Cuenca aims to attract online ‘nomads’; All local Covid deaths are unvaxxed; Civil registry makes changes; Universities offer counseling; More kids in hospitals

Miércoles, 19/1/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Abel Azcona expone en Galería Taló (Abel Azcona exhibits at Taló Gallery) – Spanish artist Abel Azcona has started an exhibition tour in Ecuador with the first show opening tomorrow in Cuenca at the Galería Taló (Florencia Astudillo y 12 de Abril). The show, “Caido en la quebrada” (Fallen in the ravine), contains work done in the last decade and addresses themes of loss, abandonment, prostitution and death. He is also conducting an intensive art-action workshop with students in the Art Department at the U. of Cuenca.

Titular –

Ecuador’s Tourism Minister believes that Cuenca will be a top destiantion for onlilne ‘nomads,’ foreigners who work on the internet. (El Mercurio)

Turismo nómada (Nomadic tourism) – Cuenca has a new tourism alternative to generate income and employment. The Ministerio de Turismo (MINTUR) wants to attract people working for large multinational corporations who work remotely. Minister of Tourismo del Ecuador, Niels Olsen <With a such a Scandinavian name, I wonder what his story is? Child of a Peace Corps volunteer from Minnesota who stayed?>, said there are plans to present a plan called visa nómada in the first months of this year. He said that in just the US there are 9,000,000 remote workers and if Ecuador could attract 1% of them, there could be an additional 90,000 people spending $2,000/mo. which would inject $180,000,000 a month into the Ecuadorian economy. For Olsen, Cuenca is an attractive city for this type of tourist because of its culture, architecture, hospitality, food, safety, and more. He estimates that more than a third of all foreign expats in Ecuador live in Cuenca. <Cuenca’s biggest disadvantage would be travel to and from these nomads’ home countries.>

Cuenca –

Crece morbilidad y mortalidad en niños (Growing morbidity and mortality in children) – The number of cases has increased in minors and there are currently 3 children in ICU beds in the 2 public hospitals in Cuenca. Nationally, 47 children are hospitalized with 10 in ICU beds. Of those children, 36 have not been vaccinated. According to Jonathan Tippán Barros, a pediatrian, since 4/2020, when the first pediatric patient was brought to the hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso from the Feria Libre sector to now, there have been about 150 kids hospitalized and about 10 deaths in that hospital. He said that children have always caught Covid but did not develop symptoms leading to the mistaken idea that they did not get the disease. He said the most common symptoms in children from 0-2 are fever and cough followed by diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea, or vomiting. This differs from adults since kids generally don’t lose their sense of taste or smell.

Andrea Gómez Ayora, an epidemiologist, said that childhood cases are increasing since ómicron is more transmissible, and there was more exposure during the Christmas and New Year festivities. Also children returned to classrooms in the beginning of enero, some without their full complement of shots, and this increased the probability of contagion.

Alcalde se refiere sobre nuevas resoluciones (Mayor comments on new resolutions) – In a press conference on el martes, Mayor Palacios spoke about the infection rates in the city. He said the vaccination rates in the city were at 89.7% and 33,87% for 2nd and 3d doses in the age group 5 and up. The national rates are 80.71% and 11.01%. In the week from 8-13/1, the rate of positive tests rose from 19% to 50.05%, so it is expected that the peak of this new wave will be between 17-21 of enero.

After the peak there should be a continual decrease stabilizing in marzo. <The way this has been going, there will be a new variant discovered (or invented, for whoever doesn’t trust big pharma) in febrero with a lot of new tricks up its sleeve.>

With respect to ICU beds, current occupancy is at 73% in public and private hospitals. There are 130 ICU beds with 42 beds available. In enero, 7 people died of Covid in Cuenca, and none had received vaccinations. He asked the citizenry to continue to use masks correctly <meaning not hanging under your chin or below your nose>, maintain social distancing and get completely vaccinated.

4 universidades con plan gratuito de salud mental (4 universities with free mental health plan) – Unemployment, confinement, and lack of resources which came along with Covid have left many families depressed and anxious. Several universities have started free programs for psychological support to children, adults and seniors. The U. de Azuay, U. Católica de Cuenca, y la U. de Cuenca have 120 volunteers at the UNE on Pres. Córdova y Borrero los lunes, miércoles y viernes from 9-12:00. <With all those volunteers, there have got to be some who speak English to help all of us stressed out gringos.> The UNAE (Universidad Nacional de Educación) is starting with bringing mental health services to its own teachers, administrative staff, and students, who come from the 2 lowest income quintiles . <How about the janitors, cooks in the cafeterias, etc? Do they count as admin. staff?>

Hay cambios en el Registro Civil en Cuenca (Changes in the Civil Registry in Cuenca) – The office of the Registro Civil, Identificación y Cedulación at the parque de la Libertad will be closed until the end of the month because of the increase in Covid cases and workers having to quarantine. All their offices will have a capacity limit of 30%. People using the cedulization services at the parque de La Libertad will be served at the San Blas office on the same date and time. Requests for electronic signatures will be attended to in El Batán. If your cedula has expired or will expire soon, you have until 31/3/2022 to do the paperwork. The office hours are from lunes a viernes from 8-17:00. A virtual agency has been set up at www.registrocivil.gob.ec to register births, marriages, common-law marriages, deaths, and more.

Sucesos –

Supuestos compradores eran ladrones y robaron camioneta (Alleged buyers were thieves and stole pickup truck) – A citizen advertised his pickup truck for sale on social media and the ad was answered by a supposed buyer who made arrangements to meet the seller in the ciudadela Kennedy where he wanted to get it checked out by a mechanic. When the seller got there, he was met by a young man who said his father would be the buyer and so they went to get the father. On the way, another man and a woman got on, and used a knife to subdue the owner, tie him up and cover his eyes. The thieves abandoned him on the vía a Jadan where he was found by passersby and then made a police report.

This is a common robbery, and sometimes, the thieves contact the owner to demand ransom to return the car. This truck is a Chevy Dmax, plate number GSK-7372 and it looks white in the picture in the article. If you are selling a vehicle this way, you can ask the Policía Nacional for a police guard.

Descuentos y compras –

ETAFashion – up to 50% discounts on selected merchandise through enero.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne