Amid a recovery from confirmed infections of COVID-19 and increase in hospital admissions reminiscent of last year’s worst months, there is consensus among the scientific community that the government is running out of time to act and avoid numbers that endanger the hospital system and result in more than one dozen deaths a day as a result of the dangerous virus.
“It is no secret that this Semana Mayor has unfortunately not been a week of reflection for many, it has been more of a week of celebration, and the videos circulating there show that we are likely to see many more infections in the coming weeks. What we want is that the work done on the executive orders issued since January, under this new administration, is not lost, ”he said. Marcos López Casillas, biochemist and member of the Scientific coalition composed of the governor Pedro Pierluisi
After Easter, the current executive order to address the health emergency remains valid for seven days and both the Scientific Coalition and the School Surveillance System of the Health Department they have already indicated in writing that the restrictions must be tightened up in the short term.
However, on Saturday evening, the designated Health Minister, Carlos Mellado, excluded from returning, for two weeks, exclusively to virtual education, despite the recommendation of the Monitoring system for the education sector from the agency in a document containing data up to April 1.
The head of the Ministry of Health has also not discussed the recommendations made by the Scientific Coalition on April 2, including additional restrictions on restaurant capacity, strict compliance with sanitation measures in shopping centers, extending curfews and aggressive campaigns about the risks. of travel and the need to continue basic prevention practices, such as the use of masks. The report warns that, based on the number of cases currently being discovered, the death toll could be around 16 a day for the next several weeks.
“We have not seen the expected response from the government (to the reports). One of the things we need to understand is that, despite the fact that there are additional systems than we had last year, such as the vaccination process out there and the protocols implemented, the surveillance systems are properly made to voice the alert and do. recommendations that can prevent us from ending up in a delicate situation. However, it seems that we use a system of counting and colors to see if we are good or bad and we are not doing anything about it, ”said the doctor in Public Health. Marysel Pagan
In recent weeks, as the increase in Covid-19 cases and, consequently, hospitalizations and the use of intensive care rooms and ventilators became apparent, Governor Pierluisi has declined to promote specific measures, insisting that the number still remains. peak recorded last December.
On the 10th of that month, Puerto Rico woke up to 657 people hospitalized with Covid-19, while yesterday the Department of Health reported the occupancy of 257 beds, along with 56 adults in intensive care and another 30 who breathed through a ventilator. However, on March 19, the numbers were 138, 17, and 21, respectively.
At the same time, the positivity rate, or the percentage of diagnostic tests that identifies the presence of the virus, has doubled, from less than 5% to about 10%, which is considered an alarming level.
The president of the College of Physicians Victor Ramos, warned that the first executive approach, if translated into public policy, opens the door for us to continue to experience the rise in numbers and, in the worst case, see a repeat of what happened in the last quarter of 2020 has happened.
“In September, the medical groups told him that yes, we are small, but the curve is going up, that was the curve of the primaries. Since the numbers were low, they made the biggest opening in September and that led us to November and December. We can’t wait to get to 600 (hospital admission) to say we’re closing as we’ll definitely go if no action is taken now. We need to train those parts of the government that are not from the medical or scientific field, ”said the pediatrician.
In an interview with SubwayRamos was cautious when commenting on the hypothetical closure of schools resuming face-to-face education, noting that pediatric groups encourage children and young people to attend schools with appropriate protocols.
“We are concerned because, regardless of the tracking system’s recommendations, the same protocol of the schools establishes that if any of the levels (indicators) is red (critical), all schools should be closed, so eventually the ending would happen anyway,” said Ramos.
“You have to prioritize what we want to leave open in the midst of the revival, be it the schools or other places. The numbers are there, where people get it from. Shopping centers rose to third place, the (infected) people who said they were in a restaurant before the positive rose from 6.7% to 13.8%, which are largely not employees, but diners who wear their mask decrease, ” added the doctor.
López Casillas, meanwhile, pointed out that the Scientific Coalition, when presenting its report, did not have data to suggest that schools could be a source of contamination and that a full or partial closure was therefore not recommended in the Open Educational Centers document.
“If colleagues from the school monitoring system indicate that their data is what they are throwing away, then this must certainly be taken into account. There are other jurisdictions that seek less than that and close schools and containment. I believe that if it is shown that the process being carried out in schools turns, at least in some cases, into a process that may be in jeopardy, a decision must be made to make that curtailment and see how we can do it improve, ”he said Puerto Rico Public Health Trust
Pagán, for his part, stressed that it should not be assumed that the school population is safe, either because they are minors who don’t usually get complicated when they become infected, or workers who, according to Health, have already been. largely vaccinated.
“The new variants, which the same secretary said are in Puerto Rico and have community transmission, affect minors in a different way than we observed in the first place. That claim that minors are not affected in the same way is not as true (as before). School settings not only have minors, but (should be taken into account) that family context of that minor, that teacher and that parent, interacting with each other, ” Pagán emphasized, recalling that vaccination against Covid-19 had not been established as a requirement for teachers and educators to return to the workplace and that the effect of available vaccines against some variants of the virus, such as the one identified in Brazil, is uncertain.