{"id":227108,"date":"2020-09-05T09:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-09-05T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=227108"},"modified":"2020-09-05T08:32:26","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T12:32:26","slug":"living-in-cuba-in-times-of-pandemic-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/science-cuba\/health-in-cuba\/living-in-cuba-in-times-of-pandemic-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Living in Cuba in times of pandemic (II)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The coronavirus burst into Cuban reality almost six months ago. Since then, each province has been confronted with various scenarios, experiencing both structural problems of the Cuban socio-economic situation and the evolution of the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

How have they organized the daily life of their inhabitants? After approaching the reality of <\/span>three provinces in recovery<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>OnCuba<\/b> continues its journey through Havana and Ciego de \u00c1vila, where the numbers of contagions continue and, with them, the alerts due to an epidemiological situation that has disrupted the daily lives of their inhabitants.<\/span><\/p>\n

Havana: epicenter of COVID-19 in Cuba<\/h3>\n

Havana has been the Cuban province most affected by the new coronavirus. Proof of this is the extreme measures in force since this September 1. Until this Wednesday September 2, there were 2,497 confirmed cases of the disease, 59.7% of the total contagions reported in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

The island\u2019s main city has been, for quite some time, the epicenter of the epidemic in Cuba; that is, the place where the greatest number of contagions is concentrated and where the SARS-CoV-2 resists disappearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Havana has an incidence rate of 116.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. <\/span>Such numbers<\/span><\/a> give it a sad leading place among all Cuban territories, many of which have not registered new cases for more than three months, which is why they are in the third phase of post-COVID-19 recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Havana barely managed to advance to the first phase and already in early August it had to return to the epidemic stage and increase prevention and control measures, as a consequence of the outbreaks suffered in just one month of de-escalation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The capital, with its 2,000,000 inhabitants, held several open local transmission events in six of its municipalities: Habana del Este, Plaza de la Revoluci\u00f3n, Playa, Arroyo Naranjo, La Lisa and Regla. Although some of its territories present a more complicated situation than others, none of the 15 municipalities is totally free of the disease. In all of them, the risk of infection remains high, according to the capital\u2019s health authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The wide dispersion of SARS-CoV-2 in the capital adds as an explosive indicator the high number of asymptomatic patients and those under 40 years of age, largely responsible for the spread of the coronavirus not only in the capital, but also beyond its borders, since several of the outbreaks registered in the west and the center of the island weeks ago had the capital city as their point of origin. This forced the government of Havana to reinforce the current restrictions for state and private transportation between the city and the rest of the country, establishing border control points, prohibiting passenger transportation and screening all travelers, among other regulations, although tourist trips continued as long as vacationers show their reservations and the negative result of rapid tests.<\/span><\/p>\n

Within the capital, measures were also toughened after the return to the phase of limited autochthonous transmission, a nomenclature used by the Ministry of Public Health to name the current epidemic stage. The suspension of urban transportation\u2015which had returned at the beginning of the de-escalation, although with limitations in its capacity\u2015, the closure of beaches, swimming pools, bars and other recreational places and of concentration of self-employed workers, as well as the return of selling only take away food in cafeterias and restaurants, are among the provisions initially applied to restrict mobility and crowds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the measures that came into force on September 1 is the prohibition of mobility between 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., except for exceptional cases and authorized transport, due to its function. Unlike most of the country\u2019s provinces, Havana\u2019s classrooms did not reopen on September 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

La Habana: proh\u00edben la movilidad nocturna y anuncian nuevas medidas por la COVID-19<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n