Five presidential candidates in Chile have been forced to stall their physical campaigns and quarantine after Gabriel Boric tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. All were present at a debate when Boric had coronavirus symptoms. The five include Chile’s top four contenders.
Chile’s four main presidential contenders – Gabriel Boric, José Antonio Kast, Yasna Provoste, and Sebastián Sichel – are now in preventive quarantine after leftwing frontrunner Boric tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, Nov. 3. Candidate Marco Enríquez Ominami is likewise in quarantine. The five have had to take these measures pursuant to Health Ministry protocols, because they were all present for a debate at the Universidad de Chile on Monday, when Boric was symptomatic.
Recibí recién el test PCR con resultado positivo y estamos en contacto con el equipo de Seremi para trazabilidad. Le pido por favor a quienes compartimos estos días que sigan los protocolos indicados para contactos estrechos.
Muchas gracias por el cariño y comprensión a tod@s. pic.twitter.com/PdRERW1p2S— Gabriel Boric Font (@gabrielboric) November 3, 2021
The preventive quarantine is a setback for all five in a heated race with less than three weeks to go before the first-round vote. Local authorities are trying to trace all people with whom Boric had recent, close contact. Only one candidate, José Antonio Kast, previously had Covid-19. Earlier this year, the far-right candidate was hospitalized with severe symptoms.
Health regulations in Chile state that all people, even those fully vaccinated, must fulfill a seven-day quarantine at home if they had close contact with an infected person. Those not fully vaccinated must comply with a 10-day-quarantine. Even if the candidates test negative, they must still quarantine, Health Minister Enrique Paris reiterated during a Radio Pauta interview on Wednesday.
“Everyone who has been in close contact with candidate Boric has to quarantine, they have to quarantine immediately, and in fact, unfortunately, if they have nowhere to do it, they will have to do it in a suitable place, because they can also infect their families,” Paris said. “After securing quarantine, if they want to get tested they can get tested, but the test is not going to free them from quarantine, close contacts have to quarantine.”
Editor-In-Chief Boris van der Spek is the founder of Chile Today.