Claudio Andrade
02/14/2021 6:01 AM
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 02/14/2021 6:01 AM
Doña Bernardita Torres Alvarado lives in Dorotea, a tiny place in Chile, located just 5 kilometers from Río Turbio, Santa Cruz.
A stretch of the mountain range between both towns that, due to good weather, can be done on foot.
She is 74 years old and her husband, Ernesto Gómez, 66. They both received
the first dose of the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine
on
Tuesday
at Escuela N1 in Puerto Natales, a town of 20,000 inhabitants 17 kilometers from their home, known for being the gateway to
Torres del Paine National Park
.
Due to age and health (they do not have comorbidities) it was not their turn to "turn" until a few days later, but the abundance of doses and the intensity of the trans-Andean campaign embraced them without hesitation.
Río Turbio, in the province of Santa Cruz,
Both are part of the
2 million people
who have already been inoculated in Chile in the framework of the audacious massive procedure promoted by the government of President Sebastián Piñera.
An action that, by the way, raised its positive image to 22% after two years of going into a tailspin, according to the Plaza Pública de Cadem survey.
"It didn't hurt a little bit, we are finally returning to normality, although they told us that we will continue with a chinstrap all this year,"
the retired teacher
tells
Clarín
happily.
In the last 7 days, all the elderly people of Dorotea were vaccinated, about 150 residents.
If, for example, the grandparents were not able to move, two nurses
were in charge of going to their home.
Between now and next week, the segment ranging from 65 to 90 years of age will be completed in the entire Magallanes region, which includes Punta Arenas, the capital with about 120 thousand inhabitants, Puerto Natales, Río Verde, Lago Blanco, among other communes.
Teachers and public officials will come immediately.
Health personnel began to be vaccinated in December 2020. At least for now, minors, youths and young adults will not be inoculated because most of them do not exhibit symptoms, according to what was revealed.
However, Chile purchased 36 million vaccines from different laboratories for
a total population of 20 million inhabitants.
The border between Puerto Natales and Río Turbio.
In the far south, Puerto Natales and Dorotea, they are vaccinated at a rate of 300 daily doses.
Meanwhile in Río Turbio, next door, there is little news about what will happen with the provincial program.
According to what
Clarín was
able to find out
so far, only a part of the health personnel of the mining town were vaccinated.
A bunch.
Río Turbio has less than 10,000 inhabitants and 40 active cases.
Puerto Natales exceeds 20 thousand inhabitants with 72 active cases.
In Magallanes, with about 170 thousand inhabitants, 20,831 cases have been registered.
In Santa Cruz, with more than 300 thousand, 35,157 cases.
The 1,350 doses that were sent to Santa Cruz in January were distributed 900 to Río Gallegos and 450 to El Calafate.
From these localities it was going to decide what fraction corresponded to the rest of the province.
Everything indicates that in Río Turbio, El Calafate and Río Gallegos
the numbers of vaccinated will continue the same in the same period.
In other words, less than 1,500 vaccinations for some 250,000 inhabitants who are eagerly awaiting their turn.
The last health campaign in Magallanes, aimed at the segment 85 years and 90 years and over, had left a balance of 6,536 people vaccinated on February 3 and 5.
But the pace has accelerated as of Monday, the 8th. On average, more than 500 doses are applied in the region each day.
By the time the new stage ends, around 30 thousand people will be protected.
“There is a very strong culture of obedience in this country
, especially in older people, children are different, but adults do what the norm indicates.
Then we go and get the vaccination in order, ”explains Enelsa Torres, Bernadette's sister, a theater teacher and owner of a hostel.
"The combination of Chile's oiled capacity to do business and its vocation for social protocol was very successful in accelerating the vaccination process," explains Guillermo Muñoz, teacher and director of Communications at the National Forestry Corporation ( CONAF) in Magallanes.
On the Argentine side, the population continues to be isolated from the rest of the country,
with a curfew that begins at midnight and those who travel outside their town must undergo isolation for 14 days upon return.
For months circulation between Río Turbio and November 28 has been restricted.
And there are 12 kilometers from each other.
"Some of the health personnel were vaccinated here, but the neighbors have no news," says a neighbor, a local hairdresser who prefers to protect her name.
But there are numerous examples of the slowness of the procedure.
Carlos Torres, for example, an 84-year-old grandfather who lives in YPF's “dormitories,” ramshackle buildings that originally housed the miners, has not received the vaccine.
Carlos, like hundreds of other elderly people in the town, have been locked up in their homes since March 2020.
Puerto Natales.
Light in the Chilean southern Patagonia.
On the Chilean side, next week all of Magallanes will return to normal land communications, leaving behind isolation and time limits.
The region lives essentially from fishing, the countryside and international tourism.
The town received private structural investments in water and networks for about USD 10 million during 2020 despite the pandemic.
While in Río Turbio no significant disbursements were recorded in recent months.
Meanwhile, the tourist structure awaits the arrival to the area of more than 500 thousand tourists between September 2021 and March 2022. The value of air tickets reflects this projection.
For March, tickets Santiago-Punta Arenas are already sold at $ 20 a section.
