Dr. John Carroll is an old Haiti hand, a veteran of the cholera outbreak, a superb photographer, and much more. Via Facebook, he writes: Cite Soleil and the Coronavirus--July 19, 2020. His complete post:
We entered Cité Soleil this morning from Route 9 and travelled towards Bwa Neuf. I was with Fr. Tom Hagan of Hands Together. I have known Father Tom for years and Father baptized Luke in Haiti in 2006 when Maria and I were in the middle of Luke’s adoption.
There were some pedestrians on this main highway but not near as many as usual and there were no other cars at all. We soon crossed the water canal that bisects Route 9. As usual it this canal was full of garbage and black sludge as it trickles towards the ocean.
The people of Soleil are currently caught in the middle of yet another war between local gangs. Intense shooting between the gangs was as recent as yesterday. I can't definitively say why certain gangs are involved or who finances them but I can confirm it is a vicious situation which has paralyzed the population of Soleil and shut down the clinic where I normally work.
As we moved down Route 9 towards the main intersection in Soleil, there were occasional road blocks made up of garbage, rocks, and large debris. However, they were moved for us so we could inch through the opening under the watchful eyes of armed gang soldiers in the adjacent neighborhood.
However, as we approached the abandoned police station in Soleil, another barricade of debris was strewn across the road and this was impossible to quickly clear. So we turned right and coursed through a water engulfed and very muddy neighborhood before we turned right on the main Soleil drag going towards the ocean.
My main goal in coming to Soleil this morning was to ask the locals what their experiences were with coronavirus. We stopped near Soleil 17 and I talked to various people inside a "Covid-closed" school which is scheduled to reopen on August 10.
The same story was told to me by almost everyone I talked to this morning--
They were all aware of many people in Soleil who had fever and headache. When I asked if people with fever and headache were going to the doctor, they said “no” because the state run St. Catherine’s Hospital in Soleil is not functional and is empty.
They also said that along with having nowhere to obtain medical care, people are very afraid of being attacked if there is the possibility that they have Covid-19. So almost every sick person elects to stay inside and drink home made tea. (Tea is made using lila leaves which are boiled in water and a pinch of sugar and salt are added.)
I was also told that no one in the slum was getting tested for coronavirus because there is nowhere in the slum that offers testing and many would not want to be tested due to the associated stigma.
And when I asked if they are aware of anyone dying of the “fever” in Soleil, they said no, but cautioned that their views may be constricted and that there was no “proof” what the sick people really have.
After doing my “random interviews,” since it was Sunday and Fr. Tom was going to say Mass at St. Anne's Church in the back part of Soleil, I walked over to the church and sat in the back. There were several hundred people in attendance--mainly women and children. Gazing up, I could see the linear bullet holes in the corrugated metal roof of the church from fifteen years earlier when the the UN soldiers (MINUSTAH) were fighting gangs in Soleil leaving many dead.
This morning there was shooting outside of church during the entire Mass. It was interesting to see the many people in front of me reflexively lowered their heads with each gun shot. Even though they are used to this mayhem in the slum, they still duck as all life is precious.
Conclusion--
Cite Soleil is the worst I have seen it in 40 years. My written words above do this dire situation little justice. The gangs and the virus have decimated a broken place and its innocent people.
I would say that the level of coronavirus infections in Soleil is very high with essentially no confirmed cases because of a lack of testing. The case fatality rate from Covid-19 is not known here and never will be known. Optimistically, maybe it is lower than in the United States or Italy due to the young median age in Soleil.
The number of sick people in Soleil is directly correlated with the violence and poverty in the slum and the dysfunction of the Haitian government, which long ago abandoned this population.
