Coronavirus in Ecuador

I am very concerned about Ecuador.  I don't see anything in the above arguments about Ecuador, just someone wanting to point fingers elsewhere about information that will not help Ecuador at all.

I would like some direct information about what is happening in Ecuador.
I don't seem to have access to a good news site there.  Can someone please provide that?

This is what I found in the news available to me:
April 14, 2020    7,529 cases     355 deaths
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-latin … ts-victims

If someone is actually there can you please give us first hand information?
Do you have a link to a good newspaper there?

Susanilla, have you been following
www.cuencahighlife.com ?

----

Posted last weekend, an analysis there by John P. sheds light on how information is lacking for Ecuador .. and other places.

Today an article was posted at the site about Ecuador's covid epicenter, Guayaquil.  5300 of Ecuador's 7500 cases are in the Big G, according to the report.  That's over 70 percent.

cccmedia

No, I haven't been following it, but I will. That is the kind of thing that needs to be discussed here.  Thank you for helping get this thread back on topic.

I see that it is all in English.  Is there a good Ecuadorian publication also?   My Spanish is not very good, but I like to look at several sides of an issue.

Cuenca High Life seems to keep up. There were two narratives about dead bodies rotting in the street in Guayaquil. CHL reported on both and over a couple of days they sorted it out.

The country seems to be caught at a low point with no money. Oil isn't profitable. Seafood trade is interrupted. Both oil and mining are on hold. Tourism is blocked. Some produce is moving out now, so maybe there is hope.

Stay safe. Avoid coughers and sneezers (and pretty much everyone else). Wash dem paws <3

Susanilla, there was a Catholic newspaper that came out once a week when I was in Vilcabamba. Like you, I used to try to translate the articles, like it was a workbook. It was available in the tiendas but it went fast when it hit the floor. Ha Ha!

Hello there

Sorry to disturb this nice little chat, but I had to remove several posts because they :
- Were off-topic
- Had political messages

As you may know, these are not allowed on the forum in general.

This is just a gentle reminder

Stay safe everyone !

Regards.

Loïc

El Comercio was founded in Quito, Ecuador in 1906 and is arguably the country's premier newspaper:

https://www.elcomercio.com/

It focuses on national and Quito issues, but also Guayaquil and to a lesser extent, Cuenca.

For a Cuenca focus in Spanish,  see

https://www.eltiempo.com.ec/

Thanks Osage, now I will have to practice my Spanish.  I am in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and there is no one to practice with, and nothing written in Spanish.  I will try till my brain says no.

Thank you so much Loïc

You might like Babbel. It's only $6/mo online. You can cancel at any time if you don't like it.

Back to Ecuador, is everyone maintaining distance and staying home?   Argentina is.

Rather funny. FOX news covered the same story tonight, from the same point of view exactly, as the long post that was deleted yesterday. They covered the same points. Nice to be ahead of FOX, if only by a day.

Fox is facts lol

During this virus one should "keep your (fox and) friends close, and keep your (CN) Nemies at social distance

So bad lol

lol... fox facts?

Yep, it is on the internet and in tweets by the awesome one. Lol

Ecuador's health minister, Juan Carlos Zevallos, says most people in Ecuador will have been infected by covid within the next three months .. with about 80 percent infected by late 2020.

"These are not just Ecuadorian numbers, these are worldwide numbers," Zevallos says.

The comments came in two weekend broadcasts.

Zevallos was trained in the USA as an infectious disease specialist and was a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control.

He says the true number of covid cases in Ecuador is probably already over a million and possibly multiple millions.  He considers such an infection rate a positive because it implies a high level of immunity.

Source:  www.cuencahighlife.com,
                       in an article dated today, April, 27, 2020

Some of these projections and extrapolations I've read over the past two months here in Florida--waiting on the planes to start flying and Ecuador to loosen it's restrictions on immigration.

The idea that 80% of people worldwide will get it is one. I feel that it's early in this pandemic yet. Hard to say whether the predictions for deaths will be accurate. You've heard that the flu of 1918-19 right after WWI killed 50 million people of all ages. Parades and celebrations as the war ended, and premature optimism that the pandemic had lifted (summertime! and fun!) then over two months in fall and two more in winter is when most people died. "Bring out your dead," said the mortuary wagons--much like the tragedy in the Guayaquil area today.

I think Mr. Zevallos is correct. I think officials and the people in the streets should pay attention. He has education and experience with these things.

