According to the Quito Health Secretariat, the occupancy in COVID hospitalization stands at 86.75% and for intensive care units (ICU) it is 74.67%.
A Married couple was waiting for attention at one of the medical evaluation for respiratory symptoms of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), in the north of Quito.
They had arrived at dawn, hours before the attention begins. Some of the complaints they presented were pain in body, throat, headache.
Apparently the contagion occurred in the workplace of one of them, as his colleagues tested positive for COVID-19.
Since last week, according to that State portfolio, it has been evidenced the presence of entire families with symptoms, who go to the diagnostic sites.
At the IESS Quito Sur hospital, at the beginning of December of 2021, there were 120 people per day with respiratory symptoms, but Monday January 10 there were more than 1,200 patients attended.
Juan Sánchez, medical director of that health home, said that since December he has seen a gradual increase in cases with greater emphasis in the last two weeks.
Sánchez estimated that the complex situation could extend from four to six weeks more due to the fact that there are several contagion cycles, that starts in a person who could pass the virus to their family or work nucleus.
The Government expects to reach two million booster doses applied against COVID-19 this week
At Pablo Arturo Suárez hospital of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), which is located in the north of Quito, the capacity in hospitalization to attend COVID-19 he arrived at 90% (45 of 50 beds) and to 87 % in Intensive Care Unit FIA (27 of 32 beds).
Juan Quizanga, director of provision of services of the zonal coordination 9, which corresponds to the Metropolitan District of Quito of the MSP, indicated that transforming clinical areas into COVID To treat this disease in that health home and on the hypothesis that it no longer has where else to expand, the Enrique Garcés hospital will enter and then the Calderón teacher, where there are already beds ready but not occupied.
“The opening lasts approximately, while the spaces are moving, twelve hours (…), but in that course we imagine that 90 patients arrive, those they have to be supported by the (hospital) Enrique Garcés and the teacher from Calderón ”, he indicated, by way of example.
People over 12 years old must present a vaccination card at the Guayaquil land terminal to buy tickets
According José Ruales, Vice Minister Governance and Health Surveillance of the MSP, at the moment there is no “saturation” in hospitals in relation to the number of inpatient beds or intensive care unit beds and only in three provinces where the number of beds is lower is there a total occupancy in ICU, for which patients are being referred.
“The number of patients who are going to hospitalization it is much less from what we observed in previous waves in relation to the number of cases; however, you have to be prepared, you have to be alert to continue meeting this demand, “he said in a radio interview.
According to the Secretary of Health of the Municipality of Quito, the occupation in beds of hospitalization to treat COVID in sentinel hospitals, which are the Pablo Arturo Suarez of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) and of the IESS Quito South, is located in the 86,75 % and for intensive care units (UCI) in 74.67%.
Vaccination
For Ruales, the requirement of the vaccination card It is a way to protect the most vulnerable people and to avoid serious illness in the unvaccinated, since it avoids their presence in crowds.
Ruales called complete the vaccination schedule since there are provinces in which there is low coverage of second doses as in the rurality of the Guayas, Los Ríos, Santa Elena, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and Cañar. He also asked to take the 5 to 11-year-olds in for their second injection.
“We hope that once we reach a peak (of cases) this or next week, we can begin to have greater peace of mind, as I said, we are covered from the point of view of both ambulatory and hospital care and we are not observing a significant increase in mortality in relation to the high increase in cases, “said the official.
Azuay enters phase 3 of the contingency plan
Due to the high rate of infections and the occupation of beds to treat COVID-19, Azuay entered phase 3 of the contingency plan undertaken by the Ministry of Public Health (MSP). This means that the maximum expansion of spaces for hospitalization and intensive care units (ICU) was reached.
The Zonal 6 coordinator of the Ministry of Health (MSP), Andrea Bersosa, explained that in the last week between Azuay, Cañar and Morona Santiago, 2,100 patients contaminated by COVID-19 were registered, of which 1,200 are in the capital of Azuaya.
For all this, Bersosa explained that phase three implies that “we have reached the maximum expansion of beds that each hospital allows, both general and basic.” Taking Vicente Corral Moscoso as an example, he revealed that in the first phase they started with five beds for each area, but now they are with 15.
But this is not all, since occupancy is also on the rise and in ICU the occupancy percentage for adults is 75% and in hospitalization it is 45%. For now, he said, it is not necessary to implement waiting lists, which is why he called the attention of citizens to get vaccinated and take care of themselves, because in a while the amount of demand could exceed the supply.
Bernardo Vega, doctor and researcher on the evolution of the pandemic, considers that this phase 3 is understood as the increase in infections, which forced the reopening of spaces that were closed months ago due to the decrease in positive cases.
From this perspective, he anticipated that two scenarios could occur: resuming the waiting list and transfers to other centers connected to a ventilator, which, based on previous experiences, would imply that the person is less likely to survive.
Due to his statistical monitoring, he assured that this fourth wave of the coronavirus began last October, increased in November and accelerated with the presence of the Delta and omicron variant in December.
He compared that in the penultimate month of 2021 the average was 81 weekly cases in Azuay and the second in January rose to 172.
But the risk analysis, in his opinion, not only goes by the number of patients, but also the increase in positivity, because for a person detected as positive after a test there are three or four who are also positive, but are not included in a medical record and therefore can infect more people. (I)
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