Bogotá's lax lockdown

There's been a lot of frustration expressed on social media about the world's longest coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Even Bogotá's cows practise social distancing these days. 

Since mid-March Colombia has not only been in a state of emergency but also in an 'obligatory quarantine'. On the face of it, this appears quite intense compared to other countries. However, as is often the case here, the practice doesn't match the theory. The severity of the lockdown has fluctuated over the months.

Bogged down in Bogotá
From a Bogotá perspective, in the early, testing-the-water days, the stay-at-home orders for all but essential needs and those working in what were deemed essential services were well obeyed for the most part.

After a couple of weeks, when people who didn't buy into 'the virus is an existential threat' mantra realised that lockdown enforcement was fairly lax, we began to see a bit more movement around the city.

In response, city authorities introduced an ill-thought-out sex-based restriction. No, no, it had nothing to do with the act of having sex — although it would have been nice if born-again virgins like me were given the freedom of the place — it was in relation to gender. Only men were allowed out on one day, women the next. Trans and non-binary folk had to pick one 'side' and stick to it.

Despite reports of discrimination against transexuals, this was stubbornly persevered with for a couple of weeks after which we returned to the original stay-at-home orders.

Again, alarmed at too many people wandering the streets, an ID restriction then came into force. This remains the modus operandi. It functions thus: Those whose identity card number ends with an even number can go out for the essentials on odd-number dates, even-number dates are for those whose ID number ends in an odd digit. Geddit?

It has been said that the thinking behind this odd-even, even-odd mix is that it makes things more confusing and, so it's hoped, people will be more inclined to err on the side of caution and stay at home.

Whatever the case, this measure alone wasn't deemed sufficient for certain areas of the sprawling capital. This month, stricter (in name anyway) lockdown measures were introduced for various 'Covid-19 hot zones', staggered over a six-week period — a couple of weeks in one sector, then on to the next. For the record, my part of town, Bogotá's northern limits, isn't part of these hotspots, for now at least.

In the 'freer' areas, one can still go out on any day and at any time one wishes without fear of interrogation — the ID number/date restriction applies to entry into banks, supermarket chains and the like only.

'The hysterical, monomaniac folk in the stop-coronavirus-at-all-costs camp feel the measures aren't tough enough. If Bogotá mayor Claudia López had her own way she'd surely be more draconian in her approach.'

The bottom line is, notwithstanding the rising case figures over the last few weeks, the measures appear to work. By 'work' I mean they have found that balance between a city/country feeling it is doing the necessary to stop the spread of coronavirus and the desire not to be viewed as too authoritarian and restrictive.

(Do note, the fact the public-private health system is under pressure has more to do with its structure, general inadequacies and tardy responses that have led to a build-up of problems all at once rather than the pandemic itself — it's been on the brink for years. The pandemic and associated panic have simply served to underscore these shortcomings. Indeed, official channels are now looking into complaints about how these EPSs have handled the crisis. A cynic might say this is simply incompetents investigating incompetents.)

'Heart over head' López
The hysterical, monomaniac folk in the stop-coronavirus-at-all-costs camp will feel the measures aren't tough enough. One gets the feeling that if Bogotá mayor Claudia López had her own way she'd surely be more draconian in her approach.

It's understandable, considering the number of people who think with their heart and not their heads on such matters, failing to see the bigger picture and the consequences of widespread lockdowns. An emotionally tuned-in politician such as López can tap into that and win some priceless brownie points.

The counterweight is President Iván Duque I think it's fair to say that if he had his own way we'd be seeing far more economic activity and greater inter-municipal movement in the country right now, with the appropriate bio-security measures in place of course.

However, considering the emotions involved and the 'López leverage', he's had to rein himself in somewhat. The result of this clash of personalities and outlooks is what's been mentioned above. We're in lockdown alright, but with an amount of flexibility.

From a personal perspective, the frustrating prohibition on leaving the environs of Bogotá excepted, it's tolerable. While some of our leaders are slowly waking up to the fact that we have to learn to live with coronavirus, that locking ourselves away indefinitely is not the answer, for now this Colombian middle way is the about the best we can hope for from a highly spooked, emerging-market country.

It could be a lot better, it could be much worse, a motto for Colombia in general really. That being said, I'm well aware of the many whose livelihoods are practically done for, some of whom I've featured on my podcast.

For the moment, selfish as it might be, I'm glad I can still get out for my daily clear-the-head — with nose and mouth covered as they must be — walks, free from interrogation by over-zealous police officers. Here's hoping I haven't jinxed it now.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

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Coronavirus conspiracies

Very few things in life are simple black-and-white affairs, not even Black Lives Matter. And certainly not this coronavirus pandemic.

Coronavirus, it's lurking everywhere.

Little wonder, then, there's confusion amongst the general public when we don't exactly have one clear voice from the experts as to the best way to take on this 'challenge of our time'.  

Divisive virus

On the to-wear-or-not-to-wear-facemasks debate, it appears the weight of opinion is coming down on the side that they do play some role in reducing contagion. Nonetheless, there are still dissenting voices in the scientific community putting forward thought-provoking arguments against wearing them.

As for the efficacy of widespread lockdowns when weighed up against the collateral damage they cause in a whole host of areas — not just economically but in terms of lives lost, too — there is an amount of divergence.

In terms of the lethality of Covid-19, well it's a bit early to be definitive on this one. However, there appears to be convergence across a range of disciplines that, compared to the likes of the Spanish flu, it won't turn out to be too deadly. Today's microscopic enemy is quite particular when it comes to its victims.

Indeed, the finest brains in the business are trying to figure out why it picks on some folk more so than others.

(It is important to note that those who contracted the virus and survived may suffer from complications down the line. This remains an unknown. On the other hand, medical procedures that otherwise would have been carried out have been postponed the world over in the coronavirus "war", a factor not to be ignored when speaking of the aforementioned collateral damage.)

For some context — badly missing in most commentaries these days — in terms of overall deaths and adjusting for population growth, this pandemic may come to match that of 1957/58.

Called Asian flu (we wouldn't get away with that now), it passed through society without much ado by all accounts. We can only surmise people were more aware of their mortality back then. 

There was also, of course, a fair number of other lethal infections doing the rounds at the time. It wasn't worth getting all hysterical about one in particular.

'One would have thought that our leaders would do their best to placate a panicked public. On the contrary, state bodies across the globe are feeding the coronavirus frenzy, giving fuel to conspiracy theories.'

However, as you may have noticed, our reaction to coronavirus has been anything but 'qué será, será'. 

This could be seen, somewhat positively, as our distancing from death over the last few generations. Most of us expect to die on our own terms, so to put it. Thus, the arrival of a viral infection that's taking the lives of a certain sector of the population a little earlier than expected has caused panic.

It's also shown how health services in many countries were completely unprepared for even just a modest spike in patient admissions. "Developed" nations, in particular, must be held to account for this fatal shortcoming considering the ageing populations they've been (badly) dealing with for years now. The warnings weren't heeded.

Some countries, admittedly, at least in this early stage, appear to have done well in dealing with the pandemic. In other places, the opposite is the case: the virus is the one in control.

In such an environment, one would have thought that our leaders would be doing their best to placate the public. On the contrary, state bodies across the globe are feeding the frenzy, adding fuel to conspiracy theories.

A Covid operation

Take mortality figures. In our simple life BC (before coronavirus, just in case you're not following), I don't think I'm incorrect to assume most of us thought that recording a cause of death was a rather straightforward affair. How wrong we were it seems.

In the last week, we've seen how Public Health England has been, if you excuse the phrase, trigger-happy in naming Covid-19 as the "killer" when it wasn't actually so. A public health official in Ireland spoke on the national airwaves about the same issue there.

On top of that, I've heard of incidents back home where doctors asked family of the deceased if it was OK to attribute the death to the virus when it actually had nothing to do with it. We can extrapolate that similar obfuscation is at play here in Colombia and elsewhere.

Why this is being done, I don't know. It might be quite innocent, maybe something positive is to be gained by beefing up the Covid-19 death numbers. However, it's easy to understand how others see a sinister side to it all.