One thing in Ecuador's favor is the number of young people in the population. It is widely said that they tolerate infection well and have fewer problems recovering. I hope for the future (la futura es joven) it is correct. I think and I've heard others suggest that maybe more rural places, and smaller towns might open first and use physical distancing and good hygiene practices. Then open cities gradually and in a measured way as well. Measured meaning wide spread and easily available testing which will give us real figures to statistically study rather than guesstimates that somebody like me pulled out of their ass.

Salud y suerte!

Emigrayo66 (Buster)

Nice graph on Latin America
https://apnews.com/2ebc74ac301d5cf866e562850dd448c5

Your post about testing is true but maybe not needed. In order to get herd immmunty, the experts about 60% need to be infected. Maybe it is 80 but either number means one thing, lots will get infected before this disease is stopped. In regards to testing, does the test measure a protective immune response, antibodues that don't protect or is the test getting lots of false positives? Before you test, you must know why. In this case, the test IMO will be used to tell if we have HI. We can't segregate out people based on test results as it is to expensive and it is has other issues as well. Then how do we know when we have heard immunity, when people stop getting sick and dieing. That means the population has reached HI. Or we can wait years for the vaccine, even though vaccines for Coronavirus are usually crap and then realize crap, I guess we will have some get sick and die anyway.

Asymptomatic individuals who carry the virus might want to get tested if they want to quarantine themselves for fear of transmission to loved ones.

robal

How would you know if you are asymptomatic? You would have to test everyone a few times a week.  Transmitting the virus to your non elderly family is a good thing.

As of now, you only depend on gut instinct. Example, if I was in a supermarket and people are coughing or sneezing I would do a test in about 14 days if no symptoms appeared yet just to have a picture of what´s going on. Another in 14 days since the incubation period the experts presume can be up to 27 days.It is ONLY if you´re not comfortable that you might have already contracted it and might transmit to family members. You should internally know if you do follow
precautions and procedures to avoid Coronavirus infection...

"Transmitting the virus to your non elderly family is a good thing."

NO IT IS NOT! It doesn´t respect age. Babies to adolescents, to middle age and especially 60 and above get them, very contagious with a high mortality rate. I´d rather avoid it for now until an anti-viral agent specific to SARS-CoV-2 is tested and marketed or a vaccine is available.

robal

You said asymptomatic. And to get HI, we need to have almost everyone exposed. We might kill GMA if we don't, might cause an endemic disease if we don't and definitely destrot the economy using this guesstimated method. Use the tried and true method of controlling coronavirus.

The only one that said 14 days is you. Maybe I said that, please copy that from my posts

"Use the tried and true method of controlling coronavirus."

What is the tried and true method of controlling COVID-19? Isn´t that quarantine? Remdesivir from Gilead Sciences- a much touted anti-viral agent has failed, hydroxychloroquine (malarial drugs) is unfounded and dangerous/fatal as has occurred and protease from HIV medication such as Atazanavir, Iopinavir or Ritonavir is unproven.

Then enlighten us if our science background is deficient. You can´t be stating medical theories or anomalies without an academic proof. That would be unscholarly and lack credibility; prone for closer
examination.

robal

DVM, MS in Virology, PhD in Immunology, MBA for fun. Expert in infectious diseases. Visiting Scholar at Cambridge. So, were you able to find where I posted 14 days and do you know the difference between asymptomatic and having clinical signs?

MD, Phd, MBA.

MD, PhD, MBA. And I don´t plagiarize and only treat humans!

robal

Plagiarize, what are you on about. This is about the virus. If you were a Dr you would not confuse asymptomatic from symptomatic.

No proof yet that having the virus makes one immune, so the idea of playing  the percentages by having all the younger folks intentionally infected could be dangerous and/or useless.

Actually wrong. There is no proof that serology is accurate in predicting how immune are you and if it correlates 100 percent. That is why they are using serum treatment and have shown experimntslly that you get protection from reinfection. If you want to backnup your hypothesis, give the reasons you know, not told to you

Then why did you initially state taste asymptomatic then switched to a coughing person. And what about the 14 day mistake you made. And what are you talking about plagiarism? Tell you what, this should be easy. Tell us the proof that covid infection often results in immunity

If we go on, it would be endless. I love to debate and what for? We end up hijacking the forum like what happened in the Philippines and it´s not good for the others. There´s no mistake made. There should be a section for debates separated from the rest. I would gladly engage you to a scholarly debate if that´s what suit you. So give that a little space so you wouldn´t appear petty like what a fellow at expat.com/Philippines did.

I have a PhD in Biochemistry/Virology!

robal

Explain to the other person about why we know immunity exists. Should be easy for you. I will explain to him after you try, if needed.