Nicaragua and COVID-19: Current News

New numbers are out regarding COVID-19 for Nicaragua.  The government posts each Tuesday instead of each day.  Nicaragua has had 2,682 confirmed cases; 2,282 recuperated; 301 active; and 99 deaths from the virus.  Of course, like with all nations, there are probably many more cases.  These are the confirmed cases.  

Several members of my own family have been told by their doctors they probably have had this virus, given their symptoms...but were not tested due to lack of tests or the test came back with what is probably a false negative.  They all live in the United States.

In Nicaragua, the opposition is using this virus to erode confidence in this government - globally as well as inside the country.  The media coverage shown internationally depicts a Nicaragua that we do not live in - what you may be seeing and hearing is simply not the reality that we see daily.  Much of the opposition is getting financial support - millions of dollars - from my own nation, the United States of America, which is handling the virus in a completely backwards way.

We run a health clinic.  Several of our chronic care patients have died...probably from COVID-19 combined with their pre-existing conditions.  Our three doctors had COVID; two were confirmed, one was not.  Our health promoter is among the 301 active cases and is hospitalized.  She has diabetes and is on dialysis so this will be touch and go for her...please pray for her and her family.

But I have heard doctors in the States say they have had to tell their patients, "Yes, you probably have COVID, there are no tests. To care for yourself...[Do this and this] and if symptoms get worse go to the hospital."  And the States supposedly has "the best" health care in the world.

Unlike the U.S. where states have closed and then reopened, here Nicaragua has stayed open.  Businesses and government offices have maintained social distancing, disinfecting each patron before they enter and checking their temperatures.  Many people are wearing masks, but now that the virus cases seem to be going down, fewer are wearing masks.  (Note: There are uninformed and silly people worldwide.)

Some elderly women have closed their pulperias (little store fronts) because customers are not wearing masks.

Schools are staying open, but students can get on-line or receive classes via local television and radio stations.  This is an option if their families can feed them and care for them during school hours.  Channel 15 is broadcasting classes nationally for students.  Eibhlín and Orla receive their schoolwork by text, television, and on-line.  In school, students continue to receive meals, they wear masks, they disinfect their hands and feet before entering, and help keep the school clean.

online studying at home - TV and radio classes

Travelers coming to Nicaragua will now have to present a negative COVID result before entering, while the U.S.'s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is deporting sick immigrants back to their countries and keeping people in close contact in cages.

This weekend Nicaragua will have virtual celebrations of the anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution.  Maybe people will gather in the Plaza as they do every year - usually upwards of half a million people go - but if they do, it is not at the government's urging. This year, the government will have no massive rally. Instead, they are pre-recording concerts and speeches for television, radio and social media, urging people to stay home: "Este año cada casa es una Plaza" (This year, every house is a Plaza).

Nicaragua is not the United States, our realities are very different, and what is good for people there and for people here are not the same thing. So why should we hold one country to the other's standard? 

- Kathleen

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Future Friday: How to be safe and not trashy

On YouTube, I happened upon a video of a nurse demonstrating how wearing disposable gloves to go shopping is not a good way to protect yourself against transmission of the coronavirus.  Three times she said, "Throw your gloves in the trash."  I was puzzled, until I started reading articles about all the trash that people are creating trying to be hygenic.

Single use antiseptic plastic bottles are ending up in the ocean.  Masks are littering the beaches.  And disposable gloves are ending up in parking lots, on streets curbs, in parks, everywhere.  It is like we have totally forgotten that we need to recycle and reuse.  So here are some tips:

1) You can make your own hand sanitizer or buy one big jug.  Here are simple directions:

• Mix 2/3 cup of rubbing alcohol to 1/3 cup of aloe vera gel. If you don't have a funnel then use a paper plate and roll it into a funnel.
• The aloe vera will help ease the sting of the alcohol. If you have an aloe plant at home just strip the leaves and mash the gel.
• If you hate the smell of alcohol add a drop or two of essential oil to your mix. 

2) For using the gel in public, refill the small bottle you have already bought.  OR...