Considering the consensus on whatever measures those in charge and their health experts advise, dissenting voices are left to the likes of Hoover Institution YouTube interviews and a number of side-stream media outlets. These voices aren't, as some like to view them, crackpots. They are highly qualified professionals. Yet, by virtue of the fact they're not heard on mainstream media, their views are discarded.

We should all know the dangers of silencing others because what they're saying doesn't fit the accepted narrative. What's more, our modern world has never gone through such times as these. Nobody knows the 'correct path', it's a case of trial and error.  

Focusing only on one side does us all a disservice. It also ensures conspiracy theories gain more traction.

Simply wishing away that which makes us uncomfortable isn't the solution, in the same way as we can't wish away this coronavirus. We have to learn to deal with it whilst trying to continue to live our lives. 

In other words, it's a case of aiming to live healthily rather than hiding away in a bid to avoid illnesses. To opt for the latter is not living. (Although, for some maybe it is. Recall the old joke, 'he died aged 80 but he stopped living at 30.')

This narrow-minded, black-versus-white approach we're witnessing is only increasing division, making a bad situation worse.

You'd almost be forgiven for thinking the powers that be want it that way.

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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".  

Colombia, not up to the Covid test

In a classic episode of The Simpsons — in its heyday — a temporarily housebound Bart suspects that do-gooder neighbour Ned Flanders is about to murder his wife. 

He frantically calls the police and gets through to a ridiculous pre-record of options. In haste, he chooses regicide, whereupon the pre-record goes on to ask him, 'If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered, press one.'

So some people are getting tests, but who exactly? (Image from Facebook.)

Cartoon comedy at its best, but, of course, it would never happen like that in real life.

Honestly, it wouldn't. In fact, in Colombia — or Bogotá at least — when it comes to tackling what we've been told is the biggest peril of our time, Covid-19 (all other life-threatening conditions are now irrelevant), that Simpsons episode is actually an improvement.

I know of a handful of cases where people either suspect, with good reason, that they have the infection or they've been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. When they prudently go looking for a test they have to wait hours for their call to be answered — there's not even a pre-record of options to amuse oneself for a time.

Being on hold for ages might be OK for those with an unlimited-calls plan, but I certainly wouldn't have the patience or money to burn to wait for more than 10 minutes in such a scenario.

You give me fever
If and when one does get through to the health provider — the curate's egg that is the EPS system — there is an initial over-the-phone diagnosis. The guiding principle for being considered for a test appears to be the presence or not of a fever.

If you're fever-free, be about your business. If not, 'we'll get back to you to arrange a test.' For one acquaintance, two weeks have passed and still no word. Remember, we're talking about what effectively is the only health concern in town these days and this is how it's been dealt with.

'One reason being mooted for what is at best a tardiness, at worst an unwillingness to test, is that the system has collapsed. The more likely explanation is that they simply don't want to do it due to the cost.'

What about other potentially fatal conditions? Say your prayers and hope for the best it would seem. Sure you can beat cancer with no more than a positive attitude didn't you know? Think away that heart attack.

It must be said that for those who have been in the company of an infected person, as one friend has, there is some willingness to test. Again, though, all in its own good time. And don't be in a panic for the result, either.

One reason being mooted for what is at best a tardiness, at worst an unwillingness to test, is that the system has collapsed. The health providers are overwhelmed. They'd love to be able to test but they simply can't.

There might be a modicum of truth to that. However, the more likely scenario — considering past form of avoiding procedures on your typical José Bloggs who's not a big contributor to the system in the hope that he'll either go away and/or die — is that the EPSs don't want to shoulder the costs.

If you go privately and have, as one Bogotá hospital charges, 280,000 pesos to hand over, no problem. But if you're on basic health insurance, to the back of the queue with you, a queue that is not being attended to at that.

Immune to good governance
So while city and state authorities are imposing lockdowns to their hearts' content, without the intelligent practices of testing and contact tracing, they're effectively playing whack-a-virus blindfolded. Do also remember, the initial point of the lockdowns was to buy time for the health services to prepare for the inevitable peak.

Well, we're now entering that stage and what groundwork have they put in? Not an awful lot it seems, apart from scaremongering with case figures without any context.

