Coronavirus in Nicaragua: this is how you live in the country that turned its back on the pandemic

Nicaraguans in the country have not known how to fight the coronavirus for nearly two months. While the government insists that the issue is not so serious, experts affirm that the contagion curve has increased alarmingly.

José René gets up judiciously every morning to work in his taxi in Managua. Before leaving the house, he washes his hands, disinfects the rudder and seats of his car, and takes a blessing. He knows that every day he goes out is a risk, but he has to do it in order to “be able to eat”.

“In Managua there is no need for work,” says José René, who prefers not to say his last name and who, however, is not relieved by what happens. “I would like to be glad that every day I have someone to take in my taxi, but I am afraid of catching and making my daughter sick,” she says.

And it is that contrary to what happens in other capitals of Latin America, Managua has not yet adapted to the “new normal” that the coronavirus pandemic has left. While cities like San Salvador or Tegucigalpa have adopted strong quarantines and isolation measures, the streets of the Nicaraguan capital remain full. Businesses continue to function normally and people, in the words of José René, are not fully aware of the threat they face.

See more: Immediate burials and prohibition of wakes triggers alerts in Nicaragua

“Many people take the necessary precautions and go out into the streets with a mask, but others do not, and that effort that one makes ends up being in vain. I would say that from what you see on the street, there is a 50-50 ratio between those who take care of themselves and those who don’t, ”Manuel *, a young Nicaraguan worker, tells this newspaper.

“Here is a very strong image that the Nicaraguan people are very strong and can bear it all, something that the government has sought to promote in all its public interventions,” adds Manuel. According to official data provided by the government, Nicaragua has registered only 25 cases of COVID-19, including seven deaths since the start of the pandemic. The Central American country has one of the lowest contagion rates in the region, but there are several critical voices that doubt the transparency of these data. In fact, according to an independent count carried out by the Citizen Observatory, an initiative that has the support of civil organizations, in Nicaragua there would be more than 1,000 suspected cases of COVID-19.

See more: Mobile clinics deployed in Nicaragua with the image of Daniel Ortega

Experts have warned for weeks of an outbreak of pneumonia in Nicaragua, and concluded that under these diseases the government of Daniel Ortega “camouflages COVID-19, since the Ministry of Health does not carry out massive samples that determine otherwise. Hospitals are overwhelmed, according to doctors, but the government says those who are going to medical centers are not infected with the virus.

“Unfortunately, the government has been underreporting and changing the diagnoses of both the infected and the dead,” he tells The viewer Nicaraguan epidemiologist Rafael Amador, who assures that his country is already in an advanced stage of infections, especially those that are local.

Ortega and Murillo, against “staying home”

Almost a month after the first case in the country was confirmed, President Daniel Ortega reappeared publicly on April 16 and instead of announcing measures such as quarantines and social distancing, recommended by authorities such as the World Health Organization ( WHO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), insisted on questioning them saying that they were “radical” and “extreme” measures, and those who promote them, he said, “are the ones who want the country to be destroyed.”

“The president and his wife have turned the issue of the coronavirus into something political, something that hinders a good strategy to combat the virus,” explains doctor Rafael Amador.

See more: Daniel Ortega, the president who disappears when crises erupt in Nicaragua

The fear that was felt in the streets since the 2018 crisis remains and has been transferred to medical centers, where people fear asking if their symptoms are those of COVID-19, due to the presence of state agents and Sandinista groups. . There are also complaints from people who say that those who died of “mysterious pneumonia” are being buried at night, without even consulting their relatives.

The videos of the nightly burials – spread on social media – have coincided with what experts call the “rapid curve rise” of coronaviruses in the country.

“The lack of decisions has meant that it is no longer known who is polluting whom, or where people have contaminated themselves. Therefore, anyone can be a contaminated potential ”, Manuel tells this newspaper.

The Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Funides) warns in a report that if the government does not adopt preventive measures, by June there will be at least 650 deaths from coronavirus in the country and about 120,000 infections.

The Ortega government, for its part, defends itself and says that it has already begun to “strengthen all the information on hand washing, personal precautionary distance, and the use of the mask.” However, to this day no quarantine has been decreed and mass events and crowds remain unprohibited.

“You leave your home healthy, but you don’t know if you will return well,” says José René, a Nicaraguan taxi driver. “Living in Nicaragua today is like buying a lottery, in which you can lose more than you win.”

* The name was changed at the request of the interviewee.