Coronavirus: confined, Guyana risks a social crisis

Text by: Samuel Zralos

The overseas department, usually faced with a precarious social situation, must bear the consequences of confinement, both economically and socially.

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From our correspondent,

“ We are at the beginning, we feel worry, questioning, a certain despair. Which will lead to a complicated situation after a while. It can only degenerate if nothing is done massively and sustainably . Benoit Renollet, territorial director of the Red Cross, does not hide his concern, while Guyana is entering - like metropolitan France - in its fourth week of confinement .

With 72 cases of Covid-19 officially listed on April 6, Guyana has just entered phase 2 of the epidemic. The Regional Health Agency (ARS) admits that the virus " circulates " and that it no longer acts only in imported or secondary cases. But even if the pandemic causes its share of worries, mistrust and apocalyptic rumors, it is also confinement that could have lasting consequences on the life of the territory.

Indeed, in this department largely covered by the Amazon rainforest, many are the inhabitants who live from day to day. For many, confinement rhymes with " a completely disturbed balance " and with social and economic isolation even greater than in normal times, laments Fanny Gras, in charge of actions for the Committee for the health of exiles (Comede), a particularly active association with non-French people, numerous in the region. “ In the neighborhoods, people are confused, the little reference they could have on a possible support, they no longer have them. All the doors were closed for a minimum of two weeks , ”adds Benoit Renollet.

Health risks…

This anxiety, this nervousness of Guyanese comes back in everyone's mouth and takes multiple forms. Paradoxically, the current epidemic thus limits access to healthcare for those it does not touch.

If hospital services are still open, priority for serious cases closes the doors to " all chronically ill, primary health care, " says the head of the Red Cross. If " a certain continuity " is assured today, professionals remain very worried, especially since dengue fever is increasing this year.

… And reduced access to rights

Confined, partly in very small spaces, without access to water or electricity, many Guyanese find themselves more deprived of resources, since dependent on an informal economy battered by the ban on going out. " They have difficulty accessing water, the law, health and food, " summarizes Benoit Renollet, and can hardly turn around. Most associations have closed their reception to the public, the absence of a clean vehicle often prevents them from picking up even a food parcel and, in any case, the exit authorizations themselves are complex to access. , being sold up to 30 euros to those unable to write French.

“ There are a lot of requests for food aid, people are starting to be really hungry. At each maraud, we leave with twenty requests for meals and it's exponential, ”says Audrey Trepon. The general coordinator of Doctors of the World in Guyana, too, fears that the health crisis will " turn into a social crisis ". And to add: “ Since there are no more resources, we are already experiencing situations of violence that are increasing and that may continue to increase. "

“ We expect more proactivity and state support ”

For her, if Guyana wants to face this crisis, " we need more resources implemented in the overseas territories, especially knowing their fragility ". “ The situation is dangerous, we will have to take stock of everyone's strengths. We need to be helped on these questions, we expect more proactivity, reactivity and support from state services , ”insists this association worker.

Appearing to take the measure of the emergency, the prefecture and local elected officials have set up, since Friday, April 3, a "cell of social continuity", which should facilitate the emergency shelter of populations, the provision of accommodation, installation of water access pumps in the Campous - a sort of tiny village - which are often lacking, as well as access to food aid and public sanitation. At the same time, food aid planes have been chartered to reach the interior communities - rivers and forests - which are particularly isolated.

A vast program, greeted with as much hope as circumspection by associations and social workers, first ropes since the start of the pandemic. " We expect a lot from this, except that today there is no coordination ", sums up Audrey Trepon, resolved to " wait a little more ", but aware that associations will not be able to carry aid initiatives indefinitely .

Containment, and after?

Especially since the crisis has no chance of ending with deconfinement. " After a month, there is a cumulative delay, it will take at least three months to get back on the water, " says Benoit Renollet. A time that will accumulate with that of confinement. “ We already had little funding in Guyana on all these questions, there was no money yesterday, there we have exceptional capital and tomorrow ? How to ensure continuity, a recovery ? How to bear the financial consequences of the crisis, especially if the virus is blazing in Guyana ? How to manage the social backlash, which will also be structural ? He wonders relentlessly.

" What sustainability ? Are we going to put people back on the street ? “Wonders echoed Fanny Gras. " Is this crisis awakening the public authorities or is it temporary ? In the second case, predicts his colleague from the Red Cross, " it will burn it all ."

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• Coronavirus
• Containment
• Guyana
• France

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