As of: May 26th, 2021 3:24 a.m.
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South America is currently fighting an unchecked second corona wave. Less than 2.5 percent of people have been vaccinated so far, and the health system is on the verge of collapse in many places.
From Anne Herrberg,
ARD-Studio Buenos Aires
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Buenos Aires ten days ago: Asado and jazz concerts on the sidewalk, bars and breweries were full. The new infections climbed higher every day, to 30,000, almost 40,000 cases per day. The government pulled the ripcord, a strict lockdown has been in place since Saturday. He was way too late, says intensive care doctor Vanina Edul. She works in two large hospitals in Buenos Aires, one private and one public.
The lockdown will not prevent the collapse. In some provinces there are no longer any intensive care beds and there is a lack of trained staff. Our colleagues have run out of strength, they are exhausted, we have cases of depression, anxiety attacks, we have lost colleagues. Some have infected their own family members. We have a marathon behind us, now we can see that it is now followed by an ultra marathon, almost without a break.
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Anne Herrberg
ARD-Studio Buenos Aires
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The curve was flattened in the South American summer. You went on vacation to Brazil, met friends for a barbecue, the feeling: the worst is over. Now, even in the metropolitan region, 76 percent of the intensive care beds are occupied, with Argentina tripling its capacity compared to the beginning of the pandemic.
It doesn’t look any better in neighboring countries
“We are currently experiencing the worst moment of the pandemic,” said Head of State Alberto Fernandez last week. It doesn’t look any better in neighboring countries. Although only slightly more than five percent of the world’s population live in South America, the region has more than 20 percent of those who died in connection with Covid-19 to mourn.
On the one hand there are structural reasons: a large part of the population is poor and has to go out to work every day in order to survive. Experts also blame the Brazilian virus variant P1 for this. The transferability is higher, the course of the disease more difficult, observes the Argentine doctor Carlotta Heinrich: “At the moment, the people in our ward are between 40 and 60 years old.”
Debt for Oxygen
Even in Uruguay, which was initially seen as a prime example of virus control, the numbers have exploded, in Paraguay the hospitals are full, and in Peru the black market for oxygen is flourishing. Yulitze Torres has to go into debt for the new filling of her bottle.
We need oxygen for our loved ones to survive. If we don’t get oxygen, they die.
Elver Estela from Lima is meanwhile flying to the USA for vaccinations. A ticket costs as much as five to ten oxygen fillings. In an interview with the news channel CNN, the transport company says:
You have to protect your life, that’s what it’s about. The government’s management is absolutely inadequate, you have to take care of yourself, and if I vaccinate myself outside, one more dose remains for the people of Peru.
Less than 2.5 percent of the population in South America has been vaccinated so far. More global solidarity and a fairer distribution are needed, demanded six Latin American presidents recently, across all political camps. 50 percent of all vaccine doses have so far gone to the five richest industrial nations.
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