COVID-19 Response in Latin America

Abstract

Effective management of a pandemic due to a respiratory virus requires public health capacity for a coordinated response for mandatory restrictions, large-scale testing to identify infected individuals, capacity to isolate infected cases and track and test contacts, and health services for those infected who require hospitalization. Because of contextual and socioeconomic factors, it has been hard for Latin America to confront this epidemic. In this article, we discuss the context and the initial responses of eight selected Latin American countries, including similarities and differences in public health, economic, and fiscal measures, and provide reflections on what worked and what did not work and what to expect moving forward.

Public health matters: why is Latin America struggling in addressing the pandemic?

“…In addition to its effects of mobility reduction, our analysis also suggests that more swiftly adopted and strictly designed and implemented government policies seem to be associated with lower mortality rates and potentially slower growing mortality rates as other studies have shown [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 9 , 11 , 21 – 23 ].…”

“…Several factors may have influenced this differential effectiveness of the closure and restriction policies in reducing mobility in each Latin American country. One factor seems to depend on the degree of compliance of their respective populations [ 8 , 9 , 11 , 12 ]. People living in Argentina, Chile, and Peru were more compliant with these policies than those in Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico, as the higher mobility reductions showed.…”

“…Better communication from their governments [ 9 , 11 , 27 ] and trust in their governments [ 28 ], as shown by other studies, are additional factors that may have influenced the differential mobility reductions and the mortality rates. Argentina, Chile, and Colombia implemented swifter and more strict public information campaigns, which in turn seemed to achieve higher mobility reductions [ 9 , 11 , 21 , 22 ]. In contrast, Brazil and Mexico did not deliver an effective communication campaign.…”

“…Brazil and Mexico presented higher weekly mortality rates than Argentina and Colombia throughout most of the study period, compared to Chile from late July 2020. This may be explained by less swift and strict implementation of mitigation policies, including the least comprehensive contact tracing policies, tracing only limited cases [ 9 – 11 , 17 , 22 ]. Mexico implemented the least restrictive policies on gatherings compared to Argentina and Peru that imposed restrictions on gatherings of 10 people or fewer [ 18 ].…”

Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the fear of COVID-19 scale in seven Latin American countries

“…Since the appearance of the first cases of COVID-19, Latin American governments have adopted different measures to prevent the advance of the pandemic and mitigate its consequences. The main strategies were the declaration of a national state of health emergency, the closure of international borders, mandatory quarantine of people coming from abroad, promotion of personal hygiene measures, identification and contact of suspected cases, social distancing, voluntary or mandatory confinement, mandatory use of masks; curfews; closure of schools, universities, public spaces, restaurants, bars, and shopping centers, among other measures (Acosta, 2020;Garcia et al, 2020). Likewise, to cushion the negative consequences on the economy, countries have implemented fiscal stimulus plans, despite the economic limitations that many of them face (L opez-Feldman et al, 2020).…”