Is the End of Covid-19 on the Horizon?
By Pedro Pablo Morejon
HAVANA TIMES – I’m aware that the government media shamelessly manipulating our reality is a regular occurrence.
To give you an example, there’s Cubadebate, the website that declares itself to be against media terrorism, but it is nothing but ideological bullshit and even its name is outrageous. It displays official discourse via a boring monologue where pluralism and debate only stand out for their absence.
There’s its slogan too, which would be better if it read “in favor of media terrorism”, judging by the slander campaigns that they run against people opposed to the regime.
Not to mention the comments that coming pouring onto the site at the hand of extreme fanatics and those with double standards. Of course, contrary opinions are almost never approved. I’ve experienced this firsthand.
Well anyway, sometimes I check the site, just to look at the daily report of COVID-19 infections. I don’t believe this information is reliable (I have a theory that you should multiply the number of infections and deaths by four), but at least it gives me an idea of whether the disease is gaining more ground or slowly ceding in our country.
I must admit that even knowing this, we are unable to keep safe. However, the longing for this health crisis to end, makes us cling to any statistic that shines a light at the end of the tunnel. This is because we have no other choice but to look at official statistics.
Nowadays, the press is reporting a substantial drop in number of infections and deaths. According to experts, the curve will continue to gradually decline as vaccinations move ahead.
Official statistics report that 80% of the population has received at least one dose of Soberana 02 or Abdala, up until now. They say that every Cuban will have full vaccination status by January 2022.
If this is true, the country will soon be in better shape to come out of this calamity and tackle the challenges of a disastrous economy, which is the result of the domestic blockade, pandemic and the US embargo, in that order as I see it.
The Cuban people have suffered too much with this new virus. Every day, word on the street reports dozens of deaths at a municipal level and it’s common to see entire neighborhoods or blocks with a high number of infections, many of whom don’t even officially figure among the Government’s numbers.
Blackouts will continue, as well as shortages of food, medicine, and other basic essentials. The domestic blockade doesn’t allow Cubans to be free and find a solution to their own crisis. However, at least nobody will live with the anxiety of losing their life or a loved one losing theirs.
We mustn’t forget that earlier this year, spokespeople from the regime announced that 75% of the population would be vaccinated against COVID-19 by August. We all know what happened: exponential growth in numbers of infections and deaths.
Only Time will tell. Let’s hope they are not wrong this time.
“Is the End of Covid-19 on the Horizon?” If Pedro is dubious about the information coming from his country’s propaganda machine, he is right in being suspicious of statistics stating the COVID curve is flattening or that the pandemic is petering out in his country.
The pandemic is not abating. The pandemic as of October 2021 has no “end” in sight anywhere in the world. It does not matter where one lives in the United States, in Canada, in Australia or New Zealand the infectious COVID is constantly mutating with the most recent mutant – Delta – more contagious and lethal than the original outbreak 19 months ago.
Here in Canada in two particular provinces namely Alberta and Saskatchewan the pandemic is rampant particularly among those who choose not to vaccinate. Hospitals’ in these two provinces are in crisis mode with patients having to be transferred to other provinces for elective surgery. Their COVID case counts are rising steadily as the provinces enter the fourth wave.
Many COVID patients, many young and unvaccinated in their 30s and 40s are admitted to hospitals hoping for medical authorities to save their lives.
Yet in other provinces such as Ontario and Quebec their case counts are diminishing on a daily basis. In fact in Quebec, the province is allowing full spectator sports such as hockey to allow arenas to full capacity as long as the fans wear face masks. Their rate of vaccinated citizens plays a major role in determining detrimental COVID counts. Even there no reputable medical authority would go out on a limb and say the pandemic is nearing its “end”. It is not.
So, in the final analysis in answer to Pedro’s question: “Is the end of Covid-19 on the horizon” it all depends on the geographical location one lives in and the percentage of vaccinated citizens in the particular region. Those regions with many persons willing to be unvaccinated the pandemic will drag on for an undermined length of time into the foreseeable future whether one lives in Cuba or Canada.
Perhaps in Cuba there may be geographic regions where the vaccination take up is higher than in other locals, hence, the reason for the optimistic prognosis of a pandemic pause. This is where the Cuban propaganda machine takes this sliver of good news and blows it up to cover the entire island with no one allowed publicly to question or contradict the “official” government statistics.
In Canada, the provincial medical authorities are not beholden to government elites and do publicize the reality of the pandemic’s progress.
Pedro is absolutely correct in stating: “According to experts, the curve will continue to gradually decline as vaccinations move ahead.” No matter what geographical region one resides, medical authorities all seem to agree with his statement that increased vaccination rates in the population definitely determines how quickly that population will help peter the pandemic, but certainly not an outright “end” any time soon.
The flu world wide which mutates yearly has not come to an “end” but it certainly is controlled and not so detrimental to cause rampant deaths as herd immunity takes hold over significant time.
Imagine, Pedro Morejon does not believe the figures daily provided by Dr. Duran. The difficulty being that the official figures provided daily in detail, do not tally with the sickness and deaths observed across the length and breadth of Cuba. Pedro’s cynicism stretches further, because he doesn’t believe Cuba Debate either. Although he doesn’t mention it, Mesa Redondo is similarly a bit of a farce with everybody in agreement under the smarmy control of Randy Alonso Falcon, and no dissention. But the programme held on Friday evenings demonstrates a degree of unity, as the usual Mesa Redondo coffee cups are replaced with those of Cuba Debate.
The communist hierarchy must be well aware that the citizens at large, as illustrated by Pedro, do not actually believe the never ending flow of Marxist pap, but in a search for success, delude themselves.