Spain-based Air Europa announced October 19 that it will resume nonstop flights between Medellin’s Jose Maria Cordoba (MDE) international airport and Madrid (MAD), Spain.

“As of November, Air Europa resumes its flights to Bogotá, Medellín, Caracas and Havana and increases frequencies to Santo Domingo, Quito and Guayaquil,” according to the company.

By year-end 2020, Air Europa will have nonstop flights to 18 destinations in the Americas, according to the company.

Initially, nonstop flights to Medellin, Bogotá, Caracas and Havana will be once-a-week until passenger demand rises, enabling more flights, according to Air Europa. As a result, twice-a-week service is foreseen for Bogotá, Havana, Buenos Aires, Lima and Santa Cruz (Bolivia), according to the company.

Covid-19 Insurance Provisions

Via a new insurance policy through Allianz Partners, “the Air Europa customer will have medical and hospital expenses covered in the event of a possible Covid infection, as well as the cost that could arise from the extension of your hotel stay or, where appropriate, from the pertinent quarantine,” according to the company.

The new policy “includes medical transfer and repatriation, and the cancellation, in the case of not being able to fly due to contagion, up to the limit established in the policy," according to Air Europa.

In addition, Air Europa “allows a free date change on all reservations made,” according to the company.

Medellin Mayor Daniel Quintero on October 17 issued a startling analysis indicating that the Medellin metro area likely has already surpassed 1 million Covid-19 cases with 96% of those likely recovered.

According to the Mayor’s analysis (see: https://medellin.gov.co/irj/portal/medellin?NavigationTarget=navurl://96fe4145738006ecf074a9e8fc82bccc), “in some countries it has been shown that for every person infected [as indicated by a positive Covid-19 test] there are 10 more infected than never were tested. If so, [then] Medellín would already have around 800,000 infected and the Medellin metropolitan area more than 1 million, with most already cured.

“With the [Colombian] National Institute of Health, we will carry out a ‘seroprevalence’ study in Medellín to determine what percentage of the population has already been infected and did not realize it. This will help us refine our ability to manage the infection and the ICU [intensive care unit occupation] curve [see chart, above].

“Regarding the number of cases, we remain in a plateau state without geometric growth and with 96.3% of people who have already overcome the contagion. Self-care has meant that only 10% of cases are among people older than 70 years [the most vulnerable population]. With them we must take the greatest care.

“The ICU occupancy rate has grown driven not by Covid but by delayed surgeries and other diseases. Among Covid cases, we have 249 stable cases, 63 with other respiratory Infections and 358 others in ICU now because of delayed surgeries and other diseases, which is increasing.

The [Antioquia] government has the autonomy to restrict delayed surgeries by raising the hospital [ICU occupancy rate] alert level to ‘red.’ However, this would not require quarantine implications for the city or its metropolitan area due to the reasons that I will explain.

“Medellín has 1,000 ICU beds, not counting the ones we [could] have available from ‘InspiraMed’ [project], which would add more than 300. Of these 1,000, 220 will be activated whenever the Covid [ICU case rate] requires it. To support the current conjuncture of overdue surgeries we will activate 26 this week.

“Many ask, ‘why not activate all of the [spare ICU beds] immediately?’ The first reason is budgetary. Hospitals burdened with debt cannot activate an ICU bed to keep it empty [in stand-by status]. An ICU requires a group of professionals available 24/7.

“Therefore, the activation of the [ICU] beds has been agreed in a phased scheme with the hospital managers and health personnel to take care of the [hospital] finances, avoid the arrival of foreign doctors and guarantee care with the highest standards of quality.

“Medellín has managed to manage the contagion curve thanks to the use of technology, giving us time to manufacture ventilators and comply with the ‘ICU 1,000’ plan.

“The number of ICU patients due to Covid in our health system has remained stable [see chart above, gray line] and below what we expected for this date. This has made it unnecessary to activate new ICU beds that have costs for hospitals.

“However, it is essential to recognize that this is an unprecedented and unpredictable crisis. There are questions still to be resolved: Will new [Covid-19] strains come? Will there be a vaccine? The only way is to keep investigating,” according to the Mayor.

