Happy Friday, QFamily Partners! 

According to last night’s report by the Ministry of Health, Panama’s numbers have risen to 324,489 with 5,391 deaths. In comparison to the rest of the world, Panama’s numbers are moving in the right direction. Our mortality rate is 1.6%, whereas the global rate is 2.2%. We are the second-lowest in Latin America. Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours and several days the past week, Santiago (ONQ’s headquarter city) has reported the highest number of new cases in the country. 

On the positive side, the Minister of Health has announced that restaurants will be allowed to reopen on Monday, February 8. The administration will also lift gender-based days this Monday, and Beaches and rivers will reopen Mondays through Fridays. It can be somewhat confusing keeping up with all of the openings and closings because much of Panama had opened toward the end of 2020. Still, after November, when Panama annully celebrates several national holidays, we saw our second wave. We expect the next delivery of vaccines on February 15. The government is preparing for a third wave as we get closer to Carnavales, Easter Week, and the reopening of more economic activities. Minister Sucre has requested 3 million Sputnik V vaccines (doses for 1.5 million people) from the Russian Fund for Direct Investment director, Kirill Dmitriev.

Because of continual lockdowns, many QFamily members have been enhancing their cooking skills, and many feel they are eating much more! This week’s video highlights some of our team’s favorites dishes. Click here to view.

We will assign the current class to their new client teams on Monday, and we start our second class of 2021 on Tuesday. We have more than 30 people who have accepted their offer. All the members of the current class passed their two-week interview today! This energetic group is excited to be one step closer to their client assignments!

We are finalizing our first quarter ONQ-U: the evening of Wednesday, February 24, and all-day Saturday, February 27. We have several US volunteers who have expressed interest. We are still adding professors! If you are interested, please click here.

Again, and as always, we are hoping for you and your loved ones’ safety and well-being.Again, and as always, we are hoping for you and your loved ones’ safety and well-being.

Stay safe out there!