It's not one or the other. Poverty and extreme poverty in Latin America are being worsened by the lockdown. We wil have more deaths due to malnutrition, lack of access to healthcare, unsanitary conditions etc than the coronavirus itself. You have no idea how bad the economy is here right now. We were already in recession and going through a terrible crisis and this lockdown has made it much worse. People are losing their jobs left and right. Kids are not being fed. People do not have access to essentials. The only people that this lockdown will help is rich people who can afford to safely stay home. My family's business is going under as so many others. Who's going to pay our bills? Who's going to pay our employees' salaries? not the government, that's for sure. At work they already told us our next payment will come in mid May probably. Don't make assumptions just because in Europe some countries can afford the lockdown. Here we can't. We have almost 40% of people living in poverty. It will likely increase in the coming weeks. People are desperate because they cannot afford food.
It is the same in the Philippines, my home country. Poverty incidence here is extremely high. We are on lockdown for 1 month which started March 15 and will end on April 14. During the first few days, people are not following the quarantine measures because they need to work, in order to make money. Most people are on a no-work no-pay policy. While they understand the severity of the virus, they also have to think of their stomach, and those of their families. They believe that hunger will kill them first before the virus. The local governments were caught unaware by the lockdown, but slowly, they have stepped up. And the call by the government upon private companies and individuals are slowly bearing fruit. The government, NGOs and private entities, working together, have been distibuting to the poor, food packs and basic essential items such as soaps and alcohol. Yes, it was chaos in the first few days, but we are getting there. The Philippines cannot afford a long drawn out battle with covid-19 precisely becasue we are a poor country. We lack test kits, face masks and other PPEs. Our doctors are dying due to Covid19 infection.There are 380 confirmed cases, 25 deaths or a 6.6% mortality. 12% of mortality are doctors, but there are only 0.12% doctors in our population. The 30-day lockdown is just the first step. If you are a poor country, you can't afford COVID, you must follow the lockdown. STAY HOME.TOGETHER WE WILL BEAT COVID-19!
Here in the states banks need to get on board and help more. They could freeze mortgages and add the time to the end of the mortgage. This would allow people who are being put out of work due to this to use what little money they have for medicine, food, and essentials until they are back to work.
Sorry to hear that, but I still believe Solidarity is the answer
It's easy to ask that of other people when you and your family get to eat every day and have a home with proper sanitation. People here are going to revolt if the lockdown continues, as they don't have access to food.
Most countries lack the necessary amount of tests, so they choose who gets it. Quite arbitrarily, if I might add. Also, many people are asymptomatic so there's no way to accurately measure it. They estimate how many have it vs confirmed cases. We have less than 150 confirmed cases here in Argentina and the whole country has gone into a sort of lockdown. Only people who work in hospitals, pharmacies, restaurants (only delivery, not even take out), and supermarkets are allowed to be out. The rest of us have to stay home for 15 days. I'm a teacher and switching to online classes has been challenging. The kids are scared,anxious. I´m not afraid of the virus itself, as most people would survive it. I'm more afraid of the economic impact it will have and the havoc it is wreaking on public health. No country is prepared for that many people gettting it at the same time.
How is the situation in Argentina?
55% of the population under the poverty line and soaring unemployment thanks to the long, strict lockdown. The government handled everything poorly. Hospitals did collapse in smaller towns as they stole funds and never did anything to improve conditions. I live in Buenos Aires, where about 40% of the population lives, so it was hit the hardest. Hospitals never collapsed here, but the lockdown did destroy the economy and we have 73% of youth living in poverty. almost 40% of the teens in public secondary schools dropped out. Most public schools did nothing, they messed up badly.In terms of COVID, 5M cases, 117K deaths, about 70% vaccinated. But they chose Sputnik as one of the main vaccines, which was a bust. So we'll see. I got AstraZeneca.
Those are very high numbers. How is Argentina handling this situation economically? From the numbers it's a mess but is there a bright spot? Is corruption that high in Argentina?
Nope, not a single bright spot. Economically down the drain. Inflation skyrocketed and so did poverty. We went from 1 USD = 60 ARS to 1 USD = 200 ARS in the span of a year. for tourists, it's super cheap. But for us living here it's not good. Corruption is off the charts.
That is really bad news. weird since Argentina had a good economy decades ago. why does the economy act up this way? How was the country before all of this? Before the economy started to act up.
We haven't had a good economy in decades. I was born in 86 in the middle of a hyperinflation. Then we had about 6 years of relative calm, from 92 to 98, then another crisis till 04, then from 04 to 08, relative calm. Another crisis. Next, a fourth crisis in 2011-2013. Then, a fifth one in 2018. Now this one.This one is the worst one yet. Even worst than the one in 01. the only good news is that the current govt only has 2 years left.