“People die in less than a week”, crude analysis of Guardian on coronavirus in Argentina

The impact of the second wave of the coronavirus in Argentina, as sudden as it was lasting, even before the onset of winter, has been the subject of analyzes by the prestigious British media The Guardian, who noted an easing of restrictions and low vaccination rates, among other shortcomings.

Under the title “People die in less than a week: the wave of Covid took Argentina by surprise ”, the prestigious site reviewed the last days of the pandemic in the country, with a toll of cases and deaths.

The Guardian maintains that the numbers Argentina has shown in recent hours (over 30,000 infections per day and a peak of 744 deaths on Tuesday) put the country in third place in daily cases, after India and Brazil, and in fourth place. deaths from Covid, behind India, Brazil and the United States.

Even a statistic reflected by the English newspaper is more alarming: “Relative to population, Argentina now has the highest number of deaths from Covid in the world, with 16.46 deaths per million, far exceeding its gigantic neighbor Brazil, which it registered 11.82 percent. million “.

Referring to the situation of hospitals on the brink of collapse, the article noted that “Argentinian Covid patients are spilling out into makeshift intensive care units in pediatric or cardiology departments, and sometimes even in hospital corridors. ”

The newspaper interviewed Vanina Edul, an intensive care doctor at Fernández Hospital, who spoke of a saturation of the system in every sense of the word: “It doesn’t matter how many extra beds they put in the wards: what we have is a system because there aren’t enough doctors. ”And continued: “I see people dying in less than a week”.

Despite the shocking figures, Edul said that “few Argentines seem to be aware of the seriousness of the pandemic”. And he assured that “many people ignore the restrictions, attending underground parties or refusing to wear a chin strap.”

But The Guardian He attributes this second wave not only to health issues, but also to the management of politics. In fact, he assures us that the situation was made worse by “the politicization of the pandemicin the run-up to the mid-term legislative elections in October. “

In this sense, he also pointed out the short circuits between the City and the Nation due to the closure of schools, a dispute that reached the Supreme Court of Justice.

Finally, he stressed that “vaccination is progressing slowly” and that “the outlook looks bleak”.