The government’s zigzagging path to confront the pandemic

The statements made yesterday by the Minister of Health, Jaime Mañalich, In their daily report, relative to the fact that there is no health system with the capacity to resist extreme demand, they marked a change in tone in the way in which the moment the country is going through in relation to the pandemic due to Covid has been reported- 19.

The first case of a person infected with the virus Sars-Cov-2 was informed on March 3rd. Since then, to date, the Health authorities have been working to see how to successfully confront the pandemic. One of the main strategies was to prepare the health network by increasing the number of invasive mechanical ventilators in the country’s hospitals.

However, the path traveled by the Minsal during these 71 days It has gone through several stages (see infographic). One of the most evident was the change that took place since the undersecretary Paula Daza For the first time, he used the concept of “plateau” to explain the control that was taking place in the contagion curve. The problem was that in a couple of days that plateau turned into an explosive rise. In fact, yesterday the health authority expressed concern about the net increase of 20 patients a day in intensive care units. “It is a high number,” said Undersecretary Arturo Zúñiga.

The management of the Minsal has also had contrasts: if in April La Moneda began to use the concept of “new normality”, which later led to “safe return”, and even proposed a gradual return of public officials to physical work, has now led to an increase in quarantines, the most restrictive measure. In fact, currently 25 of the 40 communes of the Metropolitan Region are confined.

Another point that has had several changes is what has to do with the return to classes. Under the premise of not missing the school year, the Minsal was working on a proposal for the return to schools to be in May, gradually and starting from rural schools with few students. But that idea has not had major advances and even the Minister of Education himself, Raúl Figueroa, has said that there is no date for this.

All in all, the Ministry of Health is committed to continuing to strengthen the network. Mañalich said yesterday that in Santiago “We have approached the limit” and, therefore, they are rushing the arrival of more ventilators, preparing the transfer of new machines to the region and the transfer of patients to other cities in the country.