What's more, considering the irrational stigma surrounding Covid-19 amongst the masses, something the government and media have played a significant role in generating (see previous sentence), properly planned wholesale testing could help to counteract this. What we have instead are people frightened to even just look for tests and a health system doing its best to avoid administering them.

Now the jury is still out on lasting immunity to coronavirus. Yet, should it turn out that those who contract it do indeed build up defences, coupled with those who don't suffer from it at all, Colombia might just stumble into "safer" territory in a few months, albeit faced with a raft of other long-term problems.

This will have been, for the most part, despite the measures and actions taken by those in charge, not because of them. As we've seen oft-times before here, authorities have (on occasions) talked a good game but when it comes to playing it, they're found badly wanting.

We'll get over coronavirus and the associated hysteria at some stage. The maladministration, that's a far deeper issue, one that is arguably even deadlier than Covid-19. We've no immunity to it. Nor do we have a vaccine to combat it.

There is always that helpline to call. 'We'll get back to you tomorrow, sir.' The thing is, tomorrow never comes.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz". 

A Colombian account with interest

Ignorantia juris non excusat. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. 'It's your fault, buddy, if you didn't know what you were doing was illegal. Don't waste energy blaming the system, take your punishment and learn from it.'

Wrong Way was also none the wiser about a CDT until very recently. (Image from Facebook.)

Taking that legal principle and adapting it to other areas of life, we can use it more positively, as an encouragement to find out about beneficial things that are readily available to us but we simply hadn't known about them. 'If you don't ask, you don't get', so to put it, yet at times the question doesn't even enter one's head at all.

A little appreciation

I say this following my somewhat pleasant recent discovery of a Certificado de Depósito a Término (CDT), what we'd call a fixed deposit (FD) account in English, with my Colombian bank, Banco Caja Social. That I didn't know of its existence until just a few days ago was largely down to the fact that for most of my time here I hadn't any savings of note to put aside for a defined period.

So when I had a steady, fixed income from December 2018 to January of this year I was fairly content to see my monthly salary lodged to what is termed a savings account here, cuenta de ahorros, but what in effect is simply a current account.

'At least I can now say my money is working a little bit for me. It certainly wasn't heretofore.'

Somewhat paradoxically, it was only in recent weeks and officially unemployed (freelance, isn't it?) as I am, that I started thinking more so about the money — and not that much, I hasten to add — sitting in that confusingly called savings account. I'm not even sure if it accrues any interest. Whatever the case, it's effectively depreciating with each passing month when one takes inflation into account, which will be in the region of 3.5 per cent for 2020.

By pure coincidence, in casual conversation with my current housemate — it can, literally, pay off to move place regularly — she told me she had just received an email from her bank, Bancolombia, about saving in a CDT. I hastily got in touch with my 'insider' at Banco Caja Social and he told me that, of course, and in classic curse-of-knowledge fashion ('Didn't you know, Brendan?') such an account exists at that institution as well.

With annual interest rates slightly north of four per cent, dependent on the amount lodged and length of time this is locked in for — there is considerable flexibility on both fronts — these accounts are far better than their equivalents in the likes of Ireland and the UK. Hence my eagerness to get in on the act.

Average avarice

Now, to state the obvious, I'm no financial expert and I'm generally risk-averse when it comes to money, so I'm sure the savvier types on such matters will say I'm still selling myself short by putting my small savings into a CDT. For such operators, these accounts no doubt don't even constitute a real venture, so any talk of a true gain is nonsensical.

It's a start, though. At least I can now say my money is working a little bit for me. It certainly wasn't heretofore.

Plus, I'm not exactly in the position to invest in something of a high-risk, high-reward nature. Indeed, my disposition and closeness to people who have suffered badly by taking on this type of gamble may mean I never really will engage in such behaviour.

Let's see the state of affairs in six months when my little 'investment' matures. For now, I've to learn to live with even less disposable income. At least these coronavirus times and the current restrictions imposed to combat it make that somewhat easier to do.

Here's hoping there are no nasty surprises in the meantime that will make me regret my money move. Maybe I didn't ask enough questions before diving in. Oh well, I will only have myself to blame.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".

Conservative liberalism: The new 'cool'?

