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Immunization, But Not Just Against the Virus

Let us hope that, once this pandemic is over, the Cuban people will end up being immunized, not only from the virus but also from that other scourge which is disinformation. In this way, we will be closing an important gap for this great historical enemy that is always looking for a way to inoculate its poison.

Author: Michel E. Torres Corona | internet@granma.cu

April 8, 2020 01:04:19

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Photo: Martyr

“King, you know I’m a biologist.” That was the beginning of an audio that went viral on social networks, mainly on Whatsapp. Many people shared it, genuinely concerned about the questions that the supposed “biologist” was asking about Cuba’s strategy towards COVID-19.

Then it was Laura, “the one from Calixto”. If Rey’s biologist had previously felt the need to offer her academic credentials, now the new audio that was being circulated started from the very beginning clarifying a link with a public institution, in this case, the Calixto Garcia Hospital.

This new audio no longer questioned the Government’s strategy, but distorted facts and manipulated information to give the image that there was no real control over the confirmed cases and that the Cuban State was not acting with transparency.

“The virus is in the street,” said Laura (“the Calixto’s”), as she slipped in a few alarmist phrases, almost seeking to provoke panic and hysteria among her online “listeners.

But the icing on the cake was a third audio, which also went viral, and this time it was more like a science fiction suspense radio show. There was no longer any talk of the alleged shortcomings of the Cuban health system or of the “negligent” actions of the government.

No: now the story was that of outlaws, persecuted by the PNR, who were disguised as doctors. These alleged criminals would have entered national territory in a boat, deceived the population and instead of giving them medicinal drops, they would infect them with the sars-Cov 2.

All of the above would be humorous material if it weren’t for the fact that Cuba (and the rest of the planet) is facing a pandemic that has taken thousands of lives. But the Law foresees and sanctions this type of behavior.

Our Penal Code establishes a penalty of one to four years in prison for anyone who “spreads false news or malicious predictions tending to cause alarm or discontent in the population, or public disorder.”

Internet access and the use of mobile data, in addition to its obvious benefits, also places new users in an area where hoaxes (or fake news) abound. This vulnerability must be confronted with the timely dissemination of the truth in our media and the call of consciousness to only pay attention to truthful and contrasting information provided by legitimate sources.

In other words: pay more attention to Francisco Durán than to Laura “the one from Calixto”.

Let us hope that, once this pandemic is over, the Cuban people will end up being immunized, not only from the virus but also from that other scourge which is disinformation. In this way, we will be closing an important gap for this great historical enemy that is always looking for a way to inoculate its poison.

The problem is Capitalism

Whoever believes that all other systems are worse, look at the blocked and vilified Island, where no one dies of hunger, everyone is guaranteed medical safety and the human being is the center of the system. The problem is capitalism.

By Ernesto Estévez Rams | internet@granma.cu

April 6, 2020 01:04:17

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Churchill said that capitalism (he disguised it with the word democracy) was the worst form of government, except for all the others. Something that Eisenhower liked to repeat, who, as a military man, was not exactly known for his profound ideas. The sharp phrase might be clever if it were true, but it is not.

Today, the worst system is capitalism, above all others, of humanity and even of the planet.

This pandemic, unfortunately, only made the reality of it more visible to everyone. Capitalism is incapable of surpassing itself in terms of humanity, it only does so in terms of capital.

While people are dying in the streets, in the US, governors are cheating each other to ensure that the manufacturers of medical instruments sell them their products to the detriment of others. According to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, ventilation equipment companies are calling government offices to say that their order has been overtaken by another state’s, which has just upgraded its purchase offer. Thus, based on the death of human beings, the companies are seeking to magnify their profits in the midst of tragedy.

The price of ventilation equipment has gone from $25,000 to $40,000, when it is needed most. The state, hospital or institution that does not have enough resources to buy them, simply will not have them, regardless of the cost in lives.

The nice motto that he says is that where some see problems, others see opportunities, is no longer so nice. Governor Cuomo is threatening to sign an order allowing the confiscation of unused medical equipment stored in private spaces for speculative purposes.

That is, people and businesses that keep unused ventilation equipment waiting for the advance of the pandemic to make it more expensive and then sell it to hospitals.

The federal state has been unable to impose a national policy for the distribution of medical equipment and supplies. If they ever do, because of their slowness, the dead will no longer be able to thank them. It is a matter of every person for themselves, typical of capitalism and today seen in all its criminal magnitude.

Practices of pillage that are nothing new, but that in everyday life are hidden behind the mantra that “that is the norm”. But that is not all. European governments confiscate shipments of medical equipment in transit to other European nations. France has confiscated 130,000 nasobucos in transit to the United Kingdom. Germany claims that the US Government has confiscated 200,000 masks that it had already bought from a manufacturer in China, owned by a US company. The shipment was intercepted in Bangkok at an event that German Interior Minister Andreas Geisel called modern piracy’.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau complained that a shipment of masks had been reduced because part of it had been repurchased by the U.S. In Turkey, the nasobuco business has become so profitable that the government has confiscated nearly one million clandestine sales in a business that is already estimated to be worth over several million in profits.

