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The celebrations of National Holidays and social gatherings that now abound on weekends would explain, for the municipalities of The Counts and the Queen, the rise in cases registered by both communes after the end of the quarantine and their advance to the Preparation phase of the Step by Step plan.
This is at least denoted by the epidemiological reports from Minsal, which publish the active cases of Covid-19 in each commune twice a week. While in The Counts the lowest rate was reached on August 10 with 33 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants, successive reports show a sustained increase until reaching the rate of 58 infections in the infectious phase known yesterday.
The same happens in The Queen, where the rebound has been even more abrupt. There, the lowest record was achieved on September 25, with 30.9 active cases per 100,000 inhabitants, an indicator that increased to 68 in the report known yesterday.
What worries the councilors of these communes? Both are close to the level of active infections that they showed just at the beginning of the first wave of infections, whose rates reached peaks of 196 cases in Las Condes and 274 in La Reina.
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The mayor of the latter municipality, Jose Manuel Palacios, showed concern about some outbreaks -in Villa La Reina and the Vespucio axis– registered in the last weeks. In this sense, the mayor raises that if the epidemiological indicators show that the commune must go back in the Step by Step plan, they will be the first to request the measure from the Ministry, either to return to Transition or even to return to Phase 1 of quarantine total.
“We are facing a fairly certain possibility of a regrowth”, Palacios said, adding that “we are considering taking action now. If the cases continue to increase, it is important to evaluate the measures this week and not later. And if it happens (an increase in infections), it is an option to return to a more restrictive stage in order to deliver the health certainty to our neighbors that the movement in public spaces will be more controlled ”.
On the causes, Palacios argues that the National Holidays influenced and that the interior of the home has been identified as a direct source of contagion. In addition, with the move to Preparation -just before said holiday-, the mayor believes that “There was a desire from our neighbors to go out on the street, to free themselves from the restriction that governed during the weekend”, in the Transition stage.
In Las Condes, its mayor, Joaquin Lavin, brings an additional problem: the low rate of close contacts that is identified for each confirmed case. If, on average, in the Metropolitan Region there are 2.3 close contacts due to Covid-19 contagion, that figure in Las Condes is one of the lowest at the regional level: only 1.5 people.
Most of the new contacts are domestic, social gatherings inside the houses. We want the same thing that prevailed for September 18 to be established on weekends: that only five people can be invited to the house. We believe that with that we are going to stop the infections.
Joaquín Lavín, mayor of Las Condes
Relaxation, taking off the mask and little social distancing Among those invited to a social gathering would be, in Lavín’s opinion, part of the factors that have combined a rise of 25 active infections in a week.
For this reason, among the plans to mitigate the new cases, the municipality has had health and signage brigades that report high contagion areas. “There are meetings of 25 people in a house, of 50 people on a terrace, and that’s wrong”, adds the mayor.
From Health they confirm that the situation of these two communes will be evaluated during today’s meeting at the Covid-19 emergency committee in La Moneda, but that there are still no determinations that imply modifications in the Step by Step plan for these municipalities.
Since Barnechea they look closely at the evolution of cases in their own commune. Mayor, Christopher Lira, Submits that “On September 18 our neighbors misbehaved. We knocked on the doors of homes for the music and how many people there were. I thought we were going to have a regrowth. We have already passed the period of 15 days after the celebrations and these cases have not been presented ”.
The strategy in the commune, Lira details, has been to apply an active search for cases in areas where they have identified “hot spots” or with more infections: The Trappists, La Dehesa, Huinganal and the most vulnerable sectors of the municipality.
In ProvidenceMeanwhile, the number of people who circulate between the communes of the sector and who could spread the virus is concerned. According to the mayor Evelyn Matthei, Together with Santiago, it is the most mobile commune in the region. For this reason, in this municipality the strategy has focused on auditing.
Our municipal inspectors on commission in the Health Seremi have intensified inspections throughout the commune, reaching more than 451 at different commercial premises between August 12 and October 2. In addition, 13 medical summaries have been carried out, with 11 detainees.
Evelyn Matthei, Mayor of Providencia
At the country level, meanwhile, in the last 24 hours there were 1,131 cases and 20 deaths.
In relation to patients who remain hospitalized for the new coronavirus, 818 are in the ICU, of which 622 are on mechanical ventilation and 96 are in critical health. This is the first time that fewer than 100 critically ill patients have been registered since May 10.
