Puerto Rico, success story

HURRICANE MARIA killed about 3,000 people and left parts of Puerto Rico without electricity for 11 months after it made landfall in September 2017. For the past four years its inhabitants have endured frequent electricity blackouts. Then earthquakes then hit the island in late 2019-early 2020. So when the first covid case was documented two months later, Puerto Rico was still reeling from previous disasters. The hospital system was in disarray: about 15% of medical personnel fled for the mainland after Hurricane Maria, and the earthquakes forced many clinics to close. Some Puerto Ricans were living in tent shelters, where infectious diseases could spread easily. Many feared that covid would devastate the weakened island.