Report in August 2021

Karina Boillot Villegas
Docente de Inglés, Liceo Bicentenario Óscar Castro Zúñiga
Mentora, Chile

Our country is located in South America and the name of my country is Chile. I live in the city of Rancagua, which is located at the south of Chile.

I work in a high school with the name “Liceo Bicentenario Óscar Castro Zúñiga”.

Covid-19 statistics in Chile as of 31.08.2021

1. а) Total confirmed cases: 1,638,675
2. b) Newly confirmed cases on that day: 345
3. c) Active cases on that date: 5,991
4. d) Cases in ICU, Serious/Critical: 687
5. e) Total death cases: 36,937
6. f) New death cases on that day: 14

In Chile, there is the Integrated Network of Health, where a total of 547 critical patient beds are available for the patients who require them, regardless of the region where you live in.

I believe that the biggest problem of the pandemic in my country is the economy, since many essential products have their prices raised and the salaries of workers have been falling. Many have been laid off and have had to find new jobs or reinvent themselves professionally in the face of the pandemic situation.

The countermeasures that the government has adopted, for example, were the mandatory use of the mask in closed and open public spaces. Another countermeasure has been the curfew, which has been imposed since 2020, so that people have to stay at home and avoid going out, for example after 12 at night.

There have also been quarantines, which have been extensive in terms of months. Total or partial quarantines, depending on the region in which you live and depending on the active cases and infections due to the pandemic. Another measure taken by the government has been mass vaccination, which has been carried out based on the age range and according to the underlying basic diseases of each citizen.

For example, during the month of August, people over 65 years of age have been vaccinated with the booster dose that was not necessarily the same vaccine inoculated in the months of February and March.

Now that in my city, Rancagua, the vaccinated inhabitants had totaled over 80%. Places like pubs, discos and restaurants have opened their doors and receive people who only have the mobility pass; that means those people who have completed their vaccine schedule, such as Pfizer or Sinovac vaccines.

I believe that the measures adopted by the government have been effective, only to the extent that the citizens adopt them and make them our own. In our country, we had never worn a mask before, even at the time of having colds or having other type of illness.

The government has provided help to people with the lowest economic resources, especially those who do not have a job. That kind of help is called IFE (Ingresos Familiares de Emergencia or Family Emergency Income). This is given to each member of the family who does not have a job or whose salary is less than CLP 800,000 (about US$1,000).

Financial aid has also been given to those people who, despite having a business, could not open it due to extensive quarantines. It is a bonus that the state has given to what we call “PYME” (Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas or SMEs : Small and medium-sized companies).

Currently, there a mandatory quarantines for people who enter the country from abroad. It is a mandatory eleven-day quarantine, where the person must pay for their stay in a designated quarantine hotel with all the health precautions being imposed.

Lockdown of many cities in Chile had been going on for about a year but these depended on the number of cases of infected people in each city.

Here in Chile, it should be remembered that basically, the penalty initially starts from the minimum and increases with repeated offences. Imprisonment can start from its minimum degree -from 61 to 540 days in jail- up to 3 years in prison and the fines may fluctuate between 6 and 200 UTM (Unidad Tributaria Mensual; about, 300 thousand to 10 million Chile pesos) for those who failed to comply with quarantine or sanitary measures. UTM is a unit, updated on a monthly basis, and used by the Chilean government where a financial transaction is being perform with an administration to allow for the cost to be automatically adjusted for inflation.

The mandatory quarantine at the country level lasted about a year, from the first detected case of Covid 19.

Everything that was an essential industry, for example those that delivered food supplies such as supermarkets, minimarkets, etc, continued to be open. However, to go to a supermarket, for example, we had to request a special permit at the virtual police station, which can take about two hours.

The reaction of the common citizen to the quarantines was initially received with a bit of anguish and sorrow. Later, it was assumed that it was for our own good and at the same time safeguarding our health.

As for frenzied purchases before quarantines or mandatory confinement, it occurred in the purchase of toilet paper, alcohol gel, masks, chlorinated detergent, quaternary ammonium salt disinfectants and other cleaning supplies.

Then, when the economy was activated, they began to buy televisions, computers and other basic electrical items.

The penalties for not wearing a mask range from paying a fine to not being able to enter, for example, malls or restaurants.

The use of a three-fold mask is mandatory in closed spaces, such as workplaces, in public transport and visit to the doctor or hospital.

The physical distancing has been set in Chile at 1.5 meters to 2.0 meters.

The type of diagnosis to know if a person has Covid or not, is the PCR, which is done for free in different medical assistance centers and in different parts of the country, be it schools, malls and even supermarkets.

In the months of July and August, a new variant has been detected, in this case it is the Delta variant.

Taking into account the total population of Chile, 80% of the population has been vaccinated with either Pfizer, Sinovac or Cansino. In addition, here in Chile, the vaccines for Covid have been free due to the agreements that the government has reached with the different agencies.

In Chile, there are no traditional herbs or other alternative treatment that has been promoted to combat Covid. All treatments, such as vaccines or therapeutic drugs, are only those that the government provided us.

In Chile, we have not heard of any NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) or any other charity organizations that has step up activities to support the poor and unfortunate families to survive in the face of the pandemic.

About the classes with the students, they must have been online, since last year. This has happened mainly in public schools, since the private ones have had their students in a blended way in their classrooms.

Currently the classes have started the hybrid mode, where a group of students (only 12 or 15) attend the school in person and the rest of the students are connected at home through the computer, while the teacher does his/her class in front of to a camera connected to the computer.

The good effects of the pandemic (if we can call it that) has been the connection that has been had within the family members being able to share more during the lockdown or during the mandatory quarantines. Personally, it helped me to be more connected with my family, my friends, despite communicating through video calls or applications like Skype or Zoom.

On the negative effects, the loss of loved ones due to Covid and also the loss of incomes for many in situations that are indirectly associated with the pandemic, such as the near collapse of the tourism and entertainment industries.