[ti:Costa Rica Priest Sings Public Health Message During Pandemic] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A Catholic priest is winning new fans in Costa Rica [00:04.64]with a COVID-19 song set to the music of salsa. [00:10.48]Sergio Valverde is best known for his aid [00:13.96]to the poor in the Central American country. [00:18.52]For the last few Sundays, Valverde has performed his song [00:22.84]with a dance in front of Cristo Rey church in San Jose. [00:28.32]His aim is to get people to wear protective face coverings, [00:33.08]or masks, and continue being careful during the pandemic. [00:53.92]"Without the mask, there's COVID for you, COVID for me," he sang. [01:00.32]The words are set to the music of the song Sopa de Caracol, [01:04.52]or Snail Soup in English. [01:08.20]The song performed by Honduran group Banda Blanca [01:12.56]was very popular in 1991. [01:16.88]Valverde said he had not even written down the lyrics, [01:20.44]or words, of his version of the song. [01:24.44]He said he was putting the words together as he sang. [01:29.40]He was surprised to see how popular it became on social media. [01:35.64]The Catholic priest said, [01:37.44]"the issue of COVID is affecting the entire world, [01:41.36]there's pain, there's suffering." [01:44.44]He continued, "I, as a priest, see so many people suffering, [01:49.68]sick, in pain, people without work [01:53.00]and who are dying of hunger and I wanted to help a little." [01:57.84]Valverde could not have timed it any better. [02:02.08]Costa Rica had a record of more than 2,700 new infections in one day recently. [02:10.72]The intensive care area of its public hospitals are 95 percent full. [02:17.80]The country has recorded more than 3,200 COVID-19 deaths in total. [02:25.20]Valverde is known for his work with children left on the streets [02:30.12]and giving food to the poor. [02:33.52]He said he is seeing more in need than ever before [02:37.60]during the economic crisis which was worsened by the pandemic. [02:42.92]Valverde admitted that he has enjoyed the experience. [02:47.04]He said, "the whole world is so crazy that they looked for another nut." [02:53.24]I'm Jonathan Evans. [02:55.76]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM