My husband and I flew home from Belize, Central America on March 8. Our daughter, Kayla and her then 8 month old son live in Belize. The country is the same size in area as the state of New Hampshire with a population of about 400,000. On March 20, Belize officially closed all of its borders because there was one confirmed case of Covid-19. No one was allowed to enter or leave the country. On March 23 all businesses except for the essentials began closing. All residents were ordered to stay at home. On March 30, Belize had its third case of Coronavirus. On April 3 they confirmed the 4th case and the government issued a lockdown that included a curfew from 8 PM at night until 5 AM in the morning. There was a $2,500 (US Dollars) fine if a resident was found breaking the curfew. People were allowed to be outside their homes during the day for necessary reasons only- fuel, water, food. Children were not allowed outside at all. All public transportation stopped. People who live in one district (sort of like New Hampshire’s counties) could not travel to another district. Kayla could only buy groceries or go to a doctor in her own district. Her babysitter returned home to be with her family as she lives in another district. Wearing masks was mandatory. Anyone caught not wearing a mask was fined $2,500 (US Dollars). Anyone found crossing the border into Belize got a mandatory three year sentence in jail.

By May, Belize had the virus under control/contained. The government says that it was due to their early response. By closing its borders, implementing a state of emergency and closely monitoring the population’s movements. Kayla reported ever changing laws. They quarantined islands and whole districts. The government also made the decision to quickly use the system that was set to do the nation’s census to track the virus. This allowed them to gather information on people of interest and cases. Belize also accepted COVID-19 testing kits very early on. These kits were offered by Germany. (The US government opted to wait until the US could make their own which only added to the delay in response.)
 
As I write this there are almost 5 million confirmed cases in the USA and more than 160 thousand deaths. In New Hampshire, the confirmed cases are reaching 7,000 with over 400 deaths. New Hampshire has a population of 1.36 million people. I work in New London and have watched as the shopping center began to fill up with vehicles from Florida, Virginia, New York – just about every state in the union and I feel unsafe. I see people without masks in public places and I listen to government officials talk about sending teachers and children back to school. I can’t help but wonder if we (the USA) can be this negligent in stopping the spread. It not only threatens our population but it does not set well from the perspective of other countries. Kayla reports that the attitude in Belize towards the USA is very poor. The country will not allow any one from the USA to come into the country even while tourism is the life blood of the country. There was talk of allowing tourists to stay in all inclusive resorts but at this time the danger to the employees is too high.

August 16 addendum: Our daughter reports a spike in COVID-19 cases due to a private jet flown from the USA to an island off the coast of Belize with people testing positive on board. They infected workers at a resort which spread the virus to the families of the workers. Also, Belizeans illegally crossing the northern border into Mexico to shop brought it back into Belize. Kayla now reports that it is spreading like “wildfire.” Curfews are being enforced but the government cannot afford to completely shut down because people are hungry and desperate.  Belize has six respirators in the whole country.

I know that Belize is right in keeping their borders closed. I am proud of their response to this pandemic. In the meanwhile, I hope that people in our country will pay attention, wear a mask and vote for candidates that take this seriously. Stay safe everyone.