A year on: Librarians monitoring COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

A year into COVID-19, the reality is that the Latin America and Caribbean region does not seem to be turning the page with regard to overcoming the pandemic. At the time of this writing, countries with previous low rates of infections such as Costa Rica, Uruguay, and several Caribbean islands are currently experiencing some of the worst surges in the region. Death rates in countries such as Peru, Mexico, and Argentina are among the highest in the world. When the pandemic is not ravaging a country, social unrest and political instability exacerbate matters. Massive protests in Colombia and Chile, balancing between health emergency and reliance on international tourism in most Caribbean nations, political crises in Haiti and Nicaragua, and threats to the judicial systems in El Salvador and Mexico are a handful of examples of the most salient issues plaguing the region.