Haiti fights large COVID-19 spike as it awaits vaccines

AP | Ever since the pandemic began, Haiti had perplexed experts with seemingly low infection and death rates from COVID-19 despite its weak public health system, a total lack of vaccines and a widespread disdain for safety measures like masks and distancing.

That is no longer the case.

The few Haitian hospitals treating COVID cases have been so swamped in recent days that they report turning away patients, while plans to open another hospital to treat the infected have been delayed.

Official figures remain relatively low for a nation of more than 11 million people: Just 2,271 cases and 62 deaths have been recorded over the past month in government data collected by Johns Hopkins University. A total of 15,700 cases and more than 330 deaths have been reported since early last year.

But experts are united in saying those figures miss the true scale of what they say is the largest spike in cases since the new Coronavirus first landed.

The government declared a health emergency on May 24 and imposed a curfew and safety measures – though few Haitians appear to be following them. It is nearly impossible to keep a distance while shopping in bustling marketplaces or riding the crowded, colorful buses known as “tap taps” that most Haitians rely on to get around.

“There is no time to waste,” said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is working with the government to scale up testing to identify and isolate infected people – a difficult task in a place where few think they can afford to be sick.

The lack of cases early this year had led authorities to reduce the number of beds available for COVID patients to about 200 — more than half of those at the nonprofit St. Luke Foundation for Haiti in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

But by early this month, that clinic was at capacity and announced it was turning away patients.

“Many people are dying on arrival in ambulances,” the foundation said. “We have received many nuns as patients, a sure sign (COVID-19) is in the poorest areas.”

So far, Haiti hasn’t received a single vaccine, though officials say they expect to get 130,000 AstraZeneca doses this month.

Some 756,000 doses of AstraZeneca shots had been slated to arrive in May via the United Nations’ COVAX program for low-income countries, but they were delayed due to the government’s concern over possible clotting as a side effect and a lack of infrastructure to keep the vaccines properly refrigerated.

PAHO said it would help Haiti’s Health Ministry solve those problems, and is prioritizing vaccinating health workers.

The medical system also has been struggling with other problems, including unpaid wages for some workers. President Jovenel Moïse recently asked the Ministry of Economy and Finance to ensure they get paid.