Coronavirus protocols at Vicente Moscoso Hospital, Cuenca’s water future, Con man promises jobs, IMF loans are in doubt

Lunes, 9/2/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Cooperativa Artesanal – A group of artisans that has been exhibiting their work in the Galerías de Oficios in the CCE are moving into a new space on Pres. Córdova y Luis Cordero starting el 12 de abril. The cooperative will sell copper, jewelry, filigree jewelry, straw, weavings, forged iron, and stone products in their physical store and their on-line tienda.

Sábados de cultura – Sábados del MAM (Saturdays at the Museo de Arte Moderno) will be on the 3d sábado of each month, usually a las 11-13:00. It will be geared towards families and children. This sábado, el 21/3 will be with the Teatro Barojo Collective for a puppet day. These events are free, but get there on time since they fill up quickly. <I think the warning is more for Cuencanos than gringos who tend to arrive a punto anyway.>

Conversatorio – There will be a talk on “Mujeres entre el arte, la educación y la cultura” (Women between art, education and culture) el martes, 11/3 de 18:39-21:00 in the Bibioteca Daniel Córdova Toral (Benigno Malo y Sucre).

An ETAPA water retention pond in the Cajas Mountains watershed. (El Mercurio)

Charla – Sofía Lobos Araya will give a talk on “Fortalecimiento del ecosistema creativo para el desarrollo sostenible del sector artístico y cultural” (Strengthening the creative ecosystem for the sustainable development of the artistic and cultural sector) el viernes, 13/3 <If you’re that superstitious, don’t go.> a las 16:00 in the Casa Patrimonial de las Posadas (Gran Colombia y Octavio Cordero). There is space for 30 attendees.

Bandas juveniles – The Weekend de Bandas Juveniles (Youth Bands Weekend) will be el viernes, 13/3 a las 16:30-18:30 in the Zircus Restaurant (av. Estadio y Florencia Astudillo). There will also be a modern interpretation of fusion cuisine.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Villanueva y Chocho, oro y título a Ecuador (Villanueva and Chocho, gold and title for Ecuador) – Ecuador was the champion in the South American speedwalking championship held in Perú.

Water project – Cuenca is expected to experience water shortages in 2030, and ETAPA is looking for alternative sources of water including damming the Dos Chorreras lake in the Tomebamba River watershed. Also confronting this problem are mostly rural community water systems which serve about 60,000 people. Milton Padilla, a hydrolic engineer, says Cuenca has an advantage over other cities in the country and in the world with its 4.262 bodies of water in the Parque Nacional El Cajas (PNC) and the 4 rivers running through the urban area. However the city also has a disadvantage in that per person water consumption is 250 liters per day, an amount more than double the 100 l/d recommended by the WHO and UN. He said that one of the priorities is to educate the public about the dangers of wasting water. <Time to quit bathing and start the run on deodorants at SuperMaxi.>

In 2030, Cuenca will start to experience water stress when there will be a deficit of about 350 liters per second (l/s). Currently the area of hydrolic recharging that serves Cuenca is about 95,000 hectares of which 60% is under a conservation strategy. This is one of the reasons Cuenca’s service coverage in its urban zones is so high – 98% for potable water, 96% for sewage, and 95% for wastewater treatment. ETAPA alone has 132,00 (sic) domestic service connections. In Azuay Province, water coverage from public systems ranges from 87.9% in the canton of Cuenca to 45.1% in Pucara.

ETAPA is working on various fronts to provide water in the future including reducing water losses, optimizing the systems, making interconnections, and finding alternate sources. One of the 4 largest long range projects is damming the Dos Chorreras Lake in an area adjoining the PNC. It would also divert water from the Rasullana creek into the lake.

Coronavirus protocols – 4 strategies are part of the protocol being implemented in the Hospital Regional Vicente Moscoso which will treat COVID-19 cases in Zone 6 (Azuay, Cañar, and Morona Santiago). The first strategy is training health workers, both in the public and private networks. Teaching and implementing biosecurity measures is one of the most important parts of the protocol.

When a case is identified, the treatment zone at the hospital will be restricted to authorized medical staff who will use special equipment such as disposable gloves and masks. <Just like the vets and volunteers at the spay/neuter clinics. Those pets aren’t going to get the virus from us.> Suspected and confirmed cases will be isolated as another part of the protocol. At this time, there is one suspected case in Azuay after a police officer was ruled out el viernes pasado. <I’m not using a pandemic as an excuse for you not to practice at least some Spanish.>

The Regional Hospital is one of the 15 centinela (sentinal – your word for the day) hospitals in the country fitted out for treating COVID-19 patients. This is where patients with complications such as pneumonia will go. Coronavirus patients will be treated in an area of the intensive care ward by a multidisciplinary team composed of a epidemiologist, infectologist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, and intensive care doctor depending on the symptoms the patient has. <Aren’t you glad you’re living in a little 3d world country with 1st world medical care that actually has a plan to combat this pandemic? And not a country where the leadership is still asking “Pandemic? What pandemic?” and “Tests? What tests? We don’t need no stinkin’ tests”>

Estafa – A man was sentenced to preventive prison for running an estafa (con, swindle, fraud – another word for the day.) in which he presented himself as an employee of the the Purchasing Department of the City. He was collecting $1,000 to $1,500 from people to get them appointed to jobs in administrative and chauffering positions. Victims of the scam were also promised cars worth $25-30,000 to work for the city.

Noticias viejas –

Sábado, 7/3 – En riesgo crédito del FMI (IMF credit at risk) – The IMF came to Ecuador in febrero to make its 4th evaluation of the loan to the country but left without finishing the process, leaving the next payment of $248 million in doubt. The IMF made the decision because of the Pres. Moreno’s delay in sending reforms to the Código Orgánico de Planificación y Finanzas Públicas (Organic Code of Planning and Public Finance) to the Asamblea. The reforms would have set limits to public spending and debts. <Austerity, anyone?> The country risk went up and the treasury could start to have problems paying its bills including salaries. <Is that so different from laying off people so as to not pay salaries?> Even more daunting would be if the IMF cancels the agreement which would leave Ecuador without the possibility of borrowing other funds to maintain the economy.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation