Coronavirus Outbreak in Seville Nursing Homes: The Vulnerability of Senior Centers Increases

He rebound in positives in Covid that medical professionals are already warning in Sevillian health centers is beginning to be reflected in the nursing homes and nursing homes. Las crowds lived in recent weeks after the celebration of Holy Week first, but, above all, the concentrations in the booths of the Fair in the capital once again leave the record, as happened a year ago after the celebration of the same festival in Seville , about what the coronavirus is not old water. However, and as occurred in May 2022, this rise is not reflected in official statistics since these only record cases of people over 60 years of age.

Even so, as the virus spreads among the general population, the vulnerability of users of senior centers weakens. It is what has happened in the residence for the elderly Claret in Seville, managed by the Claretian missionaries in the Heliópolis neighborhood, where, according to sources from the Ministry of Health, an outbreak of coronavirus has already affected fifty users and workers of the center. Total, the number of affected amounts to 51 people of which 41 are residents. According to the nursing home’s website, it has 160 places for residents, with which the outbreak would have affected a third of its users to date.

The Board reports, for its part, that none of the major positives is hospitalized and point the “favorable” evolution of the same up to now for the set of cases. All in all, the same sources emphasize the proactive monitoring in all the nursing homes and social and health care homes that the Ministry has carried out since the beginning of the pandemic, which makes it possible to identify cases and take the appropriate measures. It is also recalled that currently no residence is medicalized and they insist on the obligatory nature of the use of a mask in health and social health centers.

Also from the Federation of Andalusian Organizations for the Elderly (FOAM) insist, given the rise in cases, that to stop the spread of this virus “It is urgent to proceed with adequate and efficient indoor ventilation”. On the other hand, they point out that, given the increase in infections, “perhaps it would be highly recommended to consider the mandatory use of masks indoors and on public transport.” Obligation that was eliminated on February 8.

About twenty centers affected

For its part, the latest report on the current situation of nursing homes in the province published in the Official Gazette of the Andalusian Government (BOJA), with data up to May 2, does not include this outbreak. According to it, until Tuesday, the residences for the elderly in Seville had a total of 86 confirmed cases, of which 68 were older residents and 18 employees. Among the users, five were hospitalized. In total, these positives are distributed among twenty centers. The most affected to that date was the San Pedro Nolasco residence, in El Viso del Alcor, with 17 older positives. The second most prominent outbreak affects the Huerta Palacios Residential Center for the Elderly, in Dos Hermanas, with nine infections among its users and three among the workforce.

According to the same data, the cases have doubled in a month, given that in the BOJA on April 4, the largest positive residents in the province barely touched thirty (29). The infected workers were a dozen.

One hundred hospitalized

Meanwhile, Health does provide information on the number of hospitalized for Covid, serving the general population. The latest figure, with data from the last week, reflects an increase in cases arriving at the hospital, placing the number of hospitalized at one hundred. A figure that, although it does not represent any problem or complication in ordinary care in health centers, does show a significant increase in the number of admitted patients compared to the previous weeks. Thus, in the week between April 18 and 25, 66 hospitalized in Seville were reported. At the beginning of April, on the 4th, the figure was 30.

Deaths from coronavirus have also grown in recent days. The latest report reports nine deaths, compared to seven the previous week or the two that were reported in the first week of the month.

Regarding the infections registered among those over 60 years of age, the only group in which infections are already reported, after exceeding 1,300 cases in the week of April 18 to 25, in the following seven days – from April 25 to May 2- it has dropped to 256 reported cases.