The Case for Framing COVID as a Social Problem
Covid was only framed in biomedical terms, in the same way housing for the working poor was framed in the 1880s as a sanitary problem. Yet, both are social problems that acted as amplifying factors.
A high income economy as ranked by the World Bank, Chile is considered one of the most prosperous nations in Latin America, leading the way in terms of standards of living and economic freedom.
Yet, Chile is today the region’s worst impacted country as issues of spatial and socio economic segregation were overlooked by decision makers.
Life expectancy in Chile is close to 80 years – better than the United States.
Chile, along with Brazil, Argentina and Mexico was ranked among the most prepared Latin American countries when the pandemic reached the region in March 2020. And a total lockdown was imposed less than 10 days after the first case of Covid was detected in the country.
And yet, out of the 33 LAC nations, Chile is the region’s worst impacted country in terms of deaths per 100,000 population, just after Peru and Brazil.