High UV levels forecast for July; IESS health consultations resume; Bike use up sharply during pandemic; Gas prices headed higher

Miércoles, 1/7/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

“Tren al cielo” – This production by a group of collectives shares the wisdom of adultos mayores (senior citizens) with children through the use of puppets and music. The 1st episode was el 24/5 on YouTube, shared the history of the Tarqui valley, and has been downloaded over 4,000 times. The next episode is about the people in Cubilan and the Comuna Marcos Pérez in the Oña canton. The episode is titled “El cambio es el intercambio” (Change is exchange) and should be ready in a few days on the networks of the Madre Tierra, Titiricuenca, and Inclusionarte networks.

Orquesta Sinfónica de Cuenca – The symphony’s new presentation was available yesterday on YouTube. The program includes “Las cuatro estaciones” (Four Seasons) by Vivaldi as well as that of Piazzolla which features Mexican violinist Osvaldo Urbieta.

Charla – There will be a talk by artist Alice Treep about the work “La Carga” el viernes a las 16:00 on the Facebook page of the Museo de Arte Moderno.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Terminan clases de forma virtual (Virtual classes end) – Ayer, the 2019-2020 school year ended for 193,337 students in Azuay. The Ministerio de Educación is preparing new guidelines for classes to resume on 1/9. It is considering hybrid classes with home and schoolroom classes with a reduced number of students in classrooms. It will decide in August based on the state of the health emergency.

First case of Kawasaki syndrome in Cuenca – This rare syndrome, a complication associated with the coronavirus, causes problems with the heart, diarrhea, vomiting and skin rashes. It is more common in children and adolescents. A 15 year old from Baños is being treated in isolation and is recuperating well. She also recovered from COVID-19. The majority of children will recover completely if treated early. Nationally, 32 cases of the Síndrome Inflamatorio Multisistémico have been diagnosed with 8 each in Manabí, Guayas, y Pichincha; 1 each in Naranjal, Santo Domingo, y Tungurahua; and 5 in Los Ríos.

New IESS consulting rooms – IESS will be seeing some 2,000 patients in new consulting rooms in the exCREA building (av. México y De Las Américas) in the south part of the city. There will be 8 specialists in neurology, endocrinology, psychology, general surgery, traumatology, urology, gynecology, and pediatrics. This will reduce the load on the José Carrasco hospital which treats Covid-19 patients. Face to face consultations started yesterday with hours from 7-17:00, lunes a viernes. For now, patients whose appointments had been suspended are being notified of their new days and times. Normal appointments will resume once the backlog has been finished. <Another case of a lost English word – there’s a better word than finished, but I’ve forgotten it.> The hospital spokesman said that IESS will prepare consulting rooms for 3 more specialties in the Centro de Atención al Adulto Mayor (CAAM) on av. Huayna Cápac.

Research by U. of Cuenca – The U. of Cuenca will monitor the advance of the coronavirus in Cuenca. This will allow the COE to determine where the most cases are in order to contain the virus efficiently. The municipality is paying for the research and results will be shared with the Ministerio de Salud Pública. The medical research team is composed of an ex-vice minister of health, an expert in mobility, the ex-dean of medicine at the U. of Cuenca, an bio-chemical expert, and a specialist.

High solar radiation – The Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología (Inamhi) is forecasting ultra-violet indices ranging from 13-16 in julio. This is considered extremely high. Because of Cuenca’s altitude (2550 meters, the sun is very intense especially between 10-14:00. It is recommended <And this goes especially to you pale skinned gringos who turn red after 3 minutes of sun.> that people wear hats and sunblock and clothing that covers you completely, preferably cotton and not black.

Bicycle use increases – According to the Dirección de Gestión de Movilidad (Mobility Management Department) of EMOV, 8% of the trips within Cuenca are made by bicycle. Before the health emergency, bike trips accounted for 2%. <Wonder if the restriction on driving helped – besides no buses.>

Pet care campaigns – The “Frena por Ellos” y “Ashku” campaigns by the Azuay provincial government started in Cuenca and will expand to the rest of the cantons in Azuay. “Stop for them” paints pawprints on streets <like zebra crossings for people> and gives out stickers to drivers about the necessity of caring for animals. “Ashku” will install more than 100 feeding and watering stations in different sectors for street dogs. <For those of you who complain that feeding street dogs only creates more street dogs, the prefectura is also paying for sterilization clinics that were interrupted by the health emergency.>

Mining – The Asamblea Nacional approved a reform to the Ley de Minería that removed unfair benefits for state owned foreign mining companies in the bidding process for mining concessions. Just by being foreign state owned companies, they didn’t need to go thru the normal bidding processes and could be awarded multi-million dollar contracts at the discretion of the ministry. The reform to the law would combat this focus of corruption. It would also provide incentives to large international firms to invest in the country and bring the latest environmental protection technology and modernize the sector.

Fuel price adjustments – From today, the price of extra and ecopaís can change depending on a complicated calculation based of the market price of crude. Prices can change a maximum of 5% each month, either up or down. If the price is increased by the maximum of 5% this month, ecopaís would cost $1.84 and diesel $1.05. This month’s price adjustment has not yet been announced. As of yesterday, different gas stations were charging $2.59, $2.69 and $2.89. <Like the US where people would drive around and burn up $4.00 in gas to save $.20/gallon in a car with a 15 gallon tank.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne