Updates on COVID-19 in New York, Haiti, and Tanzania

As New York City reaches what may be the peak of COVID-19 cases, our colleagues in Haiti and Tanzania are preparing for the surge in cases that is yet to come.

The pandemic has thus far hit mostly upper-middle and high-income countries the hardest, where even developed health systems face shortages in protective equipment and hospital beds. The impact of the pandemic will be felt even harder in low- and middle-income countries where social distancing may be impossible for some and health services are limited.

As of April 14, 2020, Haiti has 40 confirmed cases and 3 deaths due to COVID-19. Dr. Jean Pape, Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell, was named by the President of Haiti to lead the national response to COVID-19. He has been working tirelessly to educate the public, scale up testing, establish COVID-19 treatment centers and quarantine facilities, increase oxygen supply, secure PPE, and develop an economic safety-net for the poorest members of Haitian society. 

In Tanzania, there are 88 confirmed cases and 4 deaths due to COVID-19, as of April 15, 2020.  Dr. Robert Peck, Associate Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell, continues to work with his colleagues at Weill Bugando School of Medicine and Bugando Medical Center under the leadership of the Tanzanian Ministry of Health. 

A recent editorial in the New York Times highlights that many high-income nations have understandably “focused first and foremost on the crisis within their own borders.” However, with LMICs beginning to see increases in COVID-19 cases, it will be critical to have strengthened responses in all countries. “The lesson of the crisis is that the weakest links in the global health chain are a threat to health everywhere.”
(NYT, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/opinion/coronavirus-cases.html)