Cities in the frontlines of Covid-19: Reflections from Ecuador
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) had warned the global community about the grave consequences if the coronavirus pandemic reached developing countries. It was noted that cities in these vulnerable nations would face a particularly difficult challenge in their efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19. High rates of poverty, poor health care infrastructure, and large high-density populations in informal settlements would pose enormous problems for these governments in their efforts to control the transmission of Covid-19 and to treat the infected.
These warnings proved to be all too prophetic. For example, the small developing nation of Ecuador is emerging as ground zero for the coronavirus pandemic in South America. And the port city of Guayaquil, the economic heart of the country, is being particularly hard hit. As of today, the official government statistics are 7,466 confirmed cases and 333 deaths in Ecuador. People don't believe these numbers. Be that as it may, certain factors have made Ecuador especially vulnerable to this disease.
In February, the country reported its first case of Covid-19: an Ecuadorian citizen returning from Madrid to visit family. This scenario is actually quite typical of life in Ecuador and is one of the things that has increased the risk of the country to a contagion like Covid-19. Two decades ago, a banking and economic crisis forced almost a million Ecuadorians to leave the country to seek new opportunities. Spain and Italy, the two European countries hit hardest by Covid-19, were the preferred destination of Ecuadorians. Two decades before this crisis, my own parents left Ecuador seeking a better life for their children. So there are myriad familiar connections across the globe and considerable interaction with infected countries. The economic woes of Ecuador contributed to its vulnerability to Covid-19 in another way as well: An increasing concentration of the population in overcrowded urban centers. For the relatives of the emigres who stayed behind, many left their rural towns and headed to cities like Guayaquil seeking better education and jobs.
Guayaquil is a very densely populated city and is part of the province of Guayas which has the highest poverty rate in the country. This coastal city attracts people from other parts of the country in the hope of improving their quality of life. However, the city does not produce enough jobs with living wages for all those who arrive seeking to improve their lot. Many end up in the informal sector working as maids, construction work, petty trade, and food vendors. The result has been the growth of large and impoverished communities within the city. While the rich and well-to-do live in well-protected and modern gated communities, the poor end up in crowded settlements without the most rudimentary amenities such as running water.
As has happened in other countries, the Ecuadorian government failed to grasp the country’s vulnerability and the gravity of the situation early enough to prevent the outbreak of a deadly epidemic. As the first cases were reported, authorities allowed life to continue as usual. It was not until March 18 that the government declared a nationwide state of emergency due to Covid-19 and took effective counter-measures against the virus. In the meantime, the transmission rate of Covid-19 had reached tragic levels. The city’s public health care system, which in normal times was hardly able to meet the needs of the community, is now crumbling under the onslaught of Covid-19. Medical staff lack equipment and many caregivers are simply refusing to treat patients as they have inadequate protective gear. As a result, a large number of people are forced to simply die at home. The city’s morgues are full and there are not enough coffins for the dead. Temperatures right now in Guayaquil are close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit so that the swift disposal of corpses is necessary to avert the outbreak of other diseases. As a result, the media is filled with horrible images of people burning bodies or leaving them on the streets. And this is only the fraction of the unfolding human tragedy that is caught on camera. Family and friends tell of even worse stories.
The government is certainly not indifferent to the suffering. It has introduced strict curfews, fines, and lockdowns. Public health messages encouraging social distancing, staying at home, and frequent washing of hands etc. are now everywhere. In developing countries the communication and containment strategy are very similar. However, there is a cruel unspoken irony in the Ecuadorian government’s official admonitions to the citizens of a city with large vulnerable populations such asGuayaquil. Is it not entirely disingenuous for a government to ask the impoverished segments of the population to wash their hands frequently when they live in houses with no running water? When they are telling the poor of the country who have no food unless they go to work every day to stay at home to avoid spreading the infection, are they not really asking them to choose the certainty of death by starvation over the potential risk of death by contracting Covid-19? The poor are not ignorant. They understand the gravity of the situation just as well as the rich. But what choice are they really being given?
In the global south, cities will continue to grow. People move, searching for a better life. Cities like Guayaquil highlight the need to address the horrible conditions under which poor and vulnerable urban populations of these countries live.