Frontline workers continue to be disproportionally affected by COVID infections, and tonight it is hitting home for the western health region. 7News has been reliably informed that a Doctor from that region is tonight intubated at the KHMH. He is a male in his 40's. Reports say he was brought in from San Ignacio earlier today. We'll keep following this story.
NASA Scientist: From Kelly Street to Future Fairy Tale
He's an Earth Observer with NASA who's recently had a hand in taking
Belize's barrier reef off of UNESCO's list of endangered heritage
sites. That's a move in the right direction proving that when it comes
to conservation awareness, the government is keeping its promises.
But Emil Cherrington started out as just another civil servant right
here in Belize. Cherisse Halsall spoke to him via zoom today for an
update on his latest projects and a dose of inspiration.
Cherrington is one of at least two Belizean NASA employees, the other
being Kenneth Hunt who works in the space Station facility where
astronauts are trained.
CPI Showed Marginal Increase in July
Institute of Belize. You saw the experts discussion that GDP
contraction and the import/export picture. But, they also presented on
the Consumer Price Index for July. That's the statistic used to
indicate how prices for a basket of goods go up or down over time.
And, for this July, the Belizean food basket went up by...point 1
percent (.1%). It's not much at all and here's why:
Daysi Montero - Statistician II
"The inflation for the month of July 2020, stood at 0.1%, meaning over
because of regular purchased goods and services went up by 0.1%, in
comparison to July 2019. We'll have a closer look at what contributed to
the inflation rate of 0.1%. These are housing, water, electricity, gas and
other fuels category which increased by 0.7%. The fool and non alcoholic
beverage category which went up by 1%. The transport category was the only
that fell by a decrease of 2.1%, however I must mention that this was the
major category inserting downward pressure on the overall inflation rate.
The municipal level, it can clearly be seen that Orange Walk experience the
highest monthly increase in consumer prices with an inflation rate of 1.3%.
Consumers in this town saw above average increase in prices for food items,
men and children footwear, telephones and maintenance and repair of motor
vehicles. Mexico reported the highest inflation rate in the region with
prices going up by 3.6% followed by Honduras with a price increase of 3.1%.
Guatemala has an increase of 2.9%. El Salvador and Costa Rica both have
price decreases with price going down by 0.1% and 0.2% perceptively."
And while the overall change was just point 1 percent (.1%), prices for
food and alcoholic beverages went up by a full 1% in July. Here's why:
Daysi Montero
"This was due to higher prices for food items such as ground beef, whole
chicken, natural milk, red kidney beans and eggs as well as some fresh
fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, plantain and oranges. These higher
prices were partially balanced by lower prices for other food items
including beef steak, pig tail, pineapple, sweet pepper and watermelon."
The Basket is Obsolete
And if those very marginal year to year increases don't jive with your
reality when you go to the grocery store or supermarket, it could be
because the shopping cart that the SIB uses is out of date. This is
supposed to be updated, but, Blame it one COVID:
Jules Vasquez
"Is there any attempt to update the shopping cart to make it perhaps more
reflective of what consumers go through?"
Diana Castillo-Trejo - Director General, SIB
"We have already developed an updated basket for the consumer price index
and so that has been put together and we were actually suppose to go into
the field to do the first round of price collection for that basket this
month and unfortunately, because of the situation for now with the
increasing number of cases of COVID 19 on the ground, we were not able to
go out in all the areas that we need to go out and that has been postponed
tentatively for next month."
Daysi Montero - Statistician II
Diana Castillo-Trejo - Director General, SIB