3) Make your toothpaste tube into a reusable one by filling it with hand sanitizer and sticking it in your pocket or purse. 

4) DON'T USE DISPOSABLE GLOVES AT ALL, UNLESS you are caring for someone with COVID-19 (then use them for cleaning and disinfecting).  Leave them for the medical people who need them and know how to dispose of them safely.  Washing your hands for 20 seconds is far better for your own health than using gloves.  If you do have to use gloves, because someone is sick...be sure to remove them safely, dispose of them in the trash only, and wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water.

5) Use cloth masks, not disposable ones...and please USE THEM.  Only medical people need the disposable ones.  Choose masks with pleats (wear the pleats downward), a filter pocket and a wire to close over the bridge of your nose. or make them if you sew (which I do not). Here's the best pattern we have found. 

6) Face shields are excellent protection.  They are not that hard to make and can be cleaned with alcohol.  Here is a video to show how we make ours. Make these and leave the good medical ones for medical staff please.

7) When you do go out, come home and take your clothes off and wash them and shower.  Clean the bottom of your shoes with bleach or alcohol wipes before entering your home.  Here are directions for making bleach paper and reusable wipes.  I prefer the reusable.

For our own health and the health of others, take these suggestions.  Keeping the world clean helps us survive as well... not counting all the birds, fish, whales, sea turtles, and the list goes on and on.

Trashy is not only deadly, but it is tacky.  Let's be safe and clean and healthy.

-Kathleen

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Black Lives Matter: a thought on melanin

I have read posts including some on Blue Lives Matter.  The only blue skinned people I have seen are on sci-fi shows and in children's programs...so who are they talking about?  The police...and yes, I knew that!  But the police are not blue people.  Some of their uniforms are, but uniforms are not what makes someone who they are.  Uniforms designate their work or role.

School children in Nicaragua wear uniforms.  They are not blue and white children.  Nicaraguan children actually have varied shades of tans, browns, and darker browns skin tones.

Soldiers wear uniforms worldwide.  They are not camouflaged people.  They are a myriad of shades of skin colors.

Hospital staff wear uniforms.  Wait staff wear uniforms.  Airline pilots wear uniforms. etc. etc. etc.

Blue Lives Matter is silly...and extremely offensive to all the suffering that others have suffered at the hands of police officers.  

I understand the slogan Black Lives Matter.  Simply because of the color of some of humanity's skin, many of us have decided that these people don't matter...except to be our punching bag, our servants, our "beneath us", our trash.  

Many of us, who are White, are blind to the gifts, the strengths, the brilliance embedded beneath that darker skin.  I remember in his candidacy for president, Rev. Jesse Jackson talked about the history of society opening their doors to the inclusion of Black people into sports; and how they excelled and were better than many White athletes.  With each door opening to others than Whites, people of color excel. The question Rev. Jackson asked, "Are White people afraid of people of color being better than them?" 

Racism is silly as well as deadly. 

Scientifically, the only difference between darker skin and lighter skin is how much melanin we all have in our skin.  Albinos have none or spots.  I have less than my granddaughter...as this photo shows.  

My granddaughter has more melanin, because of her beautiful mother. My granddaughter is genetically part of me and despite that she is smart.  She is delightful.  She loves to draw.  And if as she grows, she is not oppressed, she will be a great asset to the world.  But she is likely to be judged on the amount of melanin in her skin instead of her gifts and talents.  She is likely to be judged as untrustworthy or a danger simply because of the amount of melanin in her skin.  

See how silly that is?  See how deadly? 

Black Lives Matter.

Clothes or uniforms do not.

-Kathleen

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Reopening: Protection, Prevention and Professional Care

The CDCA has been closed for several weeks now, but today we are opening back up for several reasons:

1. Although the confirmed cases of COVID-19 are going down in Managua, we have jointly decided with the leaders of our different projects that COVID-19 is going to be with us for a long time.
2. Our patients need the clinic in Nueva Vida open for consistent care; they are asking for it; and they need basic services as well as some preventive care.
3. And many of our staff are not sheltering in place but going to their second jobs, traveling to help family members, and going to the market to feed their families,  
• Rogelio, Pedro and Lucas have been working on the organic cooperative business... fixing machinery in the processing plant and a tractor.
• Our doctors have been working for MINSA and in private clinics.
• And our office administrator has been in government offices for Rotary.

Therefore we are reopening.

We are instituting more stringent health protections:

• All of our staff will wear masks when working with others or indoors.
• Most people who come to deliver and have business to transact are wearing masks or we will provide them with one, and all our entrances have hand washing stations.
• All the clinic staff will wear both masks and face shields.
• All patients will wear masks, be checked in under an awning, sit in designated areas, and wash hands before having any contact with our staff.
• We are having more masks sewn with a new design that includes filter inserts.  We are having more gowns made for regular changing by our nurses, doctors, and dental staff.
• Exam rooms will be disinfected between patients.
• We will only do dental procedures that will not involve spraying of water or any water droplets in the air.
• We will offer designated preventive services on designated days in locations without sick patients.  These will include:
• PAPs
• Birth control including implants
• ultrasounds
• eye exams and glasses
• We will disinfect before these patients arrive, they will also wear masks.
• We have oximeters and non-contact thermometers now and can get more if we need them.
• We are requiring staff members who feel sick to not come to work and to go see a doctor.  They all have health insurance through the government program.
• We have had our staff sign a memo with these new instructions.

This will be difficult but we have to protect the staff and our patients from transmission of COVID-19 as much as we have the power to do so.

Fortunately masks etc., in Nicaragua have not become some silly, insane political battle.  It is common sense, which is why medical people of all sorts wear them.  Also, people who argue that scientists first said not to wear masks should know science changes all the time as new facts are discovered.  We should have learned in middle school about the scientific method.*

We will keep you posted on how things are going and if conditions change and we decide we have to close again. 

-Kathleen

*a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. (Oxford English Dictionary)

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Future Friday: The Rona and Trees

As the coronavirus continues to sweep through populations globally, many of us...including me...were happy to see that air pollution was down with all the shelter-in-place orders.  But as the world's human population begins to open back up and mingle, the virus is once-again on the rise and with it, pollution.

Trees and plant life remove carbon dioxide from the air and transform the carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen.  Most of us know this.  But did you know that in 2019, one soccer field's worth of trees were cut down or burned down EVERY. SIX. SECONDS. worldwide?

Guyana deforestation - Shutterstock licensed photo

Most of us know that many diseases, bacteria, and fungi are passed from animal to human.  But did you know: we are having more and more pandemics because humans and animals are interacting more because of deforestation?

I heard Sen. Lindsay Graham talking in the Senate of banning wet markets globally.  It's a good idea and one that can be implemented in wealthier countries like the U.S.A. and China.  It would be difficult to completely eliminate markets like that in Nicaragua....though most Nicaraguan markets do keep live animals separated from slaughtered meats.

But more importantly, Sen. Graham did not talk about deforestation globally.  When a forest is gone, the animals move to human spaces because that is all that is left.  The U.S.-backed president, Jair Bolsanaro, of Brazil is using the COVID-19 catastrophe as cover to deforesting the Amazon rain forest.  Fruit bats live in the tropical rain forests and they are likely carriers of Ebola, COVID-19, and other infections and viruses.

Most of know this with Lyme's disease.  Deer used to carry the ticks in the woods with no harm to them; but with fewer and fewer forests, deer come closer to humans and the ticks attach themselves to children, pets, and adults.  But did you know: malaria that is spread by mosquitoes is an epidemic directly linked to deforestation?

Everthing is connected.  All in this world needs balance.  When we start messing with the balance of nature, we are going to suffer...our children will suffer...and our grandchildren will suffer and die.

Plant trees in your front and back yards.  In times of droughts only water your trees.   Lobby Congress to take meaningful action on Climate Change and deforestation.  The woods will grow back, if we give them the chance.  Let's give them that chance.

-Kathleen

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