How Uruguay tamed the virus

australia also has the advantage of not being connected to anything else by land. argentina has had "closed" borders but from what i have read up north land crossings are still happening. is it contributing to contagion in AMBA? probably not, but, it only takes one infected boludo to kick things off. who knows if that was the case or not.

i think uruguay's strategy has been smart, but i agree with the other sentiment that in the end nobody will have "defeated" the virus. everyone is going to have to deal with it eventually, the key is finding the balance between managing health risks and not destroying the economy.
 
This country has too many 'boludos' who think the world revolves around them to enforce an intelligent scheme unfortunately. My wife was telling me there are STILL people sharing mate at work (they just change the bomba).. Talk about stupid lol. The virus is concentrated on the poorer parts of the the cities where social distancing/hygiene and most common sense is not that great.

there are plenty of idiots everywhere. even in the US, many people believe masks are totally worthless
 
My all time favorite film is “The Third Man”
An excellent summary, posted in LinkedIn by Beatrice Rangel.

A dear friend who spent her life at the British Foreign Office once told me, "I have learned to respect and love boring countries. Because they home free and democratic societies."

Think of Switzerland; Sweden; New Zealand, Uruguay and Singapore. They seldom make headlines but they are a cradle to peaceful and happy people.

These thoughts come to mind when panning over the Latin American leadership's public policy deployment in these times of pandemic. Only one nation seems to have struck the right balance between containing the virus and protecting individual freedom.

And that country of course is Uruguay. The recently inaugurated President Luis Lacalle Pou correctly decided to treat his citizens like well educated adults and refrained from banning any economic, educational or intellectual activity.

He did take to the microphones to let his people know how serious the health threat was and how important it was to take every possible precaution including wearing masks all the time, washing hands and suspending social gatherings.

He further supported universal testing and following of infected people and their circle of social exchanges over their past three weeks. This allowed health authorities to establish potential contagion maps and alert infected but asymptomatic people to get treatment. As a result, Uruguay kept 80% of its economy working while the number of infected people was about 800 people with 25 deaths in a nation of 3.5 million inhabitants.

But the country also prepared itself from the ensuing worldwide recession that will certainly affect export markets by reducing by 20% public expenditures different from payrolls.

The quality of Uruguay's leadership and the outstanding results of its pandemic control policies drove the Fundación Libertad chaired by Mario Vargas Llosa to issue a communique promoting the regionwide adoption of Uruguay's approach to combating covid19. In particular Fundación Libertad emphasized the contrast between public policies in Uruguay and those adopted by Argentina, which issued home arrest orders to its citizens, increased expenditures and killed economic activity.

In a nutshell Argentina created the conditions to develop an economic Tsunami after covid 19 is contained. And this will certainly make headlines. Uruguay on the contrary will most probably carry on unnoticed but its citizens are way happier than those of Argentina.

===============

I may add, Lacalle Pou reduced by 20% all government salaries above US$1,800 per month. The savings were used to set up a fund to fight the virus.
When you mention Switzerland I’m reminded of the Harry Lime character in the “The Third Man” film and his speech.
“The Third Man“ is my all time favorite film. A masterpiece classic.
 
australia also has the advantage of not being connected to anything else by land. argentina has had "closed" borders but from what i have read up north land crossings are still happening. is it contributing to contagion in AMBA? probably not, but, it only takes one infected boludo to kick things off. who knows if that was the case or not.
It is irrelevant to be connected by land or not since Australia and New Zealand still have new cases from time to time coming from repatriations / people flying in from abroad. Further in travel between provinces is restricted in Argentina, meaning we have "islands within islands" and those irregular crossings are mostly from Paraguay and Bolivia and can't get too much further than the province where they land. This is why some suburbs in Melbourne are currently seeing new cases after a long time with very few new cases - almost all traced back to gaps in the quarantine measures from those coming in from abroad in recent weeks. Argentina will face the same challenges when travel in and out picks up. The difference is that in Australia they take a focused approach, whereas in Argentina they panic and do things just to make a show. Wheras the facts speak for themselves that Australia never really completely locked down completely (Unlike Argentina) despite being exposed to the virus longer than Argentina, yet to date it has 7765 cases and just over 100 deaths.

For sure no one can escape COVID, it is still running rampant through the world. But are Australian virus management techniques or Argentine virus management techniques proven more effective to date...? That is an easy one.
 
All I can say it turned out a lot better then I thought it would here. I just went on get away to Montevideo it was rather interesting masks, social distancing, everything open but with controls like one person at times. I had a good time. If the people keep their guard up this may continue. If not things could change over night. So yes government and I believe much to do with culture as well.
 
In my view, an important difference between the two countries is that Uruguayans respect their laws and institutions, while many Argentines see them as obstacles to be overcome.

Both may be right.

"Obedezco pero no cumplo"
Yes. There is a sense in which I admire this attitude, but in this pandemic it is a liability.

And then you have attitudes like this -
el-20nudo-20infinito-web-2.jpg

Image courtesy of Daniel Paz and Pagina12. For those who don't know, "nudo" means "knot" rather than "nude".
 
I'm hearing about Argentinians fleeing to Uruguay to get away from lockdowns and high infection rates. Once we can travel there, what would be a good place in Uruguay to wait out the pandemic? Montevideo and Punta del Este are kinda desolate at this time of year. Is there anywhere better?
 
I'm hearing about Argentinians fleeing to Uruguay to get away from lockdowns and high infection rates. Once we can travel there, what would be a good place in Uruguay to wait out the pandemic? Montevideo and Punta del Este are kinda desolate at this time of year. Is there anywhere better?
How about Carmelo or Colonia - more rural experience, but it’s Uruguay after all, not many options for variety if Montevideo or the coast don’t attract.
 
It is irrelevant to be connected by land or not since Australia and New Zealand still have new cases from time to time coming from repatriations / people flying in from abroad. Further in travel between provinces is restricted in Argentina, meaning we have "islands within islands" and those irregular crossings are mostly from Paraguay and Bolivia and can't get too much further than the province where they land. This is why some suburbs in Melbourne are currently seeing new cases after a long time with very few new cases - almost all traced back to gaps in the quarantine measures from those coming in from abroad in recent weeks. Argentina will face the same challenges when travel in and out picks up. The difference is that in Australia they take a focused approach, whereas in Argentina they panic and do things just to make a show. Wheras the facts speak for themselves that Australia never really completely locked down completely (Unlike Argentina) despite being exposed to the virus longer than Argentina, yet to date it has 7765 cases and just over 100 deaths.

For sure no one can escape COVID, it is still running rampant through the world. But are Australian virus management techniques or Argentine virus management techniques proven more effective to date...? That is an easy one.
In Paraguay, there is a draconian quarantine that forces new arrivals into military barracks or approved hotels at USD100 a day. Only reasonable to look for alternatives. I jumped on the boat and landed on the other side in a matter of minutes myself. USD20 cash.
 
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