CAMAGÜEY.- A few days ago, information spread from word of mouth and through the media: the Provincial Defense Council decided to close two important arteries of the city of Camagüey where a large number of people from all over the municipality go, and even from beyond. The objective was to limit the agglomeration and contain the spread of the epidemic, in days that have set record numbers of infections for the province.

For some, the measure would have been more effective if it were also extended to other arteries that pedestrians now assume that they cannot circulate through those declared as special surveillance zones. Others believe that just closing the stores would not require such a radical decision.

On the other hand, says Aida Antúnez Parrado, president of the Defense Zone 19 of the Central Popular Council, this has been well received by the residents of the six inhabited houses in the central Maceo street, because it reduces the risk of contagion. The residents on Avenida de la Libertad and Calle Candelaria think the same way, because many are surprised by the tranquility rarely experienced in those places.

IN ZONE

In the La Ragazza unit lies the command post from where they communicate both with the neighbors, through the messengers, and with the outside of the closed area. Antúnez Parrado explained that a survey of the housing fund was carried out, the 18 people were classified by age, in case they needed any special attention.

Inside, in addition to the workers of La Ragazza, only the Doñaneli bakery-sweet shop is in operation, whose productions are marketed elsewhere, in addition to selling a daily module of bread to the neighbors.

"Also vegetables, meat, so that they do not have to leave the houses," said Teresa Tamayo Guerra, president of the Centro Popular Council. "Now we are closing República Street and a part of Independencia, which takes more work, due to the number of homes and the number of residents."

Daysi Márquez Rodríguez, a clerk at La Ragazza, now acts as a messenger, "I write down what came, with the prices, I ask the residents what they are going to buy, and I take the products to the doors, wearing a face mask and washing my hands frequently ."

An essential part of the work is the active investigation led by the staff of the family medical office to detect symptoms of the disease early.

WHAT IS THE MAGIC?

If there are only six homes on Maceo Street, imagine how difficult it is to serve more than 210 homes in that regime. That task has been carried out by the Garrido-La Caridad Defense Zone since it was decided to put the entire Avenue under surveillance, plus Candelaria Street, not only because of the concentration of people, but also because of the appearance of positive cases in the area.

The images are repetitive, the presidents of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) and the messengers meet and organize the work of the day to guarantee the permanence of the residents in their homes and that essential supplies reach each one.

Pedro, with his wheelbarrow, delivers the standard bread; Marta and Maira buy and distribute the three-peso bread from the Cuban Bread Chain, scold the neighbor who opens the door without the nasobuco, and offer the odd phrase of encouragement or joke, which they cannot miss these days; two other members of the team receive the day's orientations at the Defense Council command post.

When the intensity of the work reduces the forces, those willing to help appear: the same is a high-ranking professor of Psychiatry in the province, or the administrator of the Consumer Registry, or the one who offers to pay the module of someone who is not there because it is essential in his job and does not return until the afternoon.

It encourages how the CDRs come to life and are reinvented to guarantee the fulfillment of the task that today unites them around the neighborhood to stop the transmission of such a contagious and vital virus in its tracks.

Undoubtedly, the magic behind the yellow tape is that the "Negro" and Ahmed know that one way to take care of Raquel, Ignacio, Arsenio, Concha, Juan and the other vulnerable on the block is to put their youth and strength in function so that they do not have to leave the house. This is how they load and distribute nine or 10 heavy packs of food in the blink of an eye, for a value that some say is lost and when push comes to shove: solidarity.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez