Chile Backtracks on ‘Immunity Cards’ Amid Backlash Over Bias
Chile Backtracks on ‘Immunity Cards’ After Backlash Over Bias
(Bloomberg) -- Chile is ditching plans to pioneer a system of immunity cards for those who’ve recovered from Covid-19 following warnings it could fuel discrimination -- and more infection.
The system, which would have been the first of its type in the world, was officially halted for one of the very reasons it was initially considered -- to avoid creating a two-tier jobs market, Health Minister Jaime Manalich said on Sunday.
The point of such a plan, contemplated in a number of countries including the U.S., was to clear those no longer at risk to themselves or others for a return to full social integration. But upon further reflection, that gave them a leg up over everyone else in the job market at a time of deep economic retrenchment. There is also insufficient evidence to prove that a person can’t be infected again or spread the virus after recovery.
“It has been brought to our attention that the cards could trigger a severe problem of discrimination,” Manalich said. They would give a minority of people privileges when being hired, re-hired or simply entering public buildings, he said.
For many others, the problem was more scientific than social. The United Nations and the World Health Organization have questioned how long people remain immune after recovering from the disease and warned the cards could undermine quarantine efforts.
The announcement not to press ahead with the plan came on the same day that Chile reported a record number of new cases -- 1,647 in one day -- in what the government has started to call the “battle for Santiago.”
Manalich had been narrowing the scope of the proposals since they were announced on April 16 amid mounting criticism. The project was repeatedly delayed and the duration of the cards limited to just three months. Keen to stress they didn’t constitute “immunity passports,” Manalich said the cards would merely state that someone had recovered from the illness, raising questions about whether they should be handed out at all.
Chile has taken a unique approach to tackling the coronavirus, including neighborhood by neighborhood lockdowns. Even so, just three weeks after the worst appeared to be over, daily infections have tripled.
Spreading Fast
The disease is now spreading fast in central Santiago, infamous for its tightly packed high-rise blocks known locally as vertical ghettos. The government has responded by expanding the number of neighborhoods under lockdown, particularly in the poorer areas of Santiago, and tightening restrictions in those areas.
“After implementing local and temporary lockdowns in high-income neighborhoods, cases decreased significantly, so we really thought the measures were being effective,” said Marcela Garrido, head of the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at the Universidad de Los Andes in Santiago. “But when the same measures were implemented in poorer areas we didn’t have the same result at all. Cases didn’t drop as expected.”
The total numbers of cases in Chile, with a population of 18 million people, now stands at more than 30,000 with 323 fatalities, which ranks fifth and seventh respectively in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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