COVID-19 threatens high death toll in Haiti

Subject

COVID-19 in Haiti.

Significance

Haiti on April 5 reported its first COVID-19 death. Since the presence of the virus was first confirmed on March 19, only 27 cases have been diagnosed nationally. However, with very little testing taking place, the medical community has raised concerns that actual infection rates may be far higher than official figures suggest. Stringent quarantine measures imposed to limit contagion are being routinely flouted and, with Haiti’s healthcare system among the most underfunded and understaffed in the Americas, widespread infection threatens to inflict a high death toll.

Impacts

• Haiti has limited recourse to international aid, much of which is suspended owing to the country’s political crisis.
• Continued deportations of undocumented Haitians from the United States exacerbate contagion risks.
• Moise will probably use the pandemic as a reason further to delay the rescheduling of legislative elections.
• Moise may see a brief rally-round effect, but unrest will increase as attempted lockdown measures drag and unemployment and deaths rise.
• Reliance on the security forces to enforce social distancing may harden police demands for better pay, which Moise is unable to offer.