Like so many countries throughout the world, Guatemala was not able to avoid the arrival of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). As a medical mission organization, a significant portion of our volunteers and supporters are healthcare providers and we continue to pray for your strength and protection caring for patients (and your own families and communities) at home in the United States but we also know that you carry Guatemala in your hearts and have been curious about recent news and events.
STATUS OF COVID-19 IN GUATEMALA
The current situation in Guatemala is complicated just as it is throughout the world.
On one side, you have the hospitals overflowing by 200%, no available beds and limited medications; but even with the medical personnel struggling they have kept daily deaths under 50, making fatality 2.4% of total cases. The Delta variant has proven to be incredibly contagious, and as of October 24, 2021 there were still 27,731 active confirm cases of COVID-19 (approximately).
However, on the other side, not everything is bad news; even after a slow start Guatemala has administered at least 6,834,159 doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 20.6% of the country’s population. During the last week reported, Guatemala averaged about 76,077 doses administered each day. (Most of the cases are in Guatemala City due to the density of the population in that department, therefore, most of these vaccines were given in the city)
There has been a significant decrease of cases in the most recent weeks and an increase of people getting vaccinated, making everyone feel optimistic and hopeful that the current situation is going to get better soon.
