Скачать или смотреть Colombia's long virus lockdown fuels anxiety

(5 Aug 2020) Like much of the world, Colombia shut down in March as coronavirus cases surged in Europe and began trickling into the South American country.
But while restrictions have been lifted in many places elsewhere, a nationwide stay-at-home order remains in effect in Colombia more than four months after being put into place.
Isolation orders have been extended repeatedly as cases continue to rise and a limited economic reopening that began in April has inched forward only slightly.
Colombia now has the ninth-highest total of COVID-19 infections worldwide, prompting President Iván Duque to prolong the quarantine again until late August.
The effects of the long isolation are beginning to surface: in the capital of Bogota, the mayor's office reports that suicide attempts are up 21% since the start of quarantine.
Psychologists have seen a dramatic rise in new patients complaining of anxiety and depression.
Divorce lawyers say they are getting more inquiries, although clients also have found they cannot afford to separate.
"Due to the pandemic, and all the obligatory lockdown measures in the city, we are seeing a series of cases of mental health issues, psychological, etc., that leads the general population to require specialized attention," said Andres Jose Alvarez Villegas, director of Bogota Mayor's Office call center for people seeking psychological support.
Health experts say Colombia and a handful of other places in Latin America with especially long lockdowns have been moderately successful in using the time to slow infections, boost testing and expand ICU capacity.
But they also worry about quarantine fatigue just as cases reach their peak, and they say more should be done to stress common-sense protections.
The long lockdown is essentially a result of timing: Colombia and much of South America imposed the strict measures when they had far fewer cases than Europe.
Quarantines are defined as a 40-day period of isolation.
Those in Europe have steadily been lifted as confirmed cases have dropped, although some countries in Africa are still locked down.
But in Latin America -– now an epicenter in the pandemic -– reports of infections are continuing to climb.
To be sure, even Colombia's nationwide "preventative obligatory isolation" was never as deep and strict as quarantines elsewhere.
There are now 46 exceptions that allow people to leave home for various activities.
Calls to a Bogota hotline to report domestic violence have been up more than double since before quarantine.
The mayor's office has set up a mobile brigade operating around the clock to respond to mental health crises.
A city phone service offering psychological support has gotten nearly 25,000 calls during the lockdown.
Miguel Antonio Duarte, a psychologist in Bogota, said he has twice as many patients.
They include men with anger-management issues and women looking to end relationships.
Conversely, the lockdown has also made it more difficult for many women to report domestic abuse and file for divorce, said lawyer Jimmy Jiménez.  
In Bogota, residents are allowed out for certain nonessential activities only on odd or even days of the week, depending on the last number of their national identification cards.
Because many also work from home, that means little time to escape from an abusive spouse. Those seeking divorces quickly realize they can't afford it, barely able to pay rent, utilities and food bills as a family unit.  
As a result, many strained couples stay together, sleeping in separate rooms.

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