COVID-19 Waves and Politics in Costa Rica

ABSTRACT

In 2018, the government that came to power in Costa Rica quickly began to promote socially regressive policies, which directly favored the oligarchic groups, at the expense of the working classes and the middle sectors. The COVID-19 pandemic, instead of stopping this process, accentuated it. After a very moderate first wave of infections (March-May 2020), the disease spread steadily during a second wave (June 2020-February 2021). A third wave (so far May-June 2021) has brought the public health system to the brink of collapse. With the social protests neutralized by health measures to contain COVID-19, authorities took advantage of this situation to promote new reforms that deteriorate labor rights, reduce wages and deepen inequalities. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.