Piúma and Barra de São Francisco are epicenters of a highly infectious variant

The data analyzed points to the record for the B1.1.7 variant discovered in the United Kingdom in September last year, which has an infectivity rate that can reach up to 90%. It has already been detected in 33 countries around the world and the risk of causing the death of the contaminated person is 62% higher than that of the other variants.

In Espírito Santo, B1.1.7 was registered for the first time in December 2020 and is currently present in 65 municipalities, out of a total of 78. As it has a high transmission rate, the number of people infected with this variant has doubled. each 15 days. Of the analyzed samples, Piúma and Barra de São Francisco are considered by the study as epicenters of the variant (the place where a large number of cases accumulate).

The director of Lacen-ES, Rodrigo Rodrigues, explained that the two cities are in this position due to some specificities.

“Barra de São Francisco is a city adjacent to Minas Gerais, which has one of the access roads between the two states and which in summer tends to have an intense flow of tourists from Minas Gerais in search of the beaches of Espírito Santo. This network of highways could have collaborated for the diffusion of this variant in the city. Piúma is a tourist city, to the south of Espírito Santo, where many people spent the summer and the end of the year, “he said.

Both Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, neighboring states of Espírito Santo, also detected people contaminated by the English variant, according to those surveyed by Minas Gerais researchers.

It should be remembered that Lacen’s study does not have samples from Grande Vitória, since private laboratories in the cities of that region were authorized to carry out tests for Covid-19.

The Secretary of Health of Barra de São Francisco, Gustavo Viana Lacerda, said that he observes that patients in the municipality have more serious cases of Covid-19. “We have observed, in fact, a change in the behavior of the patient who arrives at our state hospital and also of those who are treated at the Covid Center of the municipality. They are more serious patients and have a higher viral load. They also evolve faster to intubation, some already arrive to be hospitalized with involvement of 75% of the lung, “he said.

According to data from Sesa, the municipality has 17 nursing beds and 10 ICUs for the treatment of Covid-19 at the Alceu Melgaço Filho State Hospital. Of these, only one ICU was available in the latest data available in the state system, this Monday (22).

Barra de São Francisco accounts for 2,762 cases of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, 85 of which died from the disease, as reported in the Covid-19 Panel. In the municipality, the fatality rate is 3.1%, above the state average, which is 1.8%.

In the city of Piúma, 1974, people infected by the coronavirus were registered and 54 of them died. The death rate in the city is 2.7%, also above the state average of 1.8%.

In the analyzes presented by Lacen-ES, it was evidenced that variant B1.1.7, with its first registration in December 2020, contributed to the State experiencing the third wave of growth in the pandemic.

“The vigorous expansion in recent months is due to several factors, such as rebellious interactions, the relativization of the use of masks, low vaccination coverage, the denial of the risk of the disease and, of course, the new variants,” he said. Rodrigo. Rodrigues, director of Lacen-ES.

The age group you have reached is also different. If before the cases of hospitalization were people over 50 years old and those who were part of the risk group, now there is a clear increase in hospitalizations of people from 0 to 30 years old.

“This variant began its transmission in the youngest age groups. It is a strain that is easier to transmit, making it more susceptible, it is exactly that they range from 19 to 30 years, because they interact more, they do not respect social isolation” . and they don’t wear a mask like they should, ”Rodrigues said. And it is these people who bring the virus to the home for the elderly.

Lacen’s director stated that the study of the English variant here in Espírito Santo should continue. “The investigation is beginning and we are also going to analyze the clinical part of each carrier of this variant here in the state,” he said.