The dreaded day came.

One positive case emerged in San Pedro and the community is looking for answers. It is possible that the patient caught the virus in Santa Clara but there is nothing certain about anything anymore. This patient decided to stay at home and, there was no other choice, the referral hospital was not accepting more patients because it is at its full capacity. Sadly, the patient passed away. He was not tested until after death due to the lack of tests.

At the beginning of the pandemic the plan made by the government was to handle the mild and moderate cases at a local level and if a patient needed a higher level of care, he should be referred to the main cities where they would be treated. The government of Guatemala has been working very hard on getting new temporary hospitals, but all the best efforts have not been enough to supply the need on demand. The idea of being admitted at a public hospital here is like anything you can imagine.

The Health System is especially precarious in the rural areas, and what seemed the most logical plan is now the only resource to the people all over the country.

This experience with the first positive case was not the best. One patient, one death. That would be 100% mortality if we would go with just this statistic but this is not the reality.

At this time in the pandemic, we cannot trust many things. We cannot trust statistics since the reported cases depend on the positive tests and there are not enough tests to confirm the suspected cases. We cannot trust that we have a good immune system since it is a balance difficult to measure against the viral load. We cannot trust that the treatment will help our body and that we will have access to a higher level of care. We cannot trust that we will have somebody to take care of us if we really get sick. We cannot trust we will be able to say goodbye to the loved ones. We cannot trust that we will live.

Only the mercy of God is upon us. Only with His grace we can walk through this time of uncertainty with our sight in the Eternal Life. It is time to look behind the scenes. Our orchestrator is playing a beautiful song that only those with trained ears will sing.

Are we seeing the warfare that reveals the winner of all? Are we able to spread joy and peace to counterattack the sword of the enemy? Where are we trying to put our trust on? The meds, the vaccine, the immune system, the percentage reports, the protocols of treatment?

We, as Christians, have a huge advantage over this. We know where to place our trust. We will live. Here, if the Lord wants us to stay, or in heaven if He wants to take us.

Luz Elena