CAMPOHERMOSO, Colombia (AP) – When customers enter his hardware store, Nelson Avila asks them to wear a mask and wash their hands. He sprays alcohol over the bills and coins they give him before throwing it in the box.
Avila’s store is in Campohermoso, a city of 3,000 people in the state of Boyaca in the mountains of central Colombia, which has no cases of coronavirus. According to the Ministry of Health, Campohermoso province – which consists of the city and surrounding farms and towns – is one of only two provinces in the country that is COVID-19 free. Colombia has more than 1100 provinces.
“The bills could carry the virus,” Avila, 49, said as he disinfected some wrinkled Colombian pesos. “They go from hand to hand, so we have to be careful.”
Officials and locals say the city was able to keep the virus away thanks to the disciplined behavior of the residents and ongoing campaigns urging people to distance themselves socially and wear masks.
The city’s remote location surrounded by mountains, far from the highways, also helped keep coronavirus free. It has only seven streets and six roads in a neat grid. It is located at the bottom of a green valley, about 1000 meters above sea level.
“Campohermosos have a low population density and little contact with large cities,” said Jairo Mauricio Santoyo, the Boyaca state health secretary.
Since Colombia, with a population of about 50 million people, reported more than 2.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, many people consider the lack of infections here to be a small miracle.
During the first decade of this century, Campohermoso was affected by fighting between paramilitary groups and left-wing rebels, said the city’s mayor, Jaime Rodríguez. The coffee building has been quiet for more than a decade, but it is rarely visited by outsiders.
Rodríguez says communication was crucial to keeping the Campohermoso pandemic away. Messages about the virus and how to prevent it are broadcast three times a day on loudspeakers sitting on the city’s lampposts.
The local radio station also broadcasts daily programs on prevention. To ensure that everyone gets the message, the mayor’s office distributed 1,000 radios to farmers living in Campohermoso’s rural areas.
“The whole city came together,” Rodríguez said. “The police, the health center, church staff and the mayor’s office are all on the radio station talking about the virus.”
Rodríguez said his message to residents was simple: “It is up to each family to stop it.”
He also tried to lead by example. The mayor says he started feeling sick during a recent visit to Bogota, where he tested positive for the virus. He did not return to Campohermoso until he tested negative.
“We have quarantined 60 families in the town because they are showing symptoms,” Rodríguez said. “But everyone tested negative.”
Businesses are now open in Campohermoso and only allow customers masks. The city did not ban visitors from other parts of the country, but those arriving and wanting to stay were asked to quarantine in a family member’s home and receive a daily call from the local nurse.
Campohermoso’s only school has half of its usual capacity. Students are divided into shifts and go to school every other day.
And in the largely Roman Catholic city, the local priest also became involved in prevention efforts.
“We pray to Saint Roch, who is our patron saint and the protector of the sick,” said Father Camilo Monroy, who also spoke on the radio about ways to prevent the spread of the virus.
The only other city in Colombia that is reported to be coronavirus free is San Juanito, which is also located in a remote valley in the Andes.
Officials consider the two cases to be striking because the virus has even appeared in Amazonian jungle villages that can only be reached by boat or a small plane.
Campohermoso has so far vaccinated 80 people, most of whom are senior citizens over 80.
Now the coronavirus-free province is waiting for more shots from the central government in Colombia.
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Astrid Suarez reported from Bucaramanga, Colombia.