The president of the Dominican-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Roberto Santana, urged that the province of San José de Ocoa establish roadblocks at its five entry points so that it remains Covid-19 free. The province is just one of five where people have not yet tested positive for the fearful disease. Santana is a native of San José de Ocoa.
Santana is a former rector of the state university, the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD). He warned that given the rapid spread, San José Ocoa is now only a week or two away from having the disease as it is surrounded by five provinces with virus cases. Among these, La Vega has the fourth highest number of cases, with 50 cases, as of 6pm on 30 March 2020.
Santana supports a 24-hour curfew and containment barriers in all places identified with having medium and high infection levels, with the stop to land traffic between these areas and the rest of the country. He says if this is not done soon, “the fatalities will be in the thousands for many months to come.”
“From a few provinces that were infected a week ago, we have gone to 23, only 6 are missing and one of those 6 is Ocoa. When will it be our turn, and on whom does it depend if that happens or not?” asked the former UASD rector. He forecast all remaining provinces will be infected if radical steps are not taken now.
Santana said that the real answer is that the date for the virus to enter Ocoa province depends on the decision of the province’s inhabitants themselves, as to whether or not to place an efficient barricade at the entry points.
With regards to whether a single province can protect itself and avoid being infected, Santana recalls that the first affected provinces, La Altagracia, La Romana and Greater Santo Domingo, were infected by foreigners who arrived via the airports of Punta Cana, La Romana and Las Americas. People arriving from abroad also brought the virus to the north, and spread it to Santo Domingo and the East. Santana said that the rest of the provinces were infected through local transmission and by leaders and politicians during the municipal election campaign. People in La Altagracia were also affected by a wedding carried out in that area.
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Hoy
1 April 2020