. People are already itching to cheat on the social distancing precautions just a “little”- a playdate, a haircut, or picking up a needless item at the store, etc. From a transmission dynamics standpoint, this very quickly recreates a highly connected social network that undermines all of the work the community has done so far.


Until we get a viable vaccine this unprecedented outbreak will not be overcome in grand, sweeping gesture, rather only by the collection of individual choices our community makes in the coming months. This virus is unforgiving to unwise choices. My goal in writing this is to prevent communities from getting ‘sucker-punched’ by what the epidemiological community knows will happen in the coming weeks. It will be easy to be drawn to the idea that what we are doing isn’t working and become paralyzed by fear, or to ‘cheat’ a little bit in the coming weeks. By knowing what to expect, and knowing the importance of maintaining these measures, my hope is to encourage continued community spirit, strategizing, and action to persevere in this time of uncertainty.”

[Tonali99]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

Did they not tell the hundreds of people we saw today zooming around the ICW in their boats. And the dozens we saw in beach chairs on the various sandbars on the way between Cocoa and Daytona. That dangerous liberal DiSantis must have forgot to give the word to all of his jackbooted stormtroopers in Fish and Wildlife......

WFTV channel 9 news at 6:00. Guess the word isn't out yet.
*
For those who have read or will read my posts, I am not, nor will I EVER belong to any political party. I believe they all have the same agenda. Just go about it in different ways.
Think about traffic control. Is it really? Or are they just (subliminally) telling you what you can and cannot do? Take it farther then.
Ask an Amerindian. Go to the res. Give us you weapons. We will care for you.
How'd that work out?
I believe in absolute freedom. I say what I do and do what I say. Simple.

[Woodland Hills]

Traffic control? Stop signs and painted lanes on highways are totalitarianism? Is the 10 items or less line at the market an infringement of your freedom too?

This is so wacky I can only assume you are being sarcastic and respond in the same vein. Do you have a tin-foil hat, are you protecting your precious bodily fluids?

[Tonali99]

Well yes and just a tad no. From the time we can understand our parents we're being told what to do. Or rather what not to do. But .. we often do it anyway. Sometimes with bad results. But the idea is a correct one. Comedians use the line all the time in various way.
Mostly like this, "I never wanted it till you said no.."
And how many times did you wonder just what would happen? C'mon be honest.
Like Hank jr. sang, "I knew just enough to get in trouble ...
But not enough to leave it alone..."
By the way, I buy more than ten items about twice a month.

[Tonali99]

Almost forgot. DO protect those bodily fluids. I have seen the results of dehydration and heat stroke. Not pretty. Mid 90's here today, cental Fl.

[Woodland Hills]

It looks like the Bahamas is going to track up the curve just like every other country from one case a week ago to ten yesterday and 20 to 40 in about a week. The fact that it is already on New Providence and Grand Bahama indicates that it is loose in the wild. One can only hope that shutting down the passenger traffic between the islands was done in time. Of course it’s going to eventually be spread by the crews of the mail boats since we now know that you can be contagious with no visible symptoms.

[Safari38LH]

Originally Posted by AllenRbrts

Sorry to have left you this morning without saying hi or goodbye. Nice to have been close by for the past week. Decided to go north to the Abacos... SV Gemeaux.

We went to say hi 2 days ago an you were gone. Let us know how the Abacos are. We are thinking of the Berries when we start heading home.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

We got a monthly slip in Jacksonville a dozen or so miles from the Mayo Clinic.

Hopefully you won’t need it, and again hopefully if you do they won’t turn you away because they are full. That is already happening in some areas, my home town, Albany Ga for example, the hospitals are at max capacity now and are sending patients to other areas, of course they may become full too, and I assume then they will begin to make hard decisions?

[Woodland Hills]

Indeed, but we feel we have a better chance at good care in the US than the Bahamas.