Dominicans have smartphones, have a relative or friend in Italy, Spain or the US, and have been known to take collective actions. Add those three together and you can understand why many who can are not waiting for the authorities to play by the book and order the population to carry out only essential activities. It is already happening, faster than one would think.
A slowdown in normal sports, nightlife and shopping activities has taken over the Dominican Republic. People can feel this in the reduction in traffic jams. Yet, first a sort of panic spread over cities and thousands of Dominicans went grocery shopping, as happens in preparation for a hurricane. Social media spread news that the government would order a lockdown of the population after the Sunday, 15 March municipal elections and people wanted to be prepared.
Almost everyone in the Dominican Republic has a friend or relative who lives in the United States or Europe who is telling them how things are there. After thousands filled supermarkets at the end of last week, supermarket chains were prompt to tell their clients there was no reason to panic, that they would not run out of supplies. The supermarkets said the farms were supplying them as usual and would continue to do so. Supermarket chains report sales were up around 50%.
News sources carried stories on major entertainment and business events being canceled. These include the Gwen Stefani presentation at Isle of Light, the Cheyenne presentation in April at Altos de Chavon in La Romana, and the Dominican Travel Exchange in Punta Cana. And fewer Dominicans are showing up at restaurants, bars and clubs. Videos are circulating on social media of how the Italians didn’t take the virus seriously at the start and have had to pay a high price.
Meanwhile, the Dominican government announced that flights from Europe would be cancelled as of Monday, 16 March. The Ministry of Public Health update up to Saturday, 14 March was that there are now six more official cases added to the first five, for a total of 11 officially confirmed cases. All cases still are related to people who have been abroad, namely Italy and Spain, and have inadvertently spread the disease.
Cruise ship arrivals are canceled. One of the recent cases in the Dominican Republic is of a Dominican doctor who had been on the Costa Favolosa cruise ship. Following the recent global developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Italian cruise line Costa Cruises announced it would voluntarily suspend voyages on all of its cruise ships until 3 April 2020. The decree also affects the ferry service from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo.
The Ministry of Public Health continues to centralize all testing at the Dr. Defillo National Laboratory. Public Health Minister Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas said that this is done for security reasons. But in an interview carried out on Tuesday, 10 March, with investigative journalist Nuria Piera, he said the government does not rule out allowing private labs from carrying out the test. Reports are that some private labs already have the test, but it costs RD$7,000 compared to free at the government lab.
The Minister says that so far the Ramon de Lara Hospital at the San Isidro Air Base is where all those in isolation or tested for the virus are cared for now. He said the decision came naturally when the patients that usually visit the center stopped going after it was known the center was caring for the coronavirus patients and suspected cases. Sánchez Cárdenas says that nationwide there are 375 intensive care beds and the plan is to increase these in the near future to 600 beds. The centers are located in Puerto Plata, Higuey, Santiago and Santo Domingo. The Ramón de Lara Hospital has capacity for 70 Covid-19 patients. Another 15 beds with ventilator machines reportedly will be added this week to the Ramón de Lara Hospital.
Officially, the Dominican Republic is still in the containment phase of the disease. But the limited testing means the 11 confirmed cases as of 15 March could be more. Thus, the voluntary isolation undertaken by Dominicans is what is most prudent.
The Ministry of Public Health has a hotline for people to call in case the two key symptoms of fever and dry cough. This is 809 686-9140, or 809 200-4091 for toll free calls from provinces from 8am to 8pm. There is also a Whatsapp telephone at 829 542-7009.
Provincial epidemiological agencies, see:
Digepisalud
Paho
Listin Diario
El Dia
16 March 2020