CAMAGÜEY.- They felt fear, it happens many times especially when facing something that is not known, especially if it is the possibility of being close to a disease that kills. It happened to them and it may still happen to some of the workers at the Hotel Plaza in the city of Camagüey, which since February 6 has served as a Surveillance Center for international travelers, foreigners and permanent residents abroad.
There everything works like a gear, it has to be like that so as not to fail at anything. Merlin Álvarez's troop, its director, recites the protocols and applies them, the only way to escape unscathed from something that cannot be seen and whose contagion occurs with the slightest mistake.
Although of the 57 travelers who have hosted, 33 have already left with the negative PCR on the fifth day, they well know that the danger lies in trust.
“Each of the 25 workers directly linked to the guests, from the kitchen staff to the waitresses, knows what they have to do. The protocol is strict and we have the means to protect ourselves, the flow is well thought out so that there is no contamination between the areas ”, explained the director.
The Greek Dimitri Saltafera is one of the 24 clients that remains in the facility. He has been there for a few days and waits for the fifth of his arrival in Cuba to have the second PCR done. "This is very important that Cuba has to protect its population from COVID-19, I have felt very well cared for here and I hope to leave soon," he said.
This team contacted, also by telephone, with the new resident abroad Delgis Pérez. She and her husband wait for the surveillance time to meet with their loved ones. "There is very good care, we are doing great, the family awaits us outside that we will see again after a year and three months of separation, but we will be calmer in knowing that we do not have the coronavirus"
In the folder the young Ada Iris receives the travelers. At that moment she begins the stay in the hotel that implies strict isolation. You cannot leave the rooms, they have breakfast, lunch and dinner there, and they receive cocktail service, without alcohol.
“I had never had a similar experience, but with training and the support we have had, plus the means of protection, complying with hygienic measures, we will get out without getting infected. For me and for mine, I have to take care of myself a lot. I have to manipulate the client's documentation that I don't know if he's infected, that's why the clothes I wear during the shift I take off before leaving the hotel ”.
On the second floor, in a still clean area, the waitress Teresa prepares to go to the so-called Red Zone, where the visitors are. She is dressed in green, with gloves, a face mask and a mask, she says that in the many years that she has been in the service of Tourism she had never faced anything like this, “I was in‘ Port-au-Prince ’and now here. I have the commitment not to get sick, because I am a grandmother and a mother, I cannot take the disease home ”.
An essential part of the gear is the Health personnel. Coming in contact with the patient during the visit, taking the temperature several times a day involves necessary risks, but it is about preventing the virus from circulating in the country, said Dr. Libia Perpiñán Lluesma, a specialist in Comprehensive General Medicine at the Branch of Cuban Medical Services. “These actions allow us to strengthen clinical epidemiological surveillance, detect any symptoms early and activate the created mechanism. When the traveler is isolated, the risks of introducing the virus are minimized, that is proven ”.
To the rich history of the emblematic hotel institution, another page is now added, written for the value of its people. Many of these travelers, when everything passes, will return to the city and will remember the place where, despite complying with strict sanitary protocols, they received the affection of those who turned their stay there into a "Plaza" of love and isolation.
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez