03/20/2021 9:00
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 03/20/2021 9:00 AM
The
pandemic
of
coronavirus
led to the
Argentina
one was available
quarantine
strict First, that gradually it was flexible, from March 20, 2020, the
date on which began on
Social, Preventive and obligatory (ASPO) Insulation
decreed by the Government and that unleashed a series of events that marked the social pulse.
The
quarantine
was determined through decree 297/2020 signed by President
Alberto Fernández
, which addressed the decision of the
World Health Organization (WHO)
, “dated March 11, 2020”, having declared “ the outbreak of the new
coronavirus
as a pandemic, after the number of people infected by
Covid-19
globally reached 118,554, and the number of deaths to 4,281, affecting 110 countries so far ".
Just eight days after the
WHO
declared the pandemic, the spread of cases of the
Covid-19 coronavirus
at a global level
had already been verified,
reaching a total of 213,254 infected people, 8,843 deaths and affecting more than 158 countries in different countries. continents ”, as stated in the recitals of the
presidential decree
, which also added that at that time it had arrived“ in our region and in our country a few days ago ”.
The forceful argumentation of the decree signed by the President of the Nation and his cabinet had little to do with the statement issued just 43 days before by the then Minister of Health of the Nation,
Ginés González García
, who said that he was concerned “more about
dengue
than the
coronavirus
”.
Vaccination in Argentina began on December 29.
(Télam)
"There is a very low probability that the coronavirus will reach the country, it is a virus confined to China, which did exceptional things, such as quarantining 50 million people," said the former official on February 5, 2020.
On March 7, the first death from
coronavirus
was confirmed
, a 64-year-old man who lived in the City of Buenos Aires, returned from France on February 25, and three days before his death he had been admitted to the Argerich Hospital.
He had diabetes, hypertension, chronic bronchitis and kidney failure, and his condition was aggravated by
Covid-19
;
he was the first fatality in Latin America.
Timeline of quarantine in Argentina
Alberto Fernández
announced the
quarantine
on Thursday, March 19, and from the next day it would be in effect, in principle for a period of 11 days.
He did so in a ceremony held at the Quinta de Olivos, which was also attended by the Head of Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, and the governors Axel Kicillof (Buenos Aires), Omar Perotti (Santa Fe) and Gerardo Morales (Jujuy).
Until that moment, in Argentina there were barely more than one hundred confirmed cases of contagion and there had only been three deaths from
Covid-19
.
By then, even before the
ASPO
, all mass-attended shows, artistic, religious and sports, among others
, had already been suspended
.
Alberto Fernández accompanied by the governors Gerardo Morales, Axel Kicillof, Omar Perotti and the head of the Buenos Aires government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, when announcing the beginning of the quarantine.
(EFE)
With the decree, the circulation of personnel from 24 categories of activities and services, commonly called "essential", was enabled, among which were health, security, and cleaning personnel;
employees of supermarkets, local shops and service stations, and workers related to food production and health supplies.
Already on the first Saturday after the quarantine was decreed, the Ministry of National Security reported that 3,200 people were detained accused of having violated the rule of mandatory isolation throughout the country.
“Whoever does not comply will be punished as planned.
He will be criminally prosecuted ”, stated the President.
The Penal Code contemplates in its article 205 the following crime against public health: "Anyone who violates the measures adopted by the competent authorities to prevent the introduction or spread of an epidemic will be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years."
On March 23, the
Emergency Family Income (IFE) was created
, a subsidy of 10,000 pesos that was paid to informal workers and monotributistas who had no income.
Meeting of President Alberto Fernández and his cabinet with epidemiologists who advised him,
April
During April, the
ASPO
in the entire national territory had two extensions, with what was reached until Sunday 26 with the
total
quarantine
.
There was already talk of "softening the curve" and speculation began about when the "peak of contagion" would reach the country, without counting on certainty in the official projection.
In addition, the
epidemiologists
summoned by the
President of the Nation
as health advisers
gained notoriety
, whom he consulted periodically and with whom he met before doing so with the governors prior to defining new phases of the
quarantine
.
On April 1, the
Emergency Assistance to Work and Production (ATP)
program was launched
.
Its objective was to mitigate the economic downturn and guarantee the maintenance of private employment during the pandemic, by which the State covered a part of the formal salaries in the blank.
In turn, the Ministry of Public Works initiated a plan for the construction and complete equipment of 12 modular sanitary units (in principle there were going to be eight) to be built in districts such as General Rodríguez, Mar del Plata, Quilmes and Moreno.
On Saturday, April 25, the first
easing
of the
quarantine took place
, which remained strict only in agglomerates with more than 500,000 people.
The measure also allowed recreational outings of one hour per day and within a radius of 500 meters from the residences, in which children had to be accompanied by their parents or dependents.
May
On May 9, President
Alberto Fernández
ordered the end of the
quarantine
for the entire territory of Argentina, moving to
phase 4
(distancing), with the exception of the
Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires
, which was still in
phase 3
.
At the same time, the Buenos Aires government promoted a plan for the gradual opening of activities coordinated with the Nation and the Province of Buenos Aires, in order to lessen the economic impact that the
quarantine was
already making.
The announcement of the extension of the
quarantine
in the AMBA and three other urban areas was made by the head of state on May 23 and until June 7 inclusive.
For this reason, on Monday 25, on the occasion of the national holiday, the first march against isolation was seen.
Protesters reject the quarantine in front of the Cabildo in Plaza de Mayo.
(German Garcia Adrasti).
June
On June 4,
Alberto Fernández
announced that 18 provinces had ended the
quarantine
and were under a regime of "distancing from health protocols," which implied reopening activities.
The
AMBA
continued to deal with the
ASPO
, as did San Fernando of the Chaco province, the Rawson Department of Chubut and the Córdoba Metropolitan Area.
A few days later the Rio Negro cities of Bariloche and General Roca joined the isolation.
But for the first time since the declaration of the
pandemic
, in Argentina daily infections of four figures were beginning to be counted: on June 9, the barrier of one thousand cases was broken, with 1,141 positives for
Covid-19
.
The
contagion curve
began to be in full growth, so much so that on the last day of the same month of June, 2,262 cases were reported.
Despite this rise, on June 29, Fernández issued DNU 576/2020, which established the rules of "
Social, preventive and compulsory
distancing" (DISPO) in 19 of the 24 national districts:
Buenos Aires
, the
City of Buenos
Aires
were excepted.
Aires
,
Chaco
,
Neuquén
and
Río Negro
.
July
With the contagion curve on the rise and the focus still on the health care of the population, the political cordiality between the President and the opposition was maintained, so much so that in the act on July 9,
Alberto Fernández
defined
Alberto Fernández
as his "friend" to
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta
.
This concord was not going to last long, since the growth of the positive image of the Buenos Aires head of government was the excuse to strain relations.
The main source of contagion was in
the
AMBA
, in addition to some towns in
Chaco
,
Jujuy
and
Río Negro
.
Therefore, the announcement of a new stage of the
quarantine
, on July 17, was made with the presence of the leaders of those districts.
On July 20, a number greater than 100 daily deaths was reported for the first time (113).
And with few exceptions, since then it was not going to drop below triple digits in deaths from
coronavirus
.
In fact, in the following three months the jump of the deceased went from about 2,400 to more than 27,000 towards the end of October.
In mid-July, the
City of Buenos Aires
enabled outdoor physical activity: with the return of
runners
to the streets, the controversy focused on how much contagion could grow with more people circulating on public roads .
The return of the runners to the Buenos Aires streets occurred in the middle of winter.
(Marcelo Carroll)
August
By August, the
pandemic
was on the rise again in Argentina: it attacked areas of the territory that had remained free of contagion and aggravated the outlook in most of the other affected areas.
The most serious situations continued in the
AMBA
and
Jujuy
.
On July 31,
Alberto Fernández
,
Horacio Rodríguez Larreta
and
Axel Kicillof
reported together that the quarantine would be maintained in the Federal Capital and Greater Buenos Aires until August 16.
On August 12, Fernández announced that Argentina had signed an international agreement that would allow it to be part of the vaccine production chain and access it between six and twelve months before.
The agreement was signed between the
University of Oxford
, the Swedish-English company
AstraZeneca
and the Slim Foundation, with the participation of the governments of Argentina and Mexico, to produce between 150 and 250 million vaccines destined for Latin America with the exception of Brazil, which does not signed the agreement.
The contagion curve, meanwhile, advanced upward.
In the middle of August, the virus attacked new areas of the territory that had been kept free of contagion, while the situation worsened in most of the other affected areas.
The most complex situations were maintained in the
AMBA
and
Jujuy
, with considerable peaks in the cities of
Mendoza
,
Córdoba
and
Rosario
.
On August 27, the barrier of
10,000 daily infections
was surpassed for the first time
throughout the country.
September
As a result of the increase in the number of cases, the percentage of occupancy of
intensive care
beds was also beginning to be observed with concern
, a figure that already touched 60 percent throughout the country, although in the
AMBA
it was already estimated at close to 65 percent.
In those days, the
Ministry of Health of the Nation reported
the investment, since the beginning of the
pandemic
, of 42 billion pesos destined to the expansion of the health system, and that since March added more than 4,000 respirators throughout the country to be able to provide care during the
Covid-19
crisis
.
The country went from having 18.8 to 27.4 respirators for every 100,000 inhabitants.
And "from 3,929 critical beds, this rose to 12,450, which means an expansion of 46%," said the Secretary for Health Quality, Arnaldo Medina.
With Racing - Nacional, for the Copa Libertadores, professional football returned in Argentina.
(EFE)
On September 7, 271 deaths were added to the payroll, with which Argentina exceeded
10,000 deaths
since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The next day, meanwhile, the border of 500,000 infections was crossed.
In addition, as of September 10, 67 percent of the 3,035
intensive care
beds in
the AMBA were occupied.
On September 17, professional football returned to Argentina, with the
Copa Libertadores
, without an audience in the stands and in the midst of strict sanitary measures: the first match played was between Racing Club and Nacional de Montevideo, which the Uruguayan team won by 1 -0.
October
On October 1, the Ministry of Health of the Nation reported 3,352 deaths and 14,001 new cases from
coronavirus
;
thus, the total number of infected throughout the country amounted to 765,002 and fatalities totaled 20,288.
But of the reported deaths, only 29 corresponded to the previous day.
Most of those deaths, 3,199, corresponded to those that the province of Buenos Aires disclosed when they modified the loading methodology.
On October 18, the
record of infections
reported in one day in the country was
reached
, with
18,326 new cases
.
On the following day, Argentina exceeded one million
Covid-19
patients
.
In just 41 days, from September 8 to October 19, half a million new infections had been registered.
This figure caused as much concern as the scenario of possible saturation of
intensive care
places
, with about 70 percent occupancy in the
AMBA
and a scenario of collapse in staff, as indicated by the Argentine Society of Intensive Care (Sociedad Argentina de Terapia Intensiva ( SATI).
At the end of the month, the provinces of
Neuquén
,
Río Negro
,
Tucumán
and
Santa Fe had
more than 80% occupancy.
On October 14, the resumption of domestic flights was announced, a measure that broke the prohibitions on the circulation of airplanes that had been in force since March.
And on October 30, the creation of protocols was instructed to allow regular international flights.
The intensive care rooms began to fill with the exponential growth of cases.
(EFE)
November
For the first time since the start of the
pandemic
, the
AMBA
abandoned
strict
quarantine
and entered the
Distancing
phase
(
DISPO
).
Immediately, the City of Buenos Aires activated a protocol for the return to classes in person at all educational levels.
Towards the end of the month, the Minister of Education of the Nation,
Nicolás Trotta
, reported that most of the provinces began to work to reestablish health protocols again in order to resume face-to-face classes in March 2021.
In parallel, Argentina entered the top ten in accounting for
deaths per million inhabitants
in the world.
On Sunday, November 1, it was 692 deaths per million, on Tuesday the 11th it became fifth (769), on Thursday the 13th it was ranked fourth (778) and although in the following days it fell in the ranking due to growth in other countries, the figure continued to rise, reaching over 900 deaths per million inhabitants in December.
On the other hand, the Minister of Economy
Martín Guzmán
reported the end of the
IFE
because, he justified, it was necessary to "maintain certain balances to also protect the activity, protect the people, the entire country."
Empty classrooms, the constant that was seen during most of the year in Argentina.
December
The last month of the year brought the great challenge of the start of the summer season, which was kept protocolized so as not to hurt the economy even more.
The big milestone in December was the start of the vaccination plan.
On Tuesday 22, the flight AR1060 of
Aerolineas Argentinas
departed from Ezeiza
to Moscow, with a crew of 20 people so that in 40 hours the transport operation of the vaccines produced in Russia, the
Sputnik V, could be carried out
.
Two days later, on Thursday 24, the country received the first batch of vaccines, consisting of 300,000 doses purchased by the Government from the
Gamaleya
National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology
of Russia.
According to what was announced in those days by the Government, the vaccine reception plan contemplated that another 25 million doses of
Sputnik V
would be received between January and March, to which 22,400,000 from the laboratory would be added.
AstraZeneca
and 9 million to the Global Access Fund for Covid-19 Vaccines, known as
COVAX
.
The
vaccination
plan
began to be implemented on December 29: in the first stage, the immunization of health personnel was prioritized but, in an effort to convey confidence, government authorities were also vaccinated: the first of them was
Axel Kicillof
.
Operators unload the first containers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 from an Aerolineas Argentinas plane at the Ezeiza Airport.
(EFE)
January
The
Government
canceled the
Emergency Assistance to Work and Production (ATP) program
from the first day of the new year, with which the State had assisted private companies in the payment of salaries to their employees.
To this was added the new extension of the ban on dismissals and suspensions, from Saturday 23 (with the publication in the Official Gazette) and for another 90 days.
