Despite all the announcements pleading to be more careful, to comply with the safety measures, to not go to heavily populated areas, to keep your social distance, to wear a face mask, and to use hand sanitizer, there is still a large portion of the community that does the opposite. As a result of this, this week Aruba has experienced a rapid increase in positive cases of COVID-19. Yesterday Aruba had 73 new positive cases, while the number of active cases raised to 379!
The Prime Minister reacted on her Facebook page immediately stating that this is not the news she was expecting to receive on the flag and anthem day. She then went on to say that this is the moment we need to “step up”, indicating that the restrictions are likely going to become stricter. There is no other option because the way things are proceeding now is not feasible. Activities are taking place as if we are not in the middle of a global pandemic and no safety measures are being taken.
It can be expected that new safety measures will be announced today that will go into effect immediately to prevent a further spread over the weekend. Yesterday dozens of people were out buying food, standing close together, and oftentimes without a face mask. There was a lot of traffic caused by people going from one place to another. The government denied permission for organizations to hold public events, however, it appears that that did not hinder the public from going out and finding something fun to do on our national holiday. The restaurants that were open today were used as bars for solely drinking alcohol without consuming any food. It appears that homes that sell food from their backyards also became bars at a record pace because beer was in abundance yesterday.
We cannot leave out the political parties’ behavior. Both MEP and AVP do not get away unscathed with their behavior in the last couple of days. MEP organized a flag event the day before yesterday at Papilon as if it was nothing, with a large gathering of people. The authorities went to the site to tend to this deplorable behavior. On the other hand, AVP organized an event to sell food in Playa, which also caused a large gathering of people and directly goes against what we should all be doing to try to lower the contagion on our island.
The police strategically monitor areas to try and keep the people’s movement under control. Specifically, the area near Linear Park and later on near Eagle Beach is where a lot of people gathered and do not comply to the COVID-19 rules. It is important to note that it is not necessarily the establishments in the area that are not complying with the rules, but the people who decide to park their car and create their own little events with their own drinks and music. There appeared to also be a sort of car show taking place which also caused people who wanted to take pictures with the cars to gather.
The fact is that the raise in COVID-19 cases on Aruba is our own fault because one part of the community refuses to follow instructions and is adamant about living a normal life during a global pandemic. The increase in the number of cases is not caused by the people who went out yesterday, but those who did two weeks ago.
Therefore, the gatherings that occurred these past few days will have their consequences for the days ahead. One thing must be made clear, the ICU rooms are limited, and the more the cases will rise, the more people will need to use the respirators and thus the more critical the situation will become for the hospital. Measures must be taken now to prevent that doctors will shortly have to decide who gets to enter the ICU, who has to leave, and who will die!
