COVID pandemic: updates from Cuba
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COVID pandemic: updates from Cuba Daniel Salas 1 Published online: 13 August 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
An effective response On March 11, 2020, the WHO upgraded the official status of COVID-19 to a pandemic. That same day, Cuba’s public health authorities confirmed the first local cases of the new coronavirus, in connection to European visitors. Within weeks, strings of infections appeared across the island, first among foreigners, visiting emigres and their contacts, and then as a result of local transmission. In late April, Cuba’s COVID-19 curve peaked at 847 active hospitalized cases. By late July, however, as the pandemic sweeps the Americas, Cuba seems to have crushed the first wave of the virus, with a cumulative fatality toll of 87. Still, the fight is far from over and the virus’s resurgence is not out of the question as the country advances into a “new normal.” Cuba’s ability to gain control over coronavirus during the spring can be related to two significant institutional assets. Firstly, the country maintains a robust free universal health system, orientated towards community and preventive medicine. This system has a relative abundance of doctors—indeed, the highest capita in the world (8.4 doctors per 1000 pop.; OECD has 2.9) (World Bank 2020). Secondly, the country possesses a remarkable disastermitigation apparatus, used to deal with the threat of tropical hurricanes and epidemics that follows well-rehearsed protocols and has led to a culture of trust and compliance with civil defense among the population. Building on those strengths, the Cuban authorities have followed the international guidelines to control the spread of the novel coronavirus: calling for increased personal and surface hygiene, testing, massive contact tracing followed by immediate isolation of suspected cases, promoting physical distancing, and mandatory use of mask in public places (Perez Riverol 2020). Cuba announced the selective closure of its international borders (airports, recreational ports) on March 22, when the country had only 48 confirmed COVID-19 cases and one death. Within days, the partial closure became total. At the same time, schools, public transport, mass gatherings, indoor services that could not guarantee distance, and nonessential activities were suspended. Many work places reduced personnel and those which could, adopted remote * Daniel Salas [email protected]
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Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Dalhousie University, 1128-6135 University Avenue, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
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work. While Cuba’s international closure came a few days after other countries of the region, once the contingency plan was activated, the implementation came swiftly—adding to the notion that the timing and energy invested in early-on mitigation defines the fate of the outbreak. With the economy in near-hibernation, the authorities activated the defense councils, a decentralized chain of command with power to marshal the full array of public and social resources during catastrophes. Interprovinci
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