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Although they were the first to be quarantined in the Metropolitan Region, once the measure was lifted, the communes of the eastern sector have stayed away from what has happened in Santiago, Ñuñoa or Independencia, which spent many weeks in absolute confinement. to combat COVID-19. On the other hand, communes in the western sector, such as Maipú, have not had quarantines since the arrival of the coronavirus in Chile.
The Government and the Ministry of Health, those in charge of decreeing this sanitary measure, justify their decision taking the incidence rate as a key indicator. And to date, this figure in the western and eastern sectors has not exceeded the threshold that usually causes a commune to be quarantined. But, according to the new Public Space report, they are dangerously approaching that threshold, just in weeks where the demand for hospital services is reaching critical levels, due to the situation of the communes that are in confinement.
In fact, according to the report, Ñuñoa, says that last Friday he came out of an extensive quarantine of a month and a half, he was about to double the new cases in the last week. And it is not the only one, since the figures of infections of the last week available at the community level show that the number of weekly infections is growing at very high rates. Thus, for example, the number of cases during the week of May 1 to 7 in 6 of the 9 communes in these sectors more than doubled the new cases from the previous week.
New infections per week divided by population (in hundreds of thousands).
This has not only been questioned by Public Space, but the COVID-19 Advisory Council has already warned even the Government. In their last minute, on May 10, they showed their concern about what is happening in the eastern sector. “The resurgence of cases in communes in the eastern area should be evaluated with detention,” says part of the minutes, while also recommending “maintain the daily analysis of the epidemiological situation and the health care network and, if necessary, expand the coverage of community containment until the speed of transmission of the outbreak in the Region is reduced. “
In addition, this weekend, another report – prepared by experts in computational biology and other specialties that are part of the COVID-19 Data Table and that independently prepare analyzes for the Ministry of Science – had already warned that it was necessary to decree quarantine throughout the Metropolitan Region, but with special emphasis on the communes of the eastern sector, which showed a worrying increase in the number of infections and in the speed at which they double.
These are sectors that until a few days ago showed a positive prevalence, that is, they had less than 4 infected people for every 1,000 inhabitants. However, the statistics of the last few days show that Las Condes, Providencia and Vitacura increased the number of those infected notoriously, so they went into a critical situation, just like all the communes in the western sector of the capital. The report rates this as “very concerning”.
Decreeing quarantines in these communes would serve, in the opinion of the Public Space report, to take pressure off the hospital system – the one that is about to collapse – and to make quarantines in other communes in the Metropolitan Region more effective. Furthermore, “if the entire city is quarantined, the measure will generate social cohesion and favor the management and implementation of the confinement”, as indicated in the report.
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