April 14, 2020
Today was my day to come down from the mountains with my mule, venture into town and trade our furs for basic supplies of corn meal, dried beans, coffee, sugar, fat, salt and flour while negotiating along the way with the natives. In other words… I drove down from Las Cumbres in my SUV, went through a police checkpoint near Via Zaita, and fulfilled my wife’s shopping list at the local Riba Smith. At times, this quarantine really does make me feel like I’m fending for myself out in the middle of the boonies.
I know we’re all new to this, but I still can’t get over how hilarious it is to have so many men shopping together and watching as they called back home anxious for a response because they couldn’t find “Ligo” brand raisins or “Gold Mill” brand pancake mix. (That was me, actually.) Just 3 months ago, we had no idea just how spoiled we were to get whatever brand of canned evaporated milk we wanted. The selections of meat were so abundant, they were also somewhat confusing. But today you could only get gizzards or filet of beef. I’ve been to the stores in Caracas during some of their worst times and in some parts of the supermarket today, made me flashback to the empty shelves of Farmatodo or Gama Express.
I’m sure that today’s low inventory is mostly due to me going on what is essentially payday for many and the meat was taken off the shelves before they could be restocked. I’m still going to keep a watchful eye on what the stores are like in the following weeks. If this keeps up, we’ll be creating WhatsApp groups to let our family and really really close friends know which stores just got a truckload of milk.
TOP NEWS and TIDBITS:
- Check out our Expat’s Guide for Panama’s Quarantine and Curfew OK, it may not actually classify as a full-blown “dossier”, but it is a good collection of information, in English, on the Panama situation and how you should mitigate it.
- In 1987 I took an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies foreign and domestic. When you take this oath at the age of 17 years, you probably don’t even know what you’re saying. I didn’t. But in time, it sinks in and you do your best to honor the oath. Most never look forward to facing the enemy but you definitely never want that enemy to be “domestic”. Today in Panama, was National Police Day. Never have they worked harder nor have 90% of the force ever been placed in harm’s way. On their special day, the Panamanian National Police are confronting a foreign enemy like they’ve never seen in the form of a virus, but they’ve also been up against their own people under the worst scenarios as they protect their own people as they also confront their own people. A “domestic enemy” of sorts. There’s nothing easy about this and after this pay period they’ll be under even more stress as the people grow hungrier an more anxious. Just the same, we wish the Panamanian National Police good fortune as they continue to Serve and Protect this great nation.
- The Mayor of Pinogana, the National Border Service (Senafront) and the Ministry of Health (Minsa) decreed a sanitary fence in the community of La Peñita, in Metetí, Darién, where several cases of infected migrants have been reported. In La Peñita there is a refuge where just over 2,000 migrants are housed, however, there are about 50 in isolation on suspicion of having the coronavirus. In addition, local authorities report more than 20 infected migrants. In this regard, Nadine González, mayor of Pinogana, noted that during the first two weeks in which the first case was presented in the country, they were able to control the entry of the virus in Darien. In fact, this province went from having 0 cases to 90 in less than 15 days. However, González explained that the virus reached Darien presumably due to the release of the Senafront authorities between March 17 and 18, which he considered should not have been done. “As a result of the increase in cases,they will discontinue with the programmed change of guard.” he said.
- Some 29 inmates have benefited by Executive Decree No. 270 of April 13, 2020, which “granted the reduction of sentence imposed on people convicted of common crimes”. This was done to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the different penal centers of the country. According to a statement from the Government Ministry, the inmates who benefited by this measure correspond to the Aguadulce, Las Tablas, Penonomé, Tinajitas and La Nueva Joya, La Joyita and La Joya correctional facilities. The entity stated that these actions are humanitarian measures because of the coronavirus. To prepare the list, those inmates who had a limited sentence were considered, as well as those who suffered from chronic diseases, 60 years of age or older, who had complied with the requirements of good conduct, readjustment rates, compliance with prison regulations and had completed at least two thirds of their sentence.
- Residents of the La Rinconada sector, in the city of Santiago, donated a booth to perform swabs to the Luis “Chicho” Fábrega de Veraguas hospital. This swab booth will be used by hospital health personnel to take samples from people suspected of being infected with COVID-19. Authorities of the Luis “Chicho” Fábrega hospital indicated that this donation of the booth helps to reinforce security measures, since it works as a barrier and adds protection for health personnel.
