By: José Salcedo, Elmer Mamani and Ángela Valdivia
In his message on Thursday, the President Martín Vizcarra said the southern regions will withstand the latest onslaught of the virus Wuhan. However, the pandemic already left unfortunate figures in Arequipa, Cusco, Puno, Apurímac, Tacna and Moquegua. Almost 900 deaths, more than 30,000 infected and hospitals collapsed or about to exceed their care capacity.
Arequipa it is the most hit. The overflow resulted in the collapse of the health services. Patients die on the doorstep of hospitals, at home or on the street. The deceased decompose in the corridors of the COVID-19 hospital Honorio Delgado Espinoza. In the absence of beds in this hospital, patients use their cars to receive care. Yesterday, about 8 cars stood in the parking lot with an oxygen balloon next to them. Most are elderly with respiratory failure who cling to life. Others wait in the four tents installed for lack of beds. Some carry their mattresses to deal with the winter cold.
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If the landscape outside is critical, inside it is worse. A group of relatives of hospitalized patients complained of a lack of information on the health status of their relatives. “My dad is in Trauma Shock and a week ago the doctors in that area were diagnosed coronavirus and they are quarantined. That is to say, a week ago we had no doctors, ”claims one of them. The woman cries and complains. She does not know how her brother Enrique is, who entered Trauma Shock 2 weeks ago.
The avalanche of patients surpasses hospital staff. “Yesterday (Friday) we went up to 30 to the hospital floors, but in the afternoon 60 arrived. Everything fills up again”, graphs the regional manager of Health, Leonardo Chirinos. The official acknowledges that in these two weeks an increase in deaths and infections is expected. However, he hopes that the fences epidemiological with patrols that are carried out in “hot” districts they will have results in 15 or 20 days. These teams diagnose and provide treatment with ivermectina and azithromycin suspects and positives in their homes. They will also decentralize care at health posts. There would be 22 establishments in charge of treatment and screening for minor cases, but they take time to get going.
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Meanwhile, yesterday morning, care and medical staff of the Honorio Delgado He made a sit-in requesting the payment of bonuses and better working conditions. Eloy Soto, president of the Medical Corps, indicates that there are 150 infected workers. 24 policemen have died. Added to the virus is a power crisis. Regional Governor Elmer Cáceres is focused on other issues. Yesterday, for example, he went to the Colca Valley to supervise the decolling work on the river. The Covid command does what it can, something else is expected with the minister Pilar Mazzetti.
Infections in Cusco
Cusco It is not in the same situation, but infections are on the rise. Its citizens de facto broke compulsory social isolation ten days before July 1, the date on which the government officially lifted the quarantine. The outflow of people to work, to the markets or to look for work resulted in a rapid increase in infections. In July, between 100 and 150 cases were diagnosed daily. Since the first week of this month, the average number of infections has exceeded 200 and there are a total of 67 deaths.
YOU CAN SEE Cusco: Doctors request hospital leave and work in private clinics [VIDEO]
The regional director of Health, Darío Navarro, refers that the capacity of the health services could be exceeded between July 20 and 25. However, they make efforts to avoid such a moment. The imperial region, with more than 1,300,000 inhabitants, barely has 24 beds in intensive care units (FIA) with mechanical fans, 19 of which were occupied until Friday morning. In addition, there are 197 beds for hospitalization of non-critical patients, but who need treatment. For now, 86 are hospitalized. The head of Health Intelligence, Javier Ramírez, maintained that yesterday a new mass testing in places of high concurrence to detect cases and isolate them.
Meanwhile in Convention, the second province of Cusco with the highest number of infected people, the rigid quarantine will be applied again from July 22 to 31 to avoid overflowing the sick.
YOU CAN SEE Cusco: The Convention returns to rigid quarantine since July 22
“The intention of the measure is to sustain critical cases and strengthen, these days, the health system,” explained Hernán de la Torre, provincial mayor.
Meanwhile, at the national level, the number of accumulated cases of COVID-19 yesterday reached 345,537 and the deaths at 12,799. At the close of this note, the contagion of the Governor of the Cusco, Jean Paul Benavente. It remains stable.
Call for responsible behaviors and policies
The former Minister of Health Patricia García indicated that she agrees with the President that a responsible attitude should be taken towards the pandemic; However, he added that it is also necessary to have policies that help achieve this. This is because the numbers have increased in the south, such as in Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna.
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Meanwhile, Camille Webb, an infectious disease Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), explains that it is important to know in which areas of Arequipa and in which situations the majority of infections are occurring in order to take the correct measures. She adds that it has to be seen, for example, “if it is more a matter of public transport, markets, or health workers who then infect their homes.” “In some cases it has happened that there have been one or two events (in) that there was a massive transmission.” And he notes that “you should try to trace contacts to understand situations.” Lastly, it calls for maintaining protection measures in these regions.
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