A STORM IS COMING
Latin America Braces for Major Spike in COVID-19 Cases
Many Latin American countries have been hollowed out after decades of
neoliberal “reforms,” leaving them weaker than ever.
by Alan Macleod
May 18th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
Latin America appears to be on a precipice, about to lose what little control
over the COVID-19 pandemic it had. Across the region, daily positive tests are
rising rapidly. Chilean figures show infections have doubled since last week.
Around 4,000 Peruvians have tested positive each day in the past week.
Meanwhile, Argentina, where an official 12 percent mortality rate suggests
authorities are testing nowhere near enough people, suffered its two worst days
on Friday and Saturday. As figures are often revised upwards the day after as
more information from morgues and hospitals comes in, Sunday’s totals are not
yet reliable.
Latin America COVID-19 graph
Graph by MintPress News | Data from https: worldometers.info
Meanwhile in Colombia, six of the worst seven days for infections have been in
the last week. A factory in the country has designed a new dual purpose
coffin/hospital bed made out of cardboard, which allows medical staff to
dispose of deceased patients without having to touch them, an invention which
might reassure doctors but is unlikely to put the sick at ease.
The Telegraph
✔
@Telegraph
A factory in Colombia is making hospital beds that can be turned into a coffin
if the patient dies
These dual-purpose beds are designed for #COVID19 patients
All the latest #coronavirus news here
👇https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/14/lockdown-news-government-coronavirus-update-boris-johnson
…
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Mexico’s worst four days for infections have all occurred since Wednesday and
the country’s leader, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has downplayed the threat of
the virus for weeks, holding public events and refusing to observe social
distancing restrictions other countries have put in place. Brazil is home to
more than half of South America’s COVID-19 cases, with daily cases doubling
since last week. Its erratic authoritarian president Jair Bolsonaro dismissed
the virus as merely a “little flu” and refused to self-isolate after likely
contracting it himself. He has faced resignations from key members of his
cabinet over his response, with the main opposition party beginning the process
for his impeachment.
Ecuador COVID-19
Funeral workers in hazmat suits remove the body of a homeless man who died in
the street in Quito, Ecuador, May 15, 2020. Dolores Ochoa | AP
Arguably the worst hit, however, is Ecuador, the government has essentially
given up on collecting data. On one day, authorities reported 7,595 new cases
alone; the next two days, zero. As MintPress reported last month, the coastal
city of Guayaquil is likely the worst hit area in the world by COVID-19, with
thousands of bodies piling up, left on the streets. “The situation in Ecuador
is very fucked up. I don’t even have the means to [explain in] English all of
what’s happening. The new Minister of Health is an incredible idiot.
Coronavirus or not this country is in big trouble with this wildly incompetent
government,” said MintPress contributor Camila Escalante, currently in the
country’s capital, Quito. Guayaquil has stabilized somewhat, but Quito is
bracing for a wave next. The first case among a native Amazon tribe was also
announced on Sunday. To compound matters, the right-wing governments of
Ecuador, Brazil, and Bolivia all expelled the network of Cuban doctors
providing free healthcare to their citizens.
Camila
@camilapress
Few restaurants here and there are now open for takeout only around Quito. Most
people I’ve seen out since the State of Exception and quarantine began. There
are also quite a lot of people living on the streets and in parks compared to
before the Coronavirus measures.
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Certainly, the governments of Latin America have a more challenging problem on
their hands than developed Western nations. Tens of millions of people in the
region live in overcrowded slums, often without running water, making
sanitation extremely difficult. In such a situation, self-isolation is next to
impossible. Governments’ abilities have also been hollowed out after decades of
neoliberal “reforms,” leaving them weaker than ever. However, other poor
countries have performed admirably. Vietnam, for example, has still to lose a
single citizen from COVID-19, the government orchestrating a huge collective
response to the pandemic. Furthermore, there are a few bright spots in the
region. Uruguay and Cuba, for instance, have managed to not only flatten their
curves but suppress new infections. Venezuela, meanwhile, has tested more than
any other Latin American nation per capita and has not lost anybody in a month.
In March MintPress spoke to Olive Albanese, a fifth year student from Milwaukee
studying medicine in Cuba. She had faith in the country’s much-vaunted system
in dealing with COVID-19: “I am very confident of Cuba’s public health and
epidemiology system, it is all very organized: nationally, provincially,
regionally and locally,” she said. It appears her confidence was well placed.
Latin America COVID-19 graph 2
Graph by MintPress News | Data from worldometers.info
Nevertheless, it seems that authorities across the region were far too slow to
react to the deadly pandemic. As a result, citizens are bracing for the coming
storm – one that will not quickly pass.
