COVID-19 Ecuador Updates 2
21/March
506 confirmed cases, 7 dead.
A number of cities have shut down all busses and taxis, those needing to go out and buy groceries who don't have a vehicle need to do so on foot.
352 people have been arrested so far for breaking curfew, which starting today goes from 9-5 to 7-5.
Locally, small stores are out of a lot of stuff...as soon as fruits, meat, TP, etc arrive, they tend to sell out.
Riding my bike to Tena is like a zombie movie, minus the zombies....police and military checkpoints all along the roads, most of the stores closed, and many that are open don't allow people inside, you have to buy from the sidewalk. Vehicle and foot traffic is down to a small percentage of what's normal, and almost everyone is walking around with facemasks and gloves.
There have even been some cases of looting, and robbery of people alone on abandoned streets.
24/March
10H30
Please pray!!
Stuck in Tena, the city about 10k from our house...
The tire on the motorcycle flattened from a nail on the road..thankfully I was able to control the bike and stop safely...pushed it about a km down to the city, where now I cant find a tire shop that's open(illegal for them to be open), or any pick up trucks to move the bike, or even a taxi to take me home(none working)!
16H00
Praise
Finally got home, red faced from sunburn and hands and arms covered in grease and oil..washed up and am sitting down to finally eat lunch (dinner??🤔)
After an hour and a half of looking and making phone calls, I had found a place that would change my tire, but I couldn't find anyone with a pick up to bring the bike...so I ended up taking the tire off (I had pushed it to a couple of kilometers to someone's house where I could leave it without worrying about it being stolen.)
I walked a kilometer or so (in my riding boots, which I do not recommend walking in! ðŸ¤) with the tire until I got a hold of someone with a car that could travel today (the tire place was literally on the opposite side of the city) and we finally arrived and changed the tire(I knew I had broke the valve by pushing it, but that was better than leaving it on the side of the road were someone could put it on the back of a pick up, with no one around to witness what they were doing)
So, I got back to the bike with the fixed tire, and after about half an hour or so of putting the tire back on and balancing it (changing a bike tire is not so simple as a car tire!) I finally was able to buy the medicine and some basic supplies we needed, and get home before curfew, and right before the rain started pouring down!
God is good!!
16H30
Update:
Ecuador has a total of 1,084 cases of COVID-19, with a little more than that amount of suspected cases, and 27 dead.
Guayaquil, the biggest city in Ecuador, and the economic capitol, has over half of these cases.
Because of the amount of cases, and people not taking care to stay indoors (entire families still going out for walks, shopping, etc with out masks) the government has declared the city under the control of the army.
There are more cases of people being arrested for disobeying the laws (curfew, only certain vehicles traveling certain days) than actual cases of the virus, for which the government is increasing the curfew time for a total of 15 hours, from 14H00-05H00...
With this many arrests, the government had to change the consequences for breaking the laws ..they are now the following: 1st offence, fine of $100 2nd offence, fine of minimum wage ($400) 3rd offence, 1-3 year jail time.
A number of the bigger cities have even limited buying to your ID number, where only certain people can buy on certain days, and only one person per family per vehicle, adding to the only certain vehicles traveling on certain days.
25/March
1 month since the first confirmed case. We have a total of 1835 infected, and 48 dead.
Ecuador has the second highest infected and death rate in South America...behind Brazil...but that's looking at brute numbers, not statistics...Brazil has a much larger population than Ecuador, if we look at statistics, per cápita, Ecuador Is the highest in all of Latin America. Many believe this is because Ecuador has the highest population of expatriots living in Spain, and they all starting coming back once the virus scare came to Spain. The first case and death of COVID-19 in Ecuador was an elderly lady from Spain.
Although these numbers come no where's near the brute numbers of the US and other countries, we have to understand the difference between brute numbers and statistics.
The US has over 20 times the population of Ecuador. So although the total.number of cases in Ecuador is 1/8th of that of the US, in cases per million population, Ecuador has more than a third of the cases that the US has.
Ecuador is in the top 20 in most of the country listings, deaths, infected, etc...
Out of 24 provinces, the one we're living in is the only one that does not have any reported cases yet!!
The country continues to apply stricter regulations on movement...buying per I'd number, and traveling per liscence plate number ..I can currently travel to Tena to buy only on Mondays..the local stores here are about out of everything, including fruits and vegetables...and they are now expressing concern that they will not be restocked...
Although the government does allow trucks with supplies past the roadblocks, there are several places where local authorities or even communities do not allow any traffic through, as there have been cases of people escaping the higher infected areas inside of trucks supposedly carrying food supplies.
Please continue to pray for Ecuador!!