The United States, not even for a moral imperative, would help the global fight against the pandemic. Reality shows its inability to do so effectively even in its own home, where Make America Great Again we already know what it [really] means, at the expense of the rest of humanity.

If anything, for the elites, America is 1% at the top of the social pyramid. Capitalism cannot fail to be savage; what happens is that, now, savagery without make-up touches the showcases, where their miseries were hidden behind the prosperity they maintain at the expense of the poorest people.

Frantz Fanon said that fascism was the name given to colonialism when it was brought to the metropolises. Outside of the first world centrality, the horror is lived in Ecuador or another location, which in that scavenging use of language, are usually called peripheral or emerging. Today, in front of the evidence of the medieval nightmare, they do not even mention it.

But it is worth remembering, now that everyone in the metropolises is scared, that the Third World does not escape pandemics. In Africa alone, 30 million people are in life-threatening conditions of hunger, and certainly with consequences for their physical and mental development.

Of the 5.9 million children who die every year in the world, at least half are the direct result of hunger. Oxfam, the author of the above-mentioned data, explains this reality very well: “Hunger is not the result of too many people and too little food. It has to do with power, and its roots lie in the prevailing inequality in access to resources and opportunities”.

Whoever believes that all other systems are worse, look at the blocked and vilified Island, where no one dies of hunger, everyone is guaranteed medical security and the human being is the center of the system.

The problem is capitalism.

Differences Between Isolation, Quarantine and Social Distancing

The World Health Organization has recommended these public health strategies to stop the new coronavirus, but how shall we differentiate between them and apply the appropriate one in each case?

April 6, 2020

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

ISOLATION

Isolation applies to people who have tested positive for Covid-19, to suspected cases or to people who have had close contact with sick people and who would have a high probability of having contracted the virus.

Isolation should be strict to avoid contact between people who have become ill and those who are healthy and is usually done within a hospital or health center, with the necessary medical supervision.

QUARANTINE

It is the way to limit the movement of healthy people who may have been exposed to the virus and do not know it. Quarantine lasts 14 days and must be done by all people who arrived from the affected and high transmission areas of covid-19.

VOLUNTARY QUARANTINE

Many people have made the decision to stay home voluntarily, as a preventive measure for two weeks. This way they will avoid contact with other people. By not attending work, not receiving visitors at home, and not using public transportation, the risk of contagion is potentially reduced.

SOCIAL DISTANCING

If you are not in quarantine or isolation, when you leave your home for strictly necessary reasons, such as going to the supermarket or pharmacy, you should adopt social distancing: separating one meter from another person, minimizing activities or going to public places.

SOURCE: agendapro.com

How Did the Global #QuedateEnCasa Campaign Begin?

A Spanish-language label is spreading rapidly through Facebook and Twitter. Used in serious, funny publications, it is used by professionals to share tips on how to protect themselves from COVID-19 and the citizens of the world when they post photos from their days of isolation, at home, in physical isolation.

April 7, 2020

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Photo: Taken from the Internet

This is the famous label #QuedateEnCasa, which – who would imagine it – began as a challenge from the doctors and nurses at the Hospital Clínico in Madrid. They invited all of Spain to become aware of the importance of individual responsibility to avoid infecting other people, according to the Mallorca newspaper.

The challenge, the first and most famous of many launched later by people from all over the world, began with a video available on the official Twitter account of the Public Health of the Community of Madrid that exceeded 250,000 views in five hours. In the audiovisual, the medical staff calls on the population to join a voluntary quarantine and recommends taking responsible measures so as not to collapse the Spanish health system.

According to Europa Press, the promoter of the initiative was surgeon general Sandra García Botella, who came up with the idea “because of the impotence of seeing that the message that is being transmitted through the media is not reaching the people well” (?) “it’s not a vacation, the children don’t have to be in the park, [the young people] don’t have to be staying, they don’t have to go out to the bars,” she said.

She also added that with the youth “it doesn’t work for a politician to go out and give a message, hashtags [labels] work, challenges work.

The campaign, which immediately went viral on social networks, was joined by representatives from the world of sports, entertainment, culture and “influencers. Now there are videos calling for social isolation, such as the one by the Spanish Football Federation. New challenges have appeared to encourage confinement, such as daring to tell a goal, creating recipes with a sporting aroma, doing crossfits with bags of rice, or playing golf with toilet paper, says Marca, one of the most well-known media in the field of sport.

In Italy, they launched a campaign similar to the Spanish #QuedateEnCasa. The authorities resorted to more shocking images to reach their population more effectively. Then the campaign calling for quarantine had to be turned into law to contain the pandemic.

Quarantine is the way to limit the movement of healthy people who may have been exposed to the virus and don’t know it, says the World Health Organization. It usually lasts 14 days and must be done by all people who arrived from affected areas with high transmission of the virus.

Social distancing, on the other hand, is the separation of one meter between one person and another; and is based on the call not to go to public places, as well as to avoid population concentrations.

In the face of the global emergency caused by the new coronavirus that appeared in China at the end of 2019, many have decided to stay home voluntarily as a preventive measure.

By not going to work, not receiving visitors and not using public transport, the risk of contagion is potentially reduced. This type of decision is called voluntary quarantine.