COVID in Puerto Rico: Leaders or Followers, by Francisco Segura

Coronavirus has represented a challenge for all countries. The United States has not been the exception. Federal and state governments have scrambled to build a strong response to the virus. The first weeks of the pandemic were of trial and error, with states shuffling a variety of options. Nevertheless, COVID-19 cases started to slowly pile up, leading to an outbreak. As the first wave of coronavirus swooped by, forcing states to close down, others refused to take action against the virus and remained open for business. As uncertainty grew, American people needed a leader.

Puerto Rico almost came through. While the U.S debated whether coronavirus represented a threat to Americans when thousands of people were getting infected and dying, PR governor Wanda Vazquez instituted a lockdown and 7pm curfew. Starting March 15, only supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations, banks, medical equipment stores and restaurants offering carryout or delivery were allowed to remain open. The New York Times described this course of action as “some of the most widespread restrictions yet seen in the United States” (Ayala & Mazzei, 2020). Some states slowly followed suit, while others instituted less comprehensive policies in a permanent or temporary manner.

The move proved successful, as daily infection and death rates in the island remained low while they skyrocketed in the mainland. PR had acted rapidly, unearthing a comprehensive response plan within 24 hours of the first case being confirmed, positioning itself as a leader and a role model for coronavirus response in the American community. This was no small feat for an island of three million still recovering from a big hurricane in September 2017 and a series of earthquakes in January 2020. However, just as quickly as it responded, Puerto Rico crashed and burned.

The same day the lockdown was put into effect, the Health Secretary was ousted from his position. An interim Health Secretary was named, but resigned just 13 days later, citing overreach from the Governor’s office. On April 5^th, local press reported that the government had paid $38 million dollars to a company which did not market medical products and was owned by a government contractor and majority party donor, for a million coronavirus tests which were never received. These allegations sparked an investigation led by the State House of Representatives, which found that the contract for the purchase of the tests was awarded illegally. This investigation also unearthed a pattern of obstruction from the Governor’s office and other public entities in the purchasing and distribution of medical equipment. In addition, the Department of Health’s coronavirus data was found to be incorrect.

Meanwhile, state governments in the mainland were starting to lessen restrictions and slowly reopening. Soon, Governor Wanda Vazquez was being pressured by the private sector to reopen the economy. The governor fell to these pleads and followed the other states’ lead. After two quick reopening phases, Governor Wanda Vazquez announced the reopening of all establishments at 75% capacity starting June 16^th. She also announced the island would be open for tourists starting July 15^th (Hernandez Cabiya, 2020). This turn of events did not come randomly, as after the first month of the pandemic, the government gradually moved away from the hands-on approach it once had, and started to call for personal responsibility, with the governor publicly stating multiple times that the government was not to be responsible for any surge in coronavirus cases.

Puerto Rico has horribly failed in habilitating hospitals for COVID patients, securing tests for its residents and developing a tracing program. As of today, public hospitals across the island are facing an overflow of patients. The island has also consistently lagged behind in testing rates and is currently dealing with a shortage of tests (Mazzei, 2020). The government’s inability to put into action its own response plan, coupled with the hurried reopening, has led to the arrival of a second wave of coronavirus. The infection rate has more than doubled in the past couple of weeks. According to the Puerto Rico Department of Health, the island has a total of 6,835 confirmed cases and 11,576 probable cases, for a total of 18,411, and 230 deaths as of August 2^nd. (Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico, 2020). According to The New York Times, the rate of average daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 people more than doubled in the past weeks (The New York Times, 2020).

With each day that goes by, the American people have been able to separate leaders from followers. These trying times have set up the scenario for our elected officials to show us what they are made of. This exercise has proven what has been the worst-kept secret in the island’s history: The government is uncapable of successfully responding to a crisis and it is corrupt to its very core. In light of the appalling government response to the virus and the irregularities which have been brought to public knowledge, a special prosecutor was assigned to investigate Governor Wanda Vazquez, as well as other public officials. Puerto Rico was given a chance to stand in the batting box and prove itself as a leader. It struck out looking.

Works Cited

1. Ayala, Edmy, and Patricia Mazzei. “Puerto Rico Orders Coronavirus Lockdown. Violators Could Be Fined.” The New York Times, nytimes.com/2020/03/15/us/coronavirus-puerto-rico.html.
2. Hernandez Cabiya, Yanira. “Dramatic economic reopening after 88-day lockdown.” Caribbean Business. https://caribbeanbusiness.com/52221-2/?cn-reloaded=1.
3. Mazzei, Patricia. “Puerto Rico Lags Behind Everywhere Else in U.S. in Virus Testing.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/us/puerto-rico-coronavirus.html.
4. Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico.”Puerto Rico COVID-19.” Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico. https://bioseguridad.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/d7308c1abb4747e584329adf1215125e.
5. The New York Times. “Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count.” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-coronavirus&region=TOP_BANNER&context=storylines_menu.