San Miguel de los Bancos, that belongs to the rurality of the Pichincha province , is one of those 21 cantons that until Tuesday, February 8, will remain in epidemiological red traffic light by COVID-19, as announced by the national Emergency Operations Committee (COE).
This traffic light was adopted on January 16, 2022, for which it took into account, among other aspects, the rate of virus incidence, lethality, the speed of contagion, hospital occupation and vaccination coverage at the cantonal level.
The provinces and 21 cantons are: Zamora Chinchipe (Nangaritza, Yacuambi, Palanda), Azuay (Seville of Gold), Guayas (Colimes, Beaches), Manabi (Montecristi), Morona Santiago (Huamboya, Tiwintza, Taisha), Pichincha (San Miguel de los Bancos), Sucumbíos (Cascales, Putumayo), Tungurahua (Tisaleo), Chimborazo (Guamote, Alausí), Los Ríos (Urdaneta), Orellana (Loreto), Pastaza (Arajuno, Pastaza), Santa Elena (Freedom).
For Catherine Orrico, District Director of Health of the northwest of Pichincha of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), which corresponds to Pedro Vicente Maldonado, Puerto Quito and San Miguel de los Bancos, in this last canton there is a special problem due to the Mindo Parish, where there is a lot passing people, tourists and anti-vaccine foreign population, which has not allowed for adequate inoculation coverage.
Faced with this reality, Orrico maintained that they will continue with door-to-door sweeps in hot neighborhoods for the canton to get out of the red light.
Although in San Miguel de los Bancos no massive detection tests have been carried out In the last few months since the Government, Orrico maintained that mild respiratory conditions have advantageously been presented, very few people have been referred to hospitals and one deceased has been presented, the previous week, who had comorbidities.
What there are no referral hospitals, patients should be referred to Tena, Orellana, Tungurahua or Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
By the middle of this month screening is planned. Regarding the limitation of capacity, he argued that more work should be done with the municipal administration.
Regarding vaccination, according to the district leadership, in San Miguel de los Bancos in average is 74 %; in children between 5 and 11 years old there is 65% and from 12 to 17 years old, 85%.
“We did mass vaccination points in educational units, in coliseums and obviously in our health centers but (…) and realizing that it is not that lately (there is) so much response from people to vaccination, we are doing sweeps door to door”, he explained about the strategy that has made it possible to reach people who had not received the first dose.
The official noted that although they have the vaccines, not so with the enough staff that allows them to have better coverage.
These are the capacity allowed in the new epidemiological scenario in Ecuador
The Nangaritza canton, in Zamora Chinchipe, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, It is the one with the highest epidemiological risk.
According to Christina Sotomayor, medical and support epidemiological surveillance of Zone 7 of the MSP, which includes Loja, El Oro and Zamora Chinchipe, in the latter province, for the indigenous nationalities there is, sometimes there is a lot of reluctance from people to screening tests.
He argued that they may have symptoms, but they do not want to be tested, so it is a cultural barrier which also prevents, for example, a correct registration of the information.
In addition, they do not access vaccination because of their beliefs or customs.
In Nangaritza until February 3 there were 10 active COVID cases; 150 accumulated.
“By having these patients in COVID reference hospitals, who are moderate to severe or even deceased, those cantons or those parishes become high risk of contagion“, He said.
Being at a red light, Sotomayor maintained that if they see that the cases continue, the investigation will continue. Community service, an intervention is made until it encompasses the entire community or an entire neighborhood, erect epidemiological fences, I know they take tests, it is vaccinated and for the following week an evaluation is carried out.
About the results of the screening tests, in Zamora Chinchipe there has been a increase of 12.6%, between the third and fourth week of January.
Future measures according to doctors
To hold the COVID-19 case trend to the drop that was announced by the national COE, Fernando Sacoto, president of the Ecuadorian Society of Public Health, raises improve reporting and case registration systems to have updated information that accounts for the epidemiological reality and not what happened weeks ago.
Another aspect to consider, he added, is to improve the test availability diagnostics
“It’s time to authorize the sale institutions and the public antigen diagnostic tests for timely control and self-care in the family, school, community, at work, etc.”, he said.
This linked to a automated case registration It will allow a close epidemiological surveillance that allows to identify sectors or neighborhoods, communities of greater risk to act preventively.
European countries begin to treat COVID-19 as ‘endemic’. Can Ecuador reach that stage?
Also, he pointed out, strengthening primary health care for a timely response and accurate identification of people at higher risk such as obese, hypertensive, diabetics, for careful surveillance and early treatment of such people to prevent them from getting worse and having to go to the hospital. This, he suggested, could be achieved by combining telemedicine for home management and follow-up of these patients.
insist on the vaccination. Reiterate to the community in the proper use of mask, physical distancing, ventilated spaces and hand washing with soap and water.
“And the COE should then adopt measures according to epidemiological information updated focusing on key issues such as (the) public transport”, added the expert.
At the discretion of Catalina Yépez, physician, epidemiologist and health specialist, must be wear a mask adequate as the KN95 and facilitate its access to the population, which has CO2 gauges both in public and private companies that allow identifying the level of oxygen to reduce capacity and ventilate.
In addition, establish mechanisms for epidemiological surveillance that Yépez called them sentinel that allows a characterization of patients who present complicated respiratory conditions derived from COVID-19.
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
