SQM Continues to Support Quillagua and Tocopilla to Combat COVID-19

Under the four action areas of its community action plan—Health, Social Wellbeing, Economic Recovery and Healthy Living—the mining company is driving a series of initiatives in towns near its operations. In the particular case of Quillagua and Tocopilla, SQM has been periodically disinfecting houses and public places and distributing food boxes and sanitary kits, among other measures.

Today 5 thousand (of a total of 10 thousand) sanitary kits were given to the municipality of Tocopilla and will be distributed over the next few weeks to the most at-risk families in the port city and neighboring fishing villages. Work also began to install a disinfection tunnel at the entrance to city hall to reduce possible spread among individuals visiting the building.

“We are redoubling efforts to continue strengthening the local health network by purchasing new CRP tests to be administered to close contacts of individuals who tested positive last week; donating an ambulance; and hiring medical personnel for Quillagua. These measures are in addition to donating close to 15 thousand sanitary kits and food boxes and disinfecting public places in both towns,” explained Pablo Pisani, Director of Communications, Sustainability and Public Affairs at SQM.

Support in Quillagua
In addition to periodically distributing food boxes and sanitary kits so Quillagua residents do not have to leave home for supplies, over the weekend 39 boxes were distributed to 28 families that tested positive to COVID-19. These families were also given extra sanitary kits and their homes were disinfected.

In order to improve the local health network and optimize its emergency response capacity, SQM donated an ambulance that will be operated 24/7 by trained personnel to attend to the town’s needs. Both initiatives are supported by the municipality of María Elena and regional health ministry officials.

SQM donated and is administering CRP tests for older adults and people at a higher risk of contracting the virus in Quillagua. This effort began with 80 tests, administered by specialized medical team arranged by SQM.