CAMPOHERMOSO, Colombia (AP) – When customers enter his hardware store, Nelson Avila asks them to wear a mask and wash their hands. He sprinkles alcohol on the banknotes and coins I give him before putting them in the house.
The Avila store is located in Campohermoso, a town of 3,000 people in Boyaca State in the mountains of central Colombia that has not reported coronavirus cases. According to the Ministry of Health, Campohermoso County – which consists of the city and surrounding farms and villages – is one of two counties in the country without COVID-19. Colombia has more than 1,100 counties.
“These bills can have the virus,” said Avila, 49, while disinfecting a wrinkled Colombian peso bush. “I’m going hand in hand, so we have to be careful.”
Officials and locals say the city has managed to keep the virus at bay due to the disciplined behavior of its residents and the constant campaigns that urge people to distance themselves socially and wear masks.
The remote location of the city, surrounded by mountains, away from major roads, also helped him stay without coronavirus. It has only seven streets and six paths in a neat grid. It is located at the bottom of a green valley, about 1,000 meters above sea level.
“Campohermosos has a low population density and low contact with large cities,” said Jairo Mauricio Santoyo, the health secretary for the state of Boyaca.
Given that Colombia, with a population of about 50 million people, has reported over 2.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, many believe that the lack of infections here is a small miracle.
During the first decade of this century, Campohermoso was affected by fighting between paramilitary groups and left-wing rebels, says the city’s mayor, Jaime Rodríguez. The coffee growing area has been quiet for more than a decade, but is rarely visited by foreigners.
Rodriguez says the communication was crucial in keeping the pandemic away from Campohermoso. Messages about the virus and how to prevent it are broadcast three times a day on loudspeakers perched on the city’s streetlights.
The local radio station also broadcasts daily programs that talk about prevention. To ensure that everyone gets the message, the town hall distributed 1,000 radios to farmers living in rural areas of Campohermoso.
“The whole city came together,” Rodriguez said. “The police, the health center, the church staff and the town hall go on the radio to talk about the virus.”
Rodriguez said his message to the people of the city was simple: “It’s up to each family to stop it.”
He also tried to lead by example. The mayor says he began to feel unwell during a recent visit to Bogota, where he tested positive for the virus. He did not return to Campohermoso until he gave negative results.
“We quarantined 60 families in the city because they had some symptoms,” Rodriguez said. “But they all gave negative results.”
Companies are now open in Campohermoso and only allow customers wearing masks. The city has not banned visitors from other parts of the country, but those who arrive and want to stay were asked to be quarantined at a relative’s house and receive a daily call from the local nurse.
The only school in Campohermoso operates at half its usual capacity. The students were divided into shifts and attend school every day.
And in the Roman Catholic city, the local priest was also involved in prevention efforts.
“We pray to Saint Roch, who is our patron saint and protector of the sick,” says Father Camilo Monroy, who also went on the radio to talk about ways to prevent the virus from spreading.
The only other city in Colombia that does not appear to have a coronavirus is San Juanito, which is also located in a valley far from the Andes Mountains.
Officials consider the two cases striking, because the virus appeared even in the villages of the Amazon jungle, which can only be reached by boat or plane.
Campohermoso has so far vaccinated 80 people, most of them over the age of 80.
Now, the coronavirus-free county is waiting for more photos from Colombia’s central government.
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Astrid Suarez reported from Bucaramanga, Colombia.