For Ecuador’s Guayaquil, Tides of Death and Disappearance

The first Covid-19 case was officially identified in Ecuador on Feb. 29. A 71-year-old woman — the country’s nominal “Patient Zero” — had returned from Madrid to this port city, Ecuador’s largest, carrying the virus. It subsequently swept through the population so quickly that authorities could not keep up, and within weeks, this capital of Guayas province, home to over 2 million people, became the novel coronavirus’ most prominent victim in all of Latin America.