Nicaragua inaction on virus raises fears of regional spread

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — International health officials are warning that the Nicaraguan government’s perplexing weekslong refusal to take measures to control the spread of the new coronavirus is heightening the risk of an epidemic in Central America even as neighboring countries take tough action.

President Daniel Ortega's government urged Nicaraguans to party during Carnival celebrations, and it has said they should keep attending sports events and cultural festivals, and pack the country’s beaches during Holy Week vacations this week.

Doctors have been told not to alarm patients by wearing masks or using sanitizing gel. Before schools closed for an extended vacation Friday, principals had threatened to expel students who missed class, and last month a third baseman was banned from professional baseball for three years after he asked to stop playing over virus fears.

Ortega's administration has offered no detailed explanation for its refusal to take widely accepted measures. But the health minister has spoken of the need to support the economy, badly damaged by two years of anti-government protests and harsh crackdowns on dissent. Some analysts say Ortega and his circle may fear that anti-virus measures would weaken their hold on power.

In the meantime, Nicaraguans are doing what they can to voluntarily stay away from one another. But the Pan American Health Organization's director, Dr. Carissa Etienne, warns that Nicaragua’s lack of official measures is increasing the risk of an epidemic.

“We have concerns for the lack of social distancing, the convening of mass gatherings. We have concerns about the testing, contact tracing, about the reporting of cases,” Etienne said Tuesday.

The president of neighboring Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, has warned that an out-of-control epidemic in Nicaragua would have...