April 6 2020

Cotacachi Arrival of the Beast: Part 5

chenry 2020 Year 7, April

The inevitable is here with the arrival of the COVID-19 beast in the small Andes town of Cotacachi, Ecuador. So as the story goes a nurse in our town has the dreaded virus. I am not sure how this has been verified since I thought we did not have testing available in our little town. I knew it was just a matter of time since so many folks here do not follow the rules of simply “shelter in place”. This is day 22 for us being isolated in our home and we are doing fine. But then again our property has plenty of room for us and is protected by an 8-foot privacy wall. We have grocery stores and restaurants that deliver so there is not any need to travel to the other towns of Ibarra and Otavalo which are hotbeds for the virus. The sad thing is that the people from Cotacachi travel to the other contaminated cities to shop. The local governments put in place rules to protect us but so many of the ex-pats like to boast how they can get around the rules. Last night I was texting one of my nursing colleagues in Fort Worth, Texas. She told me for every person that has COVID-19 and does not shows symptoms 80 people can be affected. Think about that when you decide to leave your home. Is it worth the risk?

If you could see it would you still go outside?

Next week, we expect to see tougher vehicle restrictions in Ecuador. The sanctions will be tougher every time, said the Government Minister, María Paula Romo, due to the lack of discipline of Ecuadorian citizens (and I would add ex-pats) the face of the coronavirus pandemic that already leaves 145 deaths until this Friday, according to the report of the National Emergency Operations Committee (COE). During an interview with Ecuavisa, she announced that one of the measures is that the vehicle traffic restriction will be stricter. Until today, vehicles can circulate two days a week. But next week, starting Monday, April 6, will be one day a week for each vehicle according to the license plate number. Plus I need to add absolutely no traffic allow on weekends. They will also sanction the misuse of the safe-conduct.

Latest stats:

April 4: Officials released the latest COVID-19 numbers this morning. There are 3,465 confirmed infections and 172 deaths by the virus and 146 deaths are related to severe acute respiratory deficiency syndrome and likely COVID-19. There have been 100 hospital discharges. Graphic courtesy: Primicias.ec. 20 in Ibarra

April 6: Health officials reported the latest COVID-19 figures this morning. There are now 3,646 confirmed cases in Ecuador, and 180 dead. Imbabura still has 20 confirmed cases of the virus.

“We have a message from the Indigenous here in Ecuador from before last Christmas that 20+20 = 40 and the world would need to stop and heal for 40 days, and give even the plants and animals a break!”
The original meaning of the Italian word “quarantine” is 40 days alone.