LAUSR

"1(p2191) Meanwhile, according to reports in the New York Times,2 Reuters,3 the Wall Street Journal,4 and The Guardian,5 the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the shortcomings of the Cuban health care system, with one Cuban physician telling reporters, "Simply put, I saw what I would have hoped to never see: the collapse of our health system. According to news reports, the Cuban health system began to feel high pressure, and its shortcomings were most apparent, during the summer 2021 surge in infections caused by the delta variant.1,2 As in the United States and countless other countries, the root causes of these weaknesses existed even before the strain of the pandemic brought them to light. The pandemic led to worldwide economic crises, and, paired with the ongoing US embargo, Cuba has felt the effects in a major way.3 In addition, on the basis of recent data from the Institute for Health Metrics (Table 1), it is clear that underreporting of COVID-19 deaths is an issue in both the United States and Cuba.