The World Health Organization has not backtracked its advice
on lockdowns as some people think. What
was said on Monday is this:We have learned a great deal over the last year regarding COVID-19 and what works and what doesn't. The countries that have had the greatest success at lock-downs are those that did complete lock-downs for short periods of time. COMPLETE. In that the government brought food and medicines to people’s doors and NO ONE left their home except those needing hospitalizations or working in the providing and transporting of food and medicines or working in health, like in China and New Zealand.
I remember a conversation with our son Coury who studied medicine and whose wife, Cassie, is a doctor and has a public health master’s degree. He was so angry at the way that California and the United States as a whole was shutting down… because they really weren’t. Grocery stores, pharmacies, COSCOs, etc. were all open. “We are doing this half a**! If we shut down, we should SHUT DOWN and hire people to safely bring necessities to people’s doors.”
Nicaragua, like Sweden, has not shut down and we have the lowest confirmed infection rates in Central America. A Nicaraguan friend has a relative who works in a Nicaraguan cemetery and who said that the normal burial rate for that particular cemetery is two a day. The 2020 spring burials were up to sixteen a day, but are now back to two burials/day.
The CDCA closed in June and I’m glad that we did, because it gave our infirmed staff time to recover fully from COVID-19 and gave others time to care for sick family members, but as of July the first we are back open, with heightened disinfectant and protection policies in place both in the clinic and in our other work spaces, including mandating the policy of mask wearing.
Through the pandemic, Nicaragua is doing better than most Latin American countries economically, but it has suffered from the loss of tourism. Given that Nicaragua is still the second poorest nation in the Americas… can you imagine the rate of poverty if Nicaragua had shut down? Or in the words of our son, “Half a**ed shut down”?
Nicaraguan public schools stayed open, but those who wanted to learn from home could… on-line or with television and radio as one channel on each was dedicated to teaching classes. Now the schools are open and even with all of that, students have still fallen behind, but not as much as if the schools had closed completely. Public schools here provide education and food. Can you imagine the increase of hungry children with no school meals provided in a nation as poor as this?
Other nations like Nicaragua that depend on tourism are suffering terribly… Caribbean and Pacific Island nations are experiencing tremendous increases in poverty and hunger.
The U.N.’s World Food Program won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in feeding the world. Today with the pandemic and climate change, their main concern is the rapid increase in starvation, not just malnutrition.
The World Health Organization pleads with leaders to open up unless the hospitals are becoming overwhelmed and health care staff need rest. When a society shuts down…then shut all the way down and for a short period while the leaders reorganize, regroup, and MAKE A PLAN. Make sure health protection is available for hospitals, health care staff, and then the rest of the population. Those who have money and resources need to reprioritize for hospitals, health care, supporting the economy, public health education, safe schooling... not funding and using bombs, guns, and ammo.
And for heaven’s sake... mask up, social distance when you can, and wash your hands. These are proven to work. Look to the WHO and CDC for guidance.
COVID-19 will be with us for a long, long time. There is no herd immunity because the virus is mutating. A vaccine, if developed, may help with the severity of the virus, but a mask is more valuable. Presently a cure has not been developed and when a cure or vaccine are developed both have to be available globally and need to be cheap or for free… or more serious mutations of the virus will occur.
We are really ONE world. Remember, even if you don't care about the poor the reality is if the poor get sick, we all get sick.
And again, mask up, keep your distance and wash your hands… frequently.
-Kathleen
