With a year of pandemic in tow, it’s impossible to shake off the constant stream of information about Covid-19 and keep the disease in mind almost constantly, but if anyone wants to forget about the coronavirus visiting Haiti, it’s a place where it can be achieved.
To begin with, the incidence of the disease is very low: 12,274 cases and 247 deaths have been confirmed since the start of the pandemic, with a death rate of 2.01%, according to the latest official figures.
That in a country of about eleven million inhabitants who have been living their lives for months as if the Covid-19 did not exist.
LIVING WITH YOUR BACK TO THE PANDEMY
Since the government announced the reopening of the country at the end of June last year, after three months of incarceration, the disease has no longer affected the routines of Haitians, who walk without a mask and do not deprive themselves of the crowd.
Proof of this is the Pétion Ville market, in the capital, where very few people wear masks, despite the degree of tightness such that when a four-wheeler passes by, some sellers have to move some of the merchandise into the ground, which is what results in an undesirable level of friction between pedestrians, at least during the pandemic.
WHY IS THERE A COUPLE OF SEX?
The low incidence could be a reason for study for the scientific community, although infectologist Jean William Pape, co-chair of the multisectoral committee on the management of covid-19 in Haiti, explains that “ probably most of the people are the infection already encountered “and” are protected.
For this reason, “cases are not increasing exponentially,” the doctor told Efe, ruling out that there is or will be a second wave of the disease in the country, although he pointed out that recently there was “an increase in the disease. number of cases has been. ”of the traveling population sector.
“There are no doubt community broadcasts too. But what we’ve seen the most are people who have the opportunity to travel and who have children who have returned to Haiti from the United States and Europe. They are people who belong to a more affluent class. and you have not taken any precautions.
The United Nations office in Haiti emphasized in its latest report that the impact of the pandemic on the health of the Haitian population is still less than initially expected.
However, the report does not emphasize that this does not prevent the effects of COVID-19 on the global economy from worsening Haiti’s already desperate socio-economic and humanitarian situation.
A LAND DELIVERED TO THE CARNIVAL
On the other hand, detecting the virus does not seem to be a priority in the country, when one takes into account that the free health centers where tests are carried out have not visited patients for several days during the past week because of the carnival, as it could be, check Efe if you visit one of them.
In fact, Carnival in Haiti was celebrated in style and several cities across the country had the rare privilege of hosting one of the most massive Carnival parties in the world this year.
While Rio de Janeiro, Venice, or the Canary Islands closed their doors for costume parties, the Haitian cities of Jacmel (south) or Port-de-Paix (north), with huge crowds in which he participated and danced to President Jovenel Moise.
THE CRISIS THAT DIMENSES
The other major reason not to hear about Covid-19 in Port-au-Prince is the serious political and security crisis the country is going through, exacerbated since February 7 last year, condemning the government that the opposition staged a coup.
Faced with this situation, and with the opposition committed to promoting mobilizations, the streets of Port-au-Prince have received daily protests demanding President Moise’s departure from power, demonstrations that some days may rally thousands of people and can become violent.
A problem, that of violence, which also diverts attention from the health problem, especially when one takes into account the exorbitant number of kidnappings taking place in the country.
According to estimates by the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH), there are currently more than five kidnappings per day, the organization’s director, Mary Rosy Auguste Ducéna, told Efe. A worrying panorama that encourages people to forget about Covid-19’s existence.