And on the last day of the month, until March 31, the extension of the temporary rent freeze and suspension of evictions was defined, in response to “the continuity of the health emergency, many workers have seen their income affected as a result of the decline in economic activity ".
On January 21, President Alberto Fernández received the first dose of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 at the Posadas Hospital.
The month of January ended with a total of 292,405
coronavirus
infections
, the highest monthly figure since the peak of the
pandemic
, which was recorded in October: that tenth month of 2020, left a total of 415,923 positive cases, after which the contagion curve decreased in November (257,609) and December (210,301).
In this context, and with the immunization plan in place, only 300,000 new doses arrived in January, also of
Sputnik V
from Russia, on Saturday 16.
President
Alberto Fernández
was vaccinated with the first dose on January 21, and three days later Vice President
Cristina Fernández Kirchner
was immunized
, to whom
the Deputy Minister of Health of the province of Buenos Aires, Nicolás Kreplak,
applied the dose of
Sputnik V.
Cristina Kirchner received the Russian vaccine against the coronavirus.
Photo Twitter.
At the end of January, the Solidarity and Extraordinary Contribution to Help Mitigate the Effects of the Pandemic came into force, as the law passed on December 4, which established the so-called tax on large fortunes and whose project was promoted by
Máximo Kirchner
, has been regulated.
.
The norm establishes that the rate to be charged will increase according to the range of declared assets: 2.25% for those with assets of between 300 and 400 million pesos;
2.50% for those who have between 400 and 600 million;
and 2.75% for the range between 600 and 800 million.
February
Five shipments of vaccines arrived between Friday the 12th and Sunday the 28th, with a total of 2,497,000 doses, according to what was officially reported by the Government.
They were 917,000 from
Sputnik V
(in two trips);
one million from the
Sinopharm
vaccine
, produced in China (also in two batches) and 580,000 from the Covishield developed by the Serum Institute of India thanks to technology transfer from
AstraZeneca
and the University of Oxford.
Ginés González García and Alberto Fernández, in December 2019. The President fired the Minister of Health for the VIP vaccination scandal.
But the number of vaccines arriving in the country was overshadowed by the scandal that erupted around the VIP vaccination, whose epicenter was initially in the
Ministry of Health
and in the
Posadas Hospital
, although other cases became known as days went by. in different districts across the country.
The case was known through the confession made by journalist Horacio Verbitsky, who on Friday the 19th told a radio program that he had been vaccinated at the
Ministry of Health
, at the request of Minister
Ginés González García's team
.
Deputies, senators, trade unionists and those close to the power of Kirchnerism with less age than the required to be vaccinated had benefited from the VIP vaccination that ended with
González García
dismissed from his position, and replaced by the hitherto Secretary of Access to Health,
Carla Vizzotti
.
March
On Monday 1st, 732,500
Sputnik V
vaccines arrived
on flight AR1063 of Aerolineas Argentinas.
With this shipment, the Government reported having exceeded 4 million doses of the different vaccines against
Covid-19
.
The capital city of the province of Formosa, governed since 1995 by Kirchnerist
Gildo Insfrán
, was the scene of a revolt led by merchants after the local government decided to return to phase 1 of
quarantine
(isolation) for having detected 23 new cases of
coronavirus
throughout the provincial territory.
The Government extended on March 11, and until December 31, 2021, the health emergency due to
Covid-19
, which generates the legal and regulatory framework to maintain multiple measures to face the
pandemic
.
The emergency had been approved by law 27,541 and then extended until this Friday, March 12 by decree 260/20.
On Saturday the 13th, decree 168/2021 was published in the Official Gazette, extending the DISPO until April 9.
The rule was based on the fact that "many countries in the region (Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay) show an increase in cases in recent weeks" and that "variants of the virus have been detected", so "strategies must be developed to reduce income and mitigate the possibility of transmission of these variants in our country ".
On Thursday 18,
Alberto Fernández
spoke unexpectedly through the national chain, in which he admitted the delay in the supply of vaccines, although he put special emphasis on the fact that it is a problem that affects not only Argentina, but also suffers Worldwide.
“Only 18 countries have received 88% of the
vaccines
that have been distributed so far.
The vast majority of countries are in a vast desert, with little or no access to vaccines.
In addition, there is a global delay in the delivery of vaccines.
There are problems of production, logistics, supplies, given an absolutely exceptional complexity, "said the president.
And he added: “In the global
vaccine
desert
, we put all our energy, the financial capacity of the State and its logistics in buying new doses.
We organize that they be transferred and distributed to each city, each neighborhood, each town, to the most remote places in the country.
My goal is that the
vaccine
reaches each one as soon as possible ”.