'I'm blue, da ba dee da ba daa ...' Those of a certain vintage will remember that pop hit from the late 1990s. What exactly the blue referred to in the song, I'm not sure, but with the passing of a generation since it was a chart-topper, it could be well worth re-releasing today.

Is where their paths cross the key to progress and the new cool? (Image from iqoncept.)

This time around the blue, from a UK and Ireland (don't mention the Blueshirts) perspective in any case, would refer to conservatism. Or conservative liberalism if you will — you can insert the appropriate colour these political philosophies mean to you.

The tune could become an anthem, cheesy as it is, for those of us growing increasingly tired of the noisy, disproportionately influential comrades of, what we'll call here for simplicity's sake, the radical left and the many otherwise centrist folk who seem spellbound by it.

Not-so-free radicals
These radicals claim to represent balance, fairness, free speech and freedom in general — broad liberal values as they are — yet they are doing anything but that. 

The discourse that dominates mainstream media and much of social media, particularly Facebook, as well as academia across the greater English-speaking world is one which aims to consign much of our essential history to the rubbish bin while encouraging malignant groupthink with its associated identity politics.

This either reinforces racism where it may exist or creates it where it doesn't, under terms dictated for the most part by middle-class whites, ignorant of the racism in their very own conduct.

To go against this implies that one is a racist, white supremacist, homophobe or what have you. 

If you're not part of the witch hunt, ergo, you are a witch. I guess 'non-whites' who also speak out about or merely question the motives of the denounce-and-destroy brigade are seen as some sort of choc-ices — if one is allowed to refer to such a term these days. 

The list of proscribed phrases and views grows by the day. Anything can be twisted to fit the 'you're a racist, etc.' narrative. As one commentator put it, 'being colour-blind is now being racist'.

Indeed, much has been said and written, with good reason, about the Orwellian nature to all of this. There is only one accepted line and woe betide all those not following it, the Thought Police are watching. Room 101 for correction awaits or face being cancelled. In practice, both tend to be the fate for nonconformists.

Thankfully, however, the Party isn't in total control just yet. Dissenting voices of reason, of openness, of inclusiveness, still have a platform, ever smaller as it is becoming.

'Where once there were no limits on the "coolness" of being left, especially for the under-40s, now it's becoming cooler to be right.'

That being said, all but the complete ignorant accept that we have many inequalities to overcome. While equality of opportunity may be an impossible ideal to achieve, much more can be done to close the large gaps that continue to exist.

Conserving the centre
The broad central motorway of dialogue, learning, understanding and tolerance is the safest route to travel to arrive at a fairer society. Veering too far to the left or right, as history has shown us on umpteen occasions, only leads to catastrophe.

Considering the highjacking of the centre-left by radical, intolerant elements and their practical dominance in the humanities at universities and, by extension, mainstream media, it's in the more conservative-and-liberal-leaning quarters where the conditions for progress appear to lie. The middle ground has held firmer there.

Rather than capitulate to the extremes as has often happened, now more than ever we must defend our position. 

As George Orwell put it, 'If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.' Diverse opinions now appear to be accommodated more so in old-school liberalism than on the left and its many cheerleaders these days.

For sure, far-rightists are equally as dangerous but they don't get the same sort of adoration as their counterparts on the other end of the spectrum.

What's more, we now have people from minority groups who are running scared of these radical leftists, the very people who claim to represent them. 

For example, a number of gay friends have told me they've become embarrassed by the militaristic factions 'fighting their cause'. They've told me it was better back in the day when 'what they got up to' was a more clandestine affair. There's also some pushback from a number of prominent African Americans.

So where once, apparently, there were no limits to the coolness of being left especially for, to put a rough age bracket on it, the under-40s, now, I like to think anyway, it's becoming cooler to be right.

To do so means you're swimming against the tide, a rebel very much with a cause — to stand up to the leftist mob that is hellbent on destroying free speech and independent thought.

The blue moon is rising. Sing it loud and sing it proud.
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Listen to Wrong Way's Colombia Cast podcast here.

Facebook: Wrong Way Corrigan — The Blog & IQuiz "The Bogotá Pub Quiz".