Thread by @Ayjchan

Would be good to track the 2000+ individuals (all adults vaccinated) from this cruise who are disembarking in the Bahamas tomorrow and see how many test positive for Covid-19 over the next 2 weeks. usatoday.com/story/travel/c…

There are many things we don’t know *yet* about the delta variants and vaccines:

How much do our vaccines protect against infection, asymptomatic or symptomatic, by delta?

How much do infected vaxed individuals spread the virus compared to infected non-vaxed individuals?

We do know that several top vaccines continue to protect against severe covid-19. So it’s not particularly worrying when vaxed people get delta (although there are exceptions and some breakthrough cases suffer greatly). What’s worrying is the spread of delta to the unvaxed.

So I would say that it’s not super great that up to 2,000 people are disembarking from a cruise, with very recently detected covid cases, into a country where only 11.3% of the population is fully vaccinated.

In light of the delta, I think that the Bahamas should re-implement rapid antigen day 5 testing of ALL travellers regardless of vaccination status.

Knowing what we know, the fully vaxed should not be exempt from testing and tracing.
bahamas.com/travelupdates

Messaging about the airborne transmission of the virus should also be strengthened. We know delta is much more transmissible than SARS2 classic, even outdoors, so there should be stronger emphasis on ventilation and social distancing even outdoors.

It’s not that all cruise persons must be airlifted out but there are many effective measures that can be taken to minimize risk of a large outbreak. @VisitTheBahamas @BahamasVisa

Eg reinstate day 5 tests for vaccinated people, mandate taxis/drivers have all windows rolled down.