COVID-19 Ecuador Update 11

1/June

The government has its statistics at 40,414 confirmed cases, and 5,639 deaths from the virus; although with the way the government 'shifts' their numbers, the lack of capacity to give tests, and the trend to use homemade jungle remedies to combat the virus (partially from lack of trust in the government, but mostly from the lack of capacity and medical attention, especially in the jungle areas) experts believe that both statistics are at least double what the official statistics.

In sight of all of the protests and rioting going on in the US right now, we are thankful that for now our country is not facing anything similar. The protests that went on nationwide a few weeks ago were mostly peaceful, and over after a day or two; mostly because of lack of participation from the indigenous communities, whose official declaration stated that for now, they will not be involved in any marches or protests, as the virus is just starting to come into contact with and affect the indigenous communities. Not only do these communities have a lower immunity to these types of virus', but a lot of them also seem to be experiencing Dengue, a mosquito given disease that although less serious than Yellow Fever, causes breathing complications similar to covid-19. A number of villages that we work with have many people sick with fevers, and several people that have died, although it is hard to know exactly what caused their deaths. In this difficult time we are still keeping in contact with those we can, those that have cellphones and a signal. Please keep all of our pastors, students and communities in your prayers!

4/June

Official government numbers: COVID-19 confirmed active cases: 40,966 COVID-19 related deaths: 5,707

From these numbers, 1/4% of the population has confirmed cases of the virus. That's ~2,500 cases out of every million population.

13% of people who contract the virus have died so far. That's ~300 covid-19 deaths out of every million population.

Actual cases and deaths appear to be significantly higher, as the government has been constantly changing their 'formulas' and 'sources' for these numbers. Many people have been using homemade/natural remedies rather than trust the overloaded and failing health system, and so are not in the statistics. Even locally, in one neighborhood of the city of Tena, there are 4 confirmed cases, but the residents all say there are 50 more people with the exact same systems, who are using these alternative treatments.

16/June

Three months of being shut in.

Things are finally starting to loosen up a little, with local busses being allowed to operate, and restaurants and more stores being allowed to open, although only at a fraction of their capacity, to keep too many people from being in the same place.

The difference between what measures a democratic country and a social country take are huge, and it is sometimes is hard to remember all of those differences, or even what things were like before.

The boys still are not allowed outside at all, and there still is no traveling between provinces. In a lot of places, the number of cases seem to be stabilizing, but in the jungle area they are still spiking.

By the government's "official" count: 47,322 cases of the virus, and 6.703 deaths from the virus. In the jungle provinces where we work, there are over 1,000 confirmed cases and 50 deaths; although most of the community authorities believe that there are 5 times the number of cases, but because of the saturation in the hospitals, or a lack of trust in 'modern medicine', a lot of people here are using natural or ancestral remedies.

More and more of the people we personally know are starting to lose loved ones, and each time we hear of a new death, it breaks our hearts again. We continue to pray for them, minister as we are able locally, and work through our partners and churches to support, comfort and provide during these hard times.