Argentine officials worry coronavirus infections could rip through the crowded Buenos Aires slum of Villa 31, where confirmed cases nearly doubled in two days after widespread testing.
Men wearing face masks ride a motorcycle that hauls a trailer in the “Villa 31” neighborhood during a government-ordered lockdown to curb the spread of the new coronavirus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. According to official data, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 disease in this city’s slum have increased in the past week, putting authorities on high alert.
Just below, Ramoma Medina lives in a 3 by 3 meter room with seven family members, including her disabled 12-year-old daughter with West syndrome, a severe type of epilepsy. It’s not a place meant for spending a coronavirus quarantine as the pandemic spreads through the metropolis around them. Until this week, the area had been relatively spared by the pandemic, which began to spread in wealthier districts. Only 100 cases had been confirmed in the Villa by Monday. But officials worried that infections may quickly rip through the crowded district began to do widespread COVID-19 testing on Tuesday, and the total of confirmed cases had jumped to 198 by Wednesday, with many cases still outstanding.
At dusk, youths gathered close to one of the neighborhoods main entrances, while music pounded nearby. A group of men drank beer, all ignoring orders to wear face masks and seeming unimpressed by the presence of police in bulletproof vests and carrying guns. Villa 31 began in the 1930s with the arrival of Italian immigrants, and gradually spread as people from elsewhere in Argentina and neighboring countries arrived. About half the residents now are from Uruguay, Peru or Bolivia.
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