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Along with San Juanito (Meta), Campohermoso (Boyacá) is one of the two municipalities in Colombia where not a single case of the disease was registered in this pandemic year.
In Campohermoso the prayers to San Roque, his patron and that of epidemics, have kept COVID-19 away for more than a year. Or so they say in this small municipality in central Colombia, where it is more likely that bad communication channels and their good behavior have protected them. (Read: The risk of reaching a third peak of coronavirus infections in Colombia)
The town is, along with San Juanito (Meta), one of the two municipalities in Colombia where not a single case of the disease was registered in this pandemic year. And far from thinking that it could be located in the Amazon jungle or in the complicated territories of the Pacific, Campohermoso is a very quiet town, of about 3,000 inhabitants, hidden in a valley in Boyacá, just five hours from the capital of the country.
The mayor, Jaime Rodríguez, says that it is not “a secret formula” or that he has “a magic wand”, but rather the coordination of the authorities and a very incisive awareness and information work, even door to door. door and trade to trade.
“It was not easy, I can’t go out and say that people immediately received everything we told them,” Rodríguez explains to Efe. Every day, he, together with the priest and the workers at the health center, spoke to the population through the local radio, asking them for caution and telling them that, after all, they couldn’t take care of themselves for the rest.
At the beginning of the pandemic, when the country was closed as a precautionary measure in a strict quarantine, the Government asked mayors to collect mortuary bags, seeing the situation in other countries such as Italy or Spain. And there he was scared, he doubted whether to tell it, but finally he said it on the radio, and that permeated the population. “They were scared,” he alleges. (You can read: Study reveals the first case of COVID-19 reinfection in Colombia)
They sent markets (food parcels) to the most remote villages (rural areas) so that they did not have to go to town and expose themselves, they also distributed masks and all foreigners had to go through a mandatory quarantine, isolated, and with the monitoring of the personnel of Health. There were 120 who went to the outside town, according to the calculations of the health center manager, Janneth Cabarcas.
“At the beginning I was very stressed because here there is a lot of elderly population,” says the epidemiologist from her office, one of the few rooms – none for hospitalization – that this small center has. The two nurses and the rest of the sanitary workers walk from one side to the other, with lists, thermometers, armed with their disposable suits and protective visors.
It is vaccination day in Campohermoso because where the virus did not arrive, the vaccines did. A score of older people wait outside in plastic chairs, greeting each other as if they haven’t seen each other in years. Most come from remote areas more than an hour away, taking advantage of the “backpacker”, a bus older than them, which passes from Garagoa to Campohermoso on Thursdays.
Doña Sabela Gallego, an octogenarian who lives in Los Cedros, one of the few populated centers of the municipality, has just been told that she can leave, and she gets up as she can, holding on to her husband, while they start walking without knowing who is holding them. who. They are going to see if they “grab” to do some shopping and pay taxes before the bus comes back.
The urban center of Campohermoso barely has five streets, but it is crowned by a wonderful green central square with large fountains and a bridge, surrounded by small supermarkets and shops, the Mayor’s Office and the Church. (You may be interested in: Coronavirus: the main cause of death in Colombia in 2020, reveals DANE)
Don Pedro Huerta, who at 89 years old leaves the consultation with the brand new vaccine, leaning on a cane and with a backpack on his shoulder, also comes from a path located two hours away, from a farm where he grows yucca, banana, corn and coffee. She is only accompanied by one son because the others “went flying” and she has not spoken with them for more than six months. His children left like most in this small and peaceful town.
“Campohermoso, 20 years ago here, has decreased its population a lot, so much so that 20 years ago there were approximately 15,000 inhabitants and today there are 3,400,” says the mayor. 15% of the population is over 65 years old, a much higher average than in other parts of the country. Far from fleeing the conflict or the violence of armed groups, because in this municipality there are none, the young people leave because they have nowhere to work.
“The lack of opportunities, having no trade or industry, sadly makes that population group move to the big cities looking for new opportunities,” says the mayor. Here, the residents survive mainly from livestock, which they sell at the Sunday fair, and also from crops of fruit trees, tubers and the national product, coffee.
During the pandemic, 30 families returned who had gone to Bogotá and other cities to seek their fortune and who were left in an extreme situation by the economic crisis. In Campohermoso at least “you can’t stand hunger, extreme poverty is very minimal, but there is no wealth either,” as Rodríguez indicates.
Henry Huertas returned more than a decade ago because “the good land calls the good son”, after trying his luck in other parts of the country. Now he is dedicated to coffee, and has more than 10,000 plants on his farm, where he lives with his wife and two girls. It also gives work, at harvest time, to a score of young people in the area who earn about $ 15 a day, a humble wage, but higher than others, and what little they can get hold of in those parts . (Also read: This is how the coronavirus vaccines were distributed for adults from 70 to 79 years old in Colombia)
The poor access to the town, through a trail where you can only circulate in 4×4, has led to isolation and poverty in this area, surrounded by a green and mountainous landscape, with rivers, lakes and waterfalls, which could well be another tourist attraction of the country. There are those who bet that the Campohermoseño miracle is due more to the fact that the virus was lost or dizzy with so much curve before reaching the town.