- The Mental Health coordinator of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), Delia de Icaza indicated that the Emergency Center for Psychoemotional Aid, established to attend cases caused by the coronavirus, has answered some three thousand calls. “We have already completed a week of having enabled option 2 of line 169 where mental health professionals attend to callers for any situation regarding their psychoemotional status related to the current situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have received more than three thousand calls so far this week.”, said De Icaza. The coordinator added that the most attended cases in this period are states of anxiety fueled by stress and the uncertainty of the situation, not only epidemic but also generated by the socio-economic part. Others indicate that the quarantine measure has affected them due to isolation, causing them insomnia, and there are also the cases of people with a mental health diagnosis who were undergoing treatment but due to the pandemic, that treatment was suspended.
https://www.telemetro.com/nacionales/2020/04/14/tres-mil-llamadas-atendido-centro/2773368.html
- ASSA Insurance company has announced that they will be giving their clients a special discount due to the State of Emergency and the temporary reduction of the circulation of vehicles in Panama. The “QuedateencASSA” voucher corresponds to 40% of the premium and will be offered for a period of 2 months, from April 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020. Those who are eligible for this ASSA voucher are those whose cars are insured in their own name (personal use) with full coverage (civil liability and physical damage from collision) and where the contractor and the one who pays the premium to the company is a natural person (not a corporation).
https://www.tvn-2.com/economia/empresas/Rebajan-polizas-automoviles-ASSA_0_5556194378.html
- The Minister of Health, Rosario Turner, explained in a press conference that they decided to change the methodology of recognizing those recovered in the country. She indicated that they approved the method with the countries of the region. Until this Monday, April 13, the Minsa had accounted for 61 of those recovered epidemiologically. Why the change of method to count the recovered? The infectologist and scientific researcher, Xavier Sáez-Llorens, who is part of the Minsa advisory team to face the pandemic, explained the change. He said that at first, they were sticking to a more epidemiological, more scientific criteria, to call recovered people who had no symptoms and after 14 days had passed, they applied two PCR tests to detect if they had the virus. “If those two tests were negative, then we considered them to be fully recovered,” he said. However, the doctor explained, they have preferred to count the recovered “as many countries around the world do” today. Now, they count the patients who have already passed the clinical phase of the disease as recovered “that is, since they do not have symptoms of coronavirus, and to that (we must) add 14 days after the symptoms began, and that basically tells us to us that this person is already in that phase of recovery, not only clinically but they must also have an increase in the amount of antibodies ”. In addition, he indicated that they have preferred to use these two tests, which were carried out on those recovered, in order to detect more new cases “and isolate them and see their contacts.” According to the figures presented today by Minsa, there are 72 people recovered epidemiologically and 1,809 people recovered clinically.
STATUS UPDATE:
Panama has detected another 102 CoronaVirus cases for a total of 3,574. MINSA stated that 3,071 patients are under home isolation, of which 702 are in hotels.
There are 336 people hospitalized and 106 of them are in ICU. There are now 95 people reported as having died from COVID19.
A total of 16,053 tests have been made and of those 12,309 turned out to be negative.
Now with the new system of counting the number of people recovered in Panama, instead of saying that 72 people have recovered, they now consider 1,809 people having recovered. So if 1,809 are recovered and 95 have died, that means only 1,670 are still infected. This is going to confuse the hell out of a lot of people this week.
END NOTE:
There are quite a few good people out there who have been my inspiration to keep this going and I’d like to mention just a few of their names here.
Roberto Eisenmann for always being the gentleman and nimble philosopher.
Alexander Blas for his dedication to the community.
John Dovey for his “say it like it is” yet eloquent demeanor.
Kimberly Mikkelson for the way she observes her son with wonder, patience, and profound joy.
Thank you all so very much for being the good people that you are.
Stay safe… Stay healthy… And by all means STAY HOME!!…
Brett Mikkelson, CII, CPE
Director, B.M. Investigations, Inc. | M1 Consultants Inc
Mobile (+507) 6674-1183
Proud Member of: Council of International Investigators (President 2018-2019), World Association of Detectives (International Member), Victory Services Club (London), Examinadors de Fraude Autorizados (Panama), Alianza de Seguridad Empresarial (Panama)
