COVID-19 in the hills of Copán

I am an introvert, but this isolation is a bit difficult.

Yet I think it might not be as hard here as it is in parts of the US – at least for me, privileged as I am. I have food, water, electricity, internet – and neighbors. I have gas for cooking (thanks to the kindness of our pastor) and tomatoes (thanks to a project of a friend here in Plan Grande). I’ve also talked over the internet with two friends in the US and Palestine. I have flour and yeast and so can bake bread.

Sure, there are difficulties. I have few vegetables, no cereal or granola, and I can get to Dulce Nombre once a week. There are no restaurants or grocery stores that can deliver take-out or groceries. There’s not even a good grocery store in Dulce Nombre. I am rationing my yogurt and cheese since these are hard to come by in Dulce Nombre. 

I do have water and I can get purified water from a nearby small store – and I’ve had young guys carry the large bottle back for me – at least part of the way.

I also have internet, which may or may not be a curse. In a desire to connect with folks as well as to get information on what is happening, I spend too much time on the internet and, to avoid rage, I have to avoid reading any number of posts, especially about “leadership” in the US.

It's also been very hot - in the 90s - and extremely dry. I waked to the parish coffee field this morning and some of the plants look wilted and there are a lot of yellow leaves.

But what’s happening here. The statistics here are probably misleading. As of last night, there have been 494 cases of positives from tests. 46 have died and 29 have recovered. There are a number of people hospitalized and some in ICU, but it appears that many are quarantining at home.

The majority of cases have been in the San Pedro Sula area with the Tegucigalpa area not far behind. There has been one case here in the department of Copán, but the woman had visited another part of Honduras. She was hospitalized in the Santa Rosa hospital but recovered and returned home, to the welcome of neighbors.

The ratio of deaths to cases seems rather high – almost 10%. Yet there have been so few persons tested that the ratio may not be as high in the general population, though my guess is that the situation is extremely serious in parts of the north coast around San Pedro Sula. There are private firms that will be beginning to test this week and we may have better statistics.

The government has taken this fairly seriously. We have virtual lock down. We can go out to a neighborhood small store (tienda or pulpería) but we can’t circulate, especially in vehicles, only once a week. Then we can go to banks or grocery stores at certain hours. We senior citizens (over 60) have an hour designated only for us in the morning but still the lines are long.

If we go out, we have to have masks – and it appears that the government is now giving out masks! The vendors are supposed to be masked and gloved, but I have seen some vendors without gloves and some even without masks. I just saw a facebook post from a private group that is bringing goods to poor people in the municipality of Dulce Nombre. I could only see one person wearing a mask.

There is no public transport and so it is difficult for people in the countryside to get to the larger towns for purchases. The government, through the municipalities, is distributing basic food supplies and some soap and bleach. The idea is to get this to the neediest, though some are complaining that not everyone is getting something.

My experience in the municipality where I live, Concepción, Copán, is that this is not easy. First of all, there is the temptation to use the aid in a partisan way to support the parties in power. I have seen photos of politicians and military personnel distributing the aid in other parts of the country. Here, municipal workers are doing it and seem to avoid a partisan approach. (See my previous post.) Secondly, the people are so used to getting stuff free from the government that some look upon the aid as a gift from politicians. When I accompanied the disbursement two weeks ago, when people said thank you, I tried to tell that that this is what is due them. Thirdly, an issue will be availability of goods.

But a very real issue on the national level is the corruption. It seems that some goods were bought at twice the market price. That probably means that someone is making a killing – and I use that word deliberately – in this crisis. The government supposedly cracked down on the most obvious case (brought to light by an alternative communications network). But the problem still remains.

The situation of medical workers is precarious. There are reports that they are not getting the bio-security resources they need. A lot of money has come into Honduras, but the question is where is it going.

There are a few bright spots.

Yesterday a large medical brigade from Cuba arrived with Cuban doctors and nurses, as well as Hondurans studying medicine in Cuba. From what I can determine, they will be helping in the most desperate areas.

Another surprise is the caliber of the nightly press conferences of government officials. They come across as professional, though one must keep a critical stance in terms of what they are saying.

Last night I watched ten minutes of the Honduras president’s address, explaining what was being done. It was professional. No rants, no blaming someone else, no threats to opponents. Though I am very critical of the politicization and the militarization and the concentration of power that his government has brought, I found that he was composed. What a welcome relief to what I’ve seen of the president of a country to our north.

Where will all this go?

My guess is that we’ll be on curfew for a few more weeks, at the very least. It might even be a month or two.

My concern is that people will get sloppy in terms of prevention of spread of COVID-19. The practice of social spacing and of wearing masks is not taken as seriously as I think it should be, and not only by the poor. I fear some people are cutting corners and may be opening ourselves to endangering others – if not by our actions, possibly by the example that our actions seem to give that make social precautions seem less important.

In the meantime, I read, I write, I cook, I pray.

And I wait – in hope.

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UPDATE: I found out that there have been 2535 as of April 22, 2020.