The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Haiti has doubled in the last week — up to 219. The increase comes after a major health organization warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in the country.
A busy market near the state hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince. Despite a halt to air travel and other lockdown measures, Port-au-Prince looks as busy as ever, observers say.Pierre Michel Jean /AFP via Getty Images
"There is real danger of a large-scale outbreak followed by a humanitarian crisis in Haiti," said Carissa Etienne, the head of PAHO, in a briefing with reporters. She said Haiti's health care system is ill-equipped to deal with an outbreak of a highly infectious, potentially fatal respiratory disease. And the measures used elsewhere to stem the spread of COVID-19 are impractical or impossible in Haiti.
"I'm extremely worried for a number of reasons," Dr. Jean"Bill" Pape says about the coronavirus situation in Haiti. Pape did pioneering work on HIV and AIDS in Haiti in the 1980s. He's now co-chair of a national commission trying to address COVID-19. And his list of worries is long. As of Friday, Haiti had only reported 129 coronavirus cases, but Pape says the actual number is likely far higher — even with very limited access to testing, and the pace of newly diagnosed infections is increasing.
"It is very, very busy as usual. Markets are crowded," she says."Really it looks like business as usual." Only two laboratories in the country are able to test for the virus. One of them is at Dr. Pape's organizationPape says there are other clinics nationwide that have machines capable of testing for the virus, but Haiti can't get the specific cartridge necessary to adapt these GeneXpert diagnostic machines to screen for SARS-CoV-2.
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