The Coronavirus or Covid-19 is a virus that originated in a market where they sell exotic animals in China specifically in the city of Wuhan. This began with the sale of a bat that carried the virus and when ingested by a consumer was contaminated with it. This person having the virus in his body and having contact with other people spread the virus little by little, but being China the country with the largest population in the world, the infections before detecting the first cases were enough and sufficient to become a pandemic.
This virus brings great economic consequences in the world, since each government has taken measures to reduce the infections, but these also bring consequences that each country will solve with time. One of these measures to stop the spread of the virus is the confinement, isolation or quarantine (whatever you want to call it) of the population, in Venezuela they call it "Social Quarantine". Quarantine is not 40 days; it is a term given to the word to cover a period of time.
I believe that social quarantine is one of the best decisions to stop contagion, leaving aside the consequences it may cause. As we all know, all the decisions we make throughout our lives will have consequences for good or bad.
In Venezuela, the social isolation began on March 16 in several states (if I remember correctly) were: Caracas, Miranda and Vargas where initially 7 cases were recorded then there were Táchira, Zulia, Apure and Cojedes that did not register cases, but included them for being border with Colombia. On March 17, the quarantine was announced for the rest of the states for one month and then extended twice more.
This confinement brought with it the suspension of classes at all levels, as well as non-essential work activities, the essential ones being: health services, security, public services (water, electricity and telecommunications), food chains and public transportation.
The cessation of labor activities will impact businesses and companies that will no longer receive income while they will have to continue to cover fixed costs such as workers' wages. Informal workers are also affected as they seek a way to cope with this social, political and economic crisis that has plunged the country into recession for about 6 years.
Where the integral salary of a worker is almost not enough, this is because hyperinflation took away the purchasing power of Venezuelans since the salary received does not even cover 5% of the food basket. For a family to cover the food basket requires more than 50 minimum monthly salaries and you will tell me how a family works enough to cover the basket in a month.
Added to this is the shortage of gasoline, due to PDVSA's bad management, since it ruined its capacity to produce gasoline, which made the government get used to obtaining it in exchange for oil, since our country has a large reserve of it. The sanctions imposed by the United States on Maduro's government and the collapse of the oil market due to the coronavirus have left them without partners to make these exchanges.
The shortage of gasoline is currently controlled and distributed by the government where a vehicle can only load its tank with barely 20 liters of fuel and motorcycles 4 liters per day, with the luck that sometimes not even enough for all users waiting in long lines, the only ones who can refuel are the sectors that were mentioned before as essential and with a safe conduct, this is also used to move around the interior of the country.
This laissez-passer is being misused by security officials and military or police agencies that supply themselves with fuel, in order to take advantage of the need of Venezuelans who do not have access to the laissez-passer and require gasoline to travel to certain and specific places and make purchases either of food or any other needed, these officials sell the gasoline to people who do not have the laissez-passer at a price that they themselves establish and in foreign currency.
Prices started from $1 per liter up to $3 or $4 in some states of the country specifically to the west where before the quarantine they were already living with the fuel shortage. Currently the price of gasoline is around 5 dollars per liter up to a maximum of 10 dollars per liter.
Added to this is the deficiency or inefficiency of the organisms in charge of fundamental services such as water, electricity and gas distribution. This is demonstrated daily by just going out into the street and seeing people walking with wheelbarrows (those with one) and those not on their shoulders carrying their gas bottles or water bottles to supply themselves. Some of these people live far from where they distribute the gas and have to leave very early in the morning. In my area where I live, you can see people walking with wheelbarrows from 4:30 am to get domestic gas and be able to cook something for their family.
The shortage of gasoline has led some users to use excessively dangerous methods such as using gas bottles with domestic gas to replace gasoline, which is not recommended, to begin with it is not even the same gas used by the vehicles that bring the bottles and the gas from the factory, and they do not have a proper installation.
This brought as consequence the explosion of the gas bottles in service stations or in busy streets due to the carelessness, ignorance or negligence of the user who looks for the methods that he considers practical to solve the gasoline crisis. This that I mention was seen by videos and images that circulated by the social networks, where vehicles in flames with sudden explosions were appreciated products of the domestic gas, and the after the explosions of as they were the vehicles after the explosion.
However, on May 12 was extended the social quarantine in the country by the national government, product of the covid-19, where social networks were seen different opinions expressing support for the measure and others disagree with it, among these many wondered if the extension of this measure was because the government has not been able to solve the problem of fuel shortages or was a possible outbreak as there was in some countries where it was lifted the confinement and subsequent return of daily activities.
Personally, I think both, but if I were given the choice of one, I would say the first, this because the government has shown that it does not care about the health of the Venezuelan and I explain.
As those who live or have lived in Venezuela for a long time know, when you go to a public health center you will notice that they are on the floor, some if not all of them are without stretchers to attend to the patients inside or those who arrive during the day, others do not have air conditioning in rooms such as emergency rooms or operating rooms where it is essential that those places are kept very cold to avoid the spread of bacteria, stretchers to attend to pregnant women; it is not fair that a woman arrives at a health center and does not have a stretcher or wheelchair to be transferred to the site where she will have a Cesarean section or delivery and that doctors or family members have to carry her or sit her on a bench or floor so that she can give birth, Nor is it acceptable that a person who needs medication almost immediately and health centers with pharmacies do not even have gauze, cotton or alcohol to treat a patient, you also often see vans with private booths or carts or by post taking patients to the nearest health centers to be treated because they do not have ambulances for emergencies, Some of the cases of these people have to be referred to other health centers because where they went they do not have the necessary medical supplies, stretchers exposing the health of the patient that require urgent medical attention and that this is denied by the same situation of shortage and in the worst cases these have to do with how their relatives die for not having urgent medical attention, with this and an endless number of other problems that the national government knows and has the knowledge of the problems but does nothing to change these circumstances.
The government blames the sanctions that the United States imposed on them, which may be right, but they know that this problem is not of now, long before Venezuela was applied the sanctions already existed such problems and turned a blind eye and now, they are more acute.
I personally believe that the "social quarantine" will be lifted when they solve the gasoline problem. And another thing I would like to tell you is that the national government has already proved with us that by taking away the light and the gasoline, absolutely nothing happens.
In the next post I will finish explaining and clarifying some points that I missed in this and some activities and recommendations to take into account in this new extension of the quarantine and those to come. I'm expecting the next one in two or three days.