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From one day to the next, the occupancy of beds in intensive care units (ICU) exclusively for covid-19 patients in Bogotá was located very close or hours to the limit established by the Ministry of Health and the District Secretary of Health to adopt stricter measures in the capital, in order to reduce the rapid growth of infections.
In fact, last night, the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, announced that cities and regions with ICU occupancy above 70 percent must order the total restriction of mobility between 10 p.m. today and 5 a.m. Tuesday, January 12, which applies to Bogotá.
(With the curfew in Cundinamarca, can I travel by road?)
But, in addition, the city must restrict unnecessary medical procedures, among other measures that are already applied, such as pico and cedula and limit the sale of liquor. It should also prohibit public and private gatherings and sporting, recreational and cultural events that generate crowds.
After these announcements, Mayor Claudia López canceled a press conference that she had called for Wednesday night and in which the Secretaries of Health, Alejandro Gómez, and of Government, Luis Ernesto Gómez, would be present. The president will pronounce on the morning of this Thursday.
According to the Saludata page, where all the data of the pandemic in the capital are reported, the occupancy of the Covid ICU was located yesterday at 81.8 percent, that is, it grew 2.5 percentage points compared to Monday’s report, when it was at 79.3. Overall, ICU beds continued to rise, reaching 85.3 percent.
(Further: What You Should Know About New Restrictions Starting Tomorrow)
Even experts such as Luis Jorge Hernández, a health doctor and epidemiologist from the Universidad de los Andes, and who participates in the Mayor’s Office committees to analyze the behavior of the virus, considers that the occupation can not only reach 85 percent, but also 90 percent this Saturday, a level of red alert, according to the classification of the Ministry of Health. At a time like this, the city was already there on July 26, when the occupancy of the Covid ICU reached 93.2 percent. But on that occasion he did not declare himself.
Hernández highlights that, in fact, there are already hospitals that have exceeded their capacity and “are functionally on red alert,” which in his opinion is not going to be declared and is not recommended. “The red alert does not change anything and it does generate additional anxiety in people,” he says.
(Inhabitants of the north of Bogotá abided by the new quarantine)
The expert also warns that non-covid ICUs have already exceeded 85 percent and that at this time it is not important whether or not they are for covid patients, but that they are occupied beds.
In the same sense, the infectologist Carlos Álvarez, vice president of Health at the Colsánitas clinic, referred to the fact that “if the ICU are saturated, if there are more patients who require them, they cannot be treated in them and, therefore, mortality increases ”.
The Secretary of Health, Alejandro Gómez, acknowledged yesterday that the city’s health system is subject to “a level of stress” and that although there are still beds available, the occupation can change in hours or from one shift to another, which makes “intensive care work more complex”.
The official also pointed out that the decision of strict quarantines in Suba, Engativá and Usaquén seeks, precisely, to reduce the growing number of covid patients and to lower the pressure of the demand for intensive care. Despite the confinement, these localities presented increases yesterday.
He recalled that the centralized management of ICUs, both public and private, is maintained, a decision that was adopted since June and that allows the referral of patients to institutions with less occupation.
“We have made every effort to ensure that all the beds for covid are available,” said Gómez, who, however, insisted on the need for Bogota citizens to preserve personal protection mechanisms and stay at home and, as possible, maintain voluntary confinement.
“The colleagues from the emergency services do not tire of saying ‘this is not a problem only in Usaquén, Engativá and Suba, what the community does is also needed.’ All of this reduces the number of patients that are coming to us, “he said.
Referring to the decisions that could be made in the event that 85 percent occupancy is reached, Gómez assured that in the current circumstances “no measure can be ruled out” and clarified that these will be taken jointly with the line ministry. . However, no thought has been made, for now, to use Corferias again.
(Exceptions and other key information about the quarantine by locality)
On this issue, the doctors’ union has even raised the option of a strict general quarantine, although