U.S. revokes visas of Ecuadorian judges and gov’t wants names; Officials push kids’ vaccines; Thieves nabbed on Calle Larga; 1,200 Azuayans in quarantine

Miércoles, 12/1/2022

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
Nada.

Titular –

Niños, los más vulnerables (Children, the most vulnerable) – The number of Covid cases increased after the Christmas and New Year holidays with 11,732 new cases registered in just the 1st week of 2022. However, what is not seen in the statistics, not only in Ecuador but worldwide, is the increase in cases in children. Without disaggregated data as to the number of cases, the COE Nacional urged that children be vaccinated since they are the group with the lowest vaccination rate. As of 7/1, less than 60% have received both shots. The COE requested that after 8/1, a vaccination card would be needed for children over 5 to enter non-essential spaces. From 17/1, children from 5-11 can present their card, with only one dose, to use interprovincial, intraprovincial and tourist transportation. Adolescents over 12 need to present their card with both doses to access that transportation.

The number of those coming to vaccination centers has increased as a result of the recent increase of Covid-19 cases.

The Ministerio de Educación established new provisions to get more kids vaccinated. This includes suspending classes at public schools until 14/1 families can get their kids vaccinated, and so teachers can get their 3d doses. Classes will resume el 17/1 with 50% capacity. In Azuay, the percentage of vaccinated students is high with 93.11% of kids between 5-11 having their 1st dose, and 80.38% their second. For students between 12-17, 97.28 have their 1st dose and 89.8% their 2nd. In Zone 6, 302 students and 221 teachers have Covid.

Cuenca –

Andrea Bersosa, coordinator for zone 6 Health, said the process of vaccinations is advancing positively and in the last 15 days, the number of adults at the vaccination locations has allowed Azuay, Cañar and Morona Santiago to reach important percentages of immunization. Some age groups have exceeded 90%. In terms of ICU bed occupancy, it is at phase 3. In Zone 6 and Azuay, 75% of the ICU beds are occupied, and 45% in the clinical area. At the IESS hospital, beds for adults are 100% occupied.

Bersosa reported that 2,100 people have caught Covid in Zone 6 with 1,200 in Azuay. All are in quarantine with epidemiological containment for people who were in direct contact with the patients, and testing to for others. The criteria for testing is that people need to present with symptoms; be in contact with a person who has tested positive; or have returned from a country in which there is a high number of contagions. <Is the US one of those countries?> Patients who meet the criteria for the test will also be tested to see which variant they have and which variants are circulating. For now, there is no confirmation that ómicron is the dominant variant in Ecuador. <So this is no time to get complacent about handwashing, masks, distancing, because with your luck, you might get delta and not the more flu like ómicron.>

En el 2021 se recolectó más leche materna (More breast milk collected in 2021) – There were more women donating to the Banco de Leche (Milk Bank) at the Hospital Vicente Corral Moscoso (HVCM) in 2021 than in 2020. The 572 donors increased to 712 and donated 565 liters of milk benefitting 587 newborns. After the donation, the milk is bottled and frozen until the next day when it is processed. It undergoes a microbiological chemical analysis and then is pasteurized.

Sucesos –

Asaltantes hirieron con cuchilla a víctima por robo de 5 dólares (Assailants stabbed victim to steal $5.00) – 2 Venezuelans threatened 4 passersby on calle Larga with a knife, stabbing one, and stealing $5. Police on patrol noticed the assault and gave chase. One of the assailants was caught in he Cruz del Vado sector and the other at Pres. Córdova y Tarqui. The injured person was helped by first responders and taken to a health center. Police said that one of the most common crimes in the city is robbing passersby, and in various cases, using a knife to overcome the victims. <Hey, if muggers are happy with $5, make sure you have a small bill ready for them.>

Nacional –

Jueces deberán informar si EE.UU. les revocó la visa (Judges must report if U.S. revoked their visas) – After the decision by the US Embassy to withdraw visas from judges involved in corruption cases, the Consejo de la Judicatura (CJ – Judiciary Council) is requiring that judges in the country inform the CJ of their visa situation to enter the US. The CJ said that judges who had their US visas revoked could have violated the Códico Orgánico de la Función Judicial which says judges must comply “con trayectoria personal éticamente irreprochable” (with an ethically irreproachable personal trajectory). The US Embassy is not releasing the names of the judges whose visas have been revoked as that list is confidential. The CJ is hoping to get the information from the Cancillería to decide if these officials should be fired or continue in their offices. María del Carmen Maldonado, president of the CJ, said that in her her term since 2019, 240 court employees have been fired including 75 judges, 44 tax agents, 13 public defenders, and 108 administrative employees. She said that in the same period, 177 suspensions were issued and 417 fines handed out.

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 (please don’t ask her for them). The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.