Que Pasa Grecia
2021 Update 4
New in Que Pasa Grecia
New in Que Pasa Grecia: we have added a whole passel of assorted tools including power and other. Also, under Wanted is a portable oxygen generator. Check them out in Items For Sale and Wanted. Also, in this era of COVID there is an extra need for your compassion to help with pet rescue and pet adoptions. Please go to Judith Bliss’ Zagates Rosario in our Animals/Pets section.
COVID-19 Is Back Big Time in Costa Rica
A combination of Semana Santa circulation and the new variants of COVID-19 have pushed up daily cases to the highest numbers since the pandemic began—Thursday through Saturday Costa Rica averaged over 1,400 cases a day and deaths in those three days totaled 32. The ICUs at all hospitals are nearing capacity (four CCSS hospitals have already exceeded capacity) with an alarming percentage of new hospitalizations in the under-50 age group.
Predicted scenarios for the immediate future are not pleasant with re-infection rates over 1.0. In two of the three scenarios, patients requiring intensive care will soon exceed the total number of ICUs in the country. Vaccines are still in limited supply, and I personally encourage our resident readers to get vaccinated as soon as they can arrange it. Without sufficient quantities of vaccine available to reach herd immunity, COVID is going to be active in Costa Rica for a long time.
Today, I saw long lines of the 58 and over crowd waiting at the main Sarchi EBAIS for their vaccinations. Be sure you are registered with your EBAIS with your phone contact info as they will call you to give you an appointment time to be vaccinated. Important note: a first shot can be rescheduled, but your second vaccination shot cannot be rescheduled.
Remember, we may be done with COVID-19, but COVID-19 is not done with us.
“Sanitary Driving Restrictions” Tightened
Beginning Tuesday, 27 April through Sunday, May 16, the driving curfew will extend seven nights a week from 9pm to 5am. (Remember, weekend driving restrictions have been re-implemented—even plates can drive on Saturdays only, and odd numbered plates can drive on Sundays only.)
Expect Additional Restrictions as Soon as 3 May
I do not have any inside information, but our COVID outbreak is now the worst it’s been since the pandemic began and going in the wrong direction. Common sense says that the government will consider further restrictions on business openings/hours, driving restrictions, closures of parks and entertainment venues and limits on the size of gatherings, etc. A date that Ticos have mentioned when some of this might be implemented is Monday, 3 May.
A “Survivors” Book
Most of our subscribers do not have family other than a spouse or ‘significant other’ living with them in Costa Rica. The older we become the more my wife and I begin to think about what happens to us, our assets and our ‘stuff’ once we are gone and how do we prepare our mate and/or survivors living far to the north to take over in the event of our demise or our becoming incapacitated.
After the body is attended to, there will still be work needing be done and some advance planning is absolutely essential. This fact came home to roost recently when a head of household we know died suddenly and their mate had no idea about where their money was, how much there was or how to get access to it. However, it’s not just a surviving mate, it is much more complicated if the nearest survivor lives 5,000 or more miles away.
We have decided to prepare as much as possible in advance of that inevitable day and to leave instructions and as complete a record as possible for our survivor(s). We are, admittedly going to what some may consider to be ‘extreme’ in our preparations. Our ‘book’ will even include a table of contents. (Actually, preparing the TofC is really helping to identify what needs to be included and how much detail is required.) Our book may wind up being a binder, but in it will be contact information for every important service provider, business, financial institution or friend, what has been done in advance and what will need attention.
In addition, we are listing account numbers and where to find the passwords for banks, utilities, online serivces and the like. For us, it will literally be a ‘map’ of where all of the ‘bones’ are buried, how to open the treasure chest and who should be enlisted to help dig it up. We have already designated one of our daughters as executor and when she has visited us here we have given her some advance exposure to important information. She has also been introduced to our lawyer, realtor and close friends.
An important reminder: Costa Rica is not a North American country and its systems and the way it operates is quite different from what your survivors will be used to. The level of detail that you provide and how you approach it is up to you. However, providing the keys to the kingdom should be a big help when the time comes.
“Acostarse con las gallinas”.
Literal translation: to go to bed with the hens.
English meaning: to go to bed early.
Thank you Isabel Arguello for your continuing contributions.
Isabel teaches Spanish and does translations.
Find out more about Isabel on the QuePasaGrecia website.
Stay safe, get vaccinated, and wear a mask,
D. Davis, editor
Diane Cooner, webmaster
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