Published Tuesday, June 9, 2020 

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The U.S. government through the USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, OFDA, donated 1,200 reusable face shields made of acrylic material to the National Commission for Emergency, announced the Embassy on Monday.

According to the U.S. Embassy, these protectors are for the use of the members of the National Risk Management System, currently dedicated to the attention of the pandemic caused by covid-19 in the country.

The donation was made by Tim Callaghan, USAID / OFDA Senior Regional Advisor.

According to USAID, since 2007, they have responded to more than 90 disasters in the LAC region, working in close coordination with host governments, disaster management agencies, as well as with the local and international community to save lives.

"USAID also supports disaster risk reduction activities that help mitigate risk, prepare vulnerable communities for disasters, and reduce the social and economic impact of emergencies," said the organization in its statement.

USAID’s OFDA has a regional office in San José, Costa Rica, and a field office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

That was the fifth donation from the U.S. government during the pandemic.


In May, through the International Organization for Migration, IOM, the Embassy delivered the fourth donation of medical supplies.

In the case of the IOM with the support of the United States Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, PRM, they delivered to the Ministry of Security the second set of donations consisting of personal protective equipment and medical supplies to support the immigration police and other police officers who are facing the covid-19 emergency at the borders.

The donated equipment included wheelchairs, infrared thermometers, sphygmomanometers, oximeters, stethoscopes, surgical gloves, eye protection eyeglasses and N95 masks in addition to cleaning supplies such as chlorine, disinfectant and liquid soap.


The third donation came in April when the IOM donated 1,300 high-resistance N-95 surgical masks to the Ministry of Health.

"In the framework of the covid-19 emergency, IOM follows the attention of the health emergency, supporting the request of the General Directorate of Health, to donate surgical masks that are essential inputs in the pandemic mitigation process," said Roeland de Wilde, IOM representative in Costa Rica.

Established in 1951, IOM is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.

Also, the U.S. Embassy delivered the second donation of 912 personal protective equipment disposable medical isolation gowns to Social Security.


In March the embassy delivered the first donation through a United States Southern Command, SOUTHCOM, humanitarian assistance program.

That donation was valued at $75,000 including personal protective equipment purchased from local suppliers in Costa Rica, such as surgical masks, disposable isolation gowns, surgical gloves, goggles, and N-95 medical masks.

The donations are intended to help health workers, who are in the first line of defense against covid-19, which in Costa Rica is starting its second wave of infections.


The Health Ministry reported on Monday 620 active cases, or those who currently have the virus, in the country.

Authorities provided the following statistics of the evolution of the virus in the country:

• Of the 1,342 infected since the first case was detected in March, 712 coronavirus patients have fully recovered. That is equal to 53% of total recovered patients.

• Of the infected patients 628 are women and 714 men.

• The ages of those infected ranges from a three-month-old baby to an 89-year-old, with an average age of 35.

• 19 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 14 are in recovery rooms and 5 have been reported in an Intensive Care Unit, ICU, with delicate health conditions. Most of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• 301 foreigners infected, of these 27 entered the country unauthorized and are jailed in the facilities of the Professional Migration Police in Heredia Province.

• 20,434 people have been ruled out.

• 29,622 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

• 11 deaths have been reported from patients infected with covid-19 since March, two woman and nine men.

The most recent death was reported by the ministry on Monday. The patient was a 26-year-old Costa Rican woman who lived in Alajuela Province. She was asthmatic, which was a risk factor.

However, the virus was diagnosed post-mortem. According to the ministry report, the patient died at the Guatuso Clinic on May 30 at 10:36 a.m. She was taken by her family to the clinic due to vaginal bleeding.

As part of the protocols for the pandemic, the Judicial Investigation Organization requested the covid-19 test because a pulmonary edema was detected due to the autopsy. The covid-19 post-mortem diagnosis was positive.

According to the authorities, they will continue with the investigation of the people who had contact with the woman.

The updated number of total patients in each district can be reached at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.

As of Monday night, the pandemic has killed 405,168 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.


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