CAMPOHERMOSO, Colombia (AP) – When customers enter their hardware store, Nelson Ávila asks them to wear a mask and wash their hands. Sprinkle alcohol on the notes and coins they give you before putting them in the box.
The shop in Ávila is located in Campohermoso, a city of 3,000 inhabitants in the state of Boyaca, in the mountains of central Colombia, which has not reported cases of coronavirus. According to the Ministry of Health, Campohermoso County, which consists of the city and the surrounding farms and villages, is one of two counties in the country that do not have COVID-19. Colombia has more than 1,100 counties.
“These receipts can carry the virus,” Avila, 49, said while disinfecting some crumpled Colombian pesos. “They go hand in hand, so we have to be careful.”
Officials and locals say the city has been able to keep the virus at bay thanks to the disciplined behavior of its residents and the constant campaigns urging people to distance themselves socially and wear masks.
The remote location of the city surrounded by mountains, away from the main roads, has also helped it stay free of coronavirus. It has only seven streets and six avenues distributed in an orderly grid. It is located at the bottom of a green valley, at an altitude of about 1,000 meters above sea level.
“Campohermosos has a low population density and little contact with large cities,” said Jairo Mauricio Santoyo, Boyaca’s state health secretary.
Since Colombia, with a population of about 50 million people, has reported more than 2.3 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, many 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, says the city’s mayor, Jaime Rodríguez. The coffee growing area has been peaceful for over a decade, but is rarely visited by outsiders.
Rodriguez says communication has been crucial in keeping the pandemic away from Campohermoso. Messages about the virus and how to prevent it are broadcast three times a day on loudspeakers placed in the city’s streetlights.
The local radio station also broadcasts daily programs that talk about prevention. To ensure everyone gets the message, the mayor distributed 1,000 radios to farmers living in rural Campohermoso.
“The whole town has come together,” Rodriguez said. “Police, the health center, church staff and the mayor go to the radio station to talk about the virus.”
Rodriguez said his message to citizens has been simple: “It depends on all the families to stop it.”
He has also tried to set an example. The mayor says he began to feel sick during a recent visit to Bogota, where he tested positive for the virus. He did not return to Campohermoso until he turned negative.
“We quarantined 60 families in the city because they had some symptoms,” Rodriguez said. “But they’ve all been negative.”
Now the companies are open in Campohermoso and only allow customers to wear masks. The city has not banned visitors from other parts of the country, but those who arrive and wish to stay have been asked to quarantine at a relative’s home and receive a daily call from the local nurse.
Campohermoso’s only school operates at half its usual capacity. Students have been divided into shifts and attend school every two days.
And in the largely Roman Catholic city, the local priest has also been involved in prevention efforts.
“We pray to St. Roch, who is our patron and protector of the sick,” says Father Camilo Monroy, who has also gone on the radio to talk about ways to prevent the virus from spreading.
According to reports, the only coronavirus-free city in Colombia is San Juanito, which is also located in a remote valley in the Andes Mountains.
Officials consider the two cases surprising because the virus has even appeared in the villages of the Amazon rainforest which can only be reached by boat or small plane.
Campohermoso has so far vaccinated 80 people, mostly elderly people over 80 years old.
Now, the county without coronavirus expects more features from the central government of Colombia.
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Astrid Suarez reported from Bucaramanga, Colombia.