Medellin-based utilities giant EPM announced October 16 that it has now completed all 35 scheduled measures to slash foul odors from its recently inaugurated “Aguas Claras” sewage treatment plant in the northern Medellin suburb of Bello.

The only remaining measure (number 36) is to complete a neighborhood survey asking local people about the effectiveness of the technical measures undertaken to avoid foul odors from the plant, according to EPM.

EPM subsidiary Aguas Nacionales just presented its progress report on "Aguas Claras" to the Antioquia Departmental Environmental Council (CODEAM).

“CODEAM, which has met periodically since February of this year, is made up of representatives of the [neighboring] Bellanita community, councilors and representatives of the Community Action Boards of the [plant’s] area-of-influence, Secretary of the Environment of the Government of Antioquia, Bello’s Secretary of Environment, the Bello Health Secretariat, Medellín and Bello Comptrollers’ Offices, the Health and Social Protection Section of the Antioquia Government, the Metropolitan Area ofValle de Aburrá [AMVA] and EPM,” according to the company.

“According to the measurements of Aguas Nacionales and EPM, which are reported and monitored by AMVA within CODEAM, odors have been considerably reduced, as of the fulfillment of this optimization plan. It has been about eight months of work to overcome the odor conditions that were presented at the beginning of 2020.

“With the San Fernando sewage treatment plant (located in the southern Medellin suburb of Itagüí) and Aguas Claras (in Bello) now operating, EPM treats 84% of the wastewater coming from homes, businesses, industries and companies in the Aburrá Valley,” the company added.

Colombia’s national immigration authority (Migracion Colombia) announced late last night (October 5) that it has detected more than 70 international passengers infected with Covid-19 illegally arriving in Colombia since October 1.

“From October 1 to date, more than 70 foreign citizens have been inadmissible [to Colombia] for not complying with the legal requirements to enter the country,” according to Migracion Colombia.

Among the latest cases include a Covid-19 infected woman and her baby arriving October 4 on a flight from Cancun, Mexico, according to Migracion Colombia.

“Since the PCR [Covid-19 detection] test began to be required to enter the country on October 1, more than 9,000 national and foreign citizens have entered our national territory, and more than 70 foreigners have been inadmissible for failure to comply with the requirements to enter the national territory,” according to the agency.

“Airlines that have transported five positive cases for Covid-19 [are now facing] an administrative investigation, which could lead to a penalty of up to COP$12 million [US$3,130] for each one of the [illegal, infected] travelers,” according to the agency.

Meanwhile, Colombia’s civil aviation authority (Aerocivil) simultaneously announced October 5 that both Avianca and Wingo are now under investigation for illegally boarding several Covid-19-infected passengers on two different flights.

Avianca faces charges for illegal boarding of passengers on a recent Medellin-Bogota flight , while Wingo faces charges for illegal boarding on a Cancun-Bogota flight, according to Aerocivil.

New York Quarantine Restrictions

On a related front, Avianca announced October 5 that all Colombia passengers bound for New York now must pass new Covid-19 quarantine controls.

The announcement follows a New York Governor executive order restricting passengers from Covid-19 "high-risk" countries, including Colombia and El Salvador, Avianca noted.

"We recommend that passengers that can't comply with the quarantine [requirements] abstain from traveling," according to Avianca.

All New York-bound passengers from Colombia must now fill-out a New York Health Department form, available here: https://forms.ny.gov/s3/Welcome-to-New-York-State-Traveler-Health-Form.

“If you are entering New York state and have traveled from within one of the designated states or countries [including Colombia, then], you must quarantine for 14 days from the last day you were in a designated state or country,” according to the New York Health Department.

“Upon entering New York, if you are a traveler and do not have a suitable dwelling for your 14-day quarantine period, [then] you must find appropriate accommodations at your own cost.

“If you are a New York state resident returning from travel and do not have appropriate accommodations for quarantine, [then] please call your local health department: www.health.ny.gov/contact/contact_information/. For guidance on how to quarantine safely, visit: https://ny.gov/traveladvisory,” according to the agency.