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debtor long At the time, Cubans were proud of their healthcare system, and rightly so. From 2000 to 2020, this small, communist-ruled island spent more money than most other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Life expectancy is longer than in the US. Cuba has a surplus of qualified doctors and nurses. When covid-19 first broke out, Cuba sent some of its medical personnel to the country suffering the first wave of cases. Her impressive 89% of the Cuban population is now fully vaccinated with the domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine, with up to 92.4% efficacy after three doses.But according to economistof Cuba has one of the highest estimated death tolls from the pandemic relative to its size, according to the excess mortality tracker. where did i go wrong?
Officially, by August 2022, covid has killed 8,529 of Cuba’s 11 million people. However, our model estimates that the actual toll could be much higher. Excess mortality (the difference between the number of people who died in a given period, regardless of cause, and the number of deaths that would normally be expected) suggests that up to 62,000 Cubans may have died as a result of the pandemic. suggests that The 600% increase in official tolls is likely the result of inadequate testing and other issues. It is also possible that authorities underreported the death toll.
Cuba’s excess deaths per 100,000 people are estimated at 550. This corrected death toll would rank her among the 20 worst countries in the world. It would also make Cuba an outlier in the region: the average across the Americas is 368.
An aging population (almost 20% of Cubans are over the age of 60, more than anywhere else in the region) has made Cuba particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. But other factors were avoidable. Budget cuts and shortages of essential goods were hitting hard even before the pandemic. Hospitals were quickly overwhelmed after the outbreak. Oxygen, personal protective equipment and medicines ran out. Many Cubans are now vaccinated, but the country has been slow to reach its goal. The death toll peaked by August 2021, he said, during the delta wave. Only about 35% of Cubans had received a full course of covid vaccination that month, compared to 64% of Britons and 54% of Americans. But what the authorities wanted to hide is that the country’s healthcare system is not what it used to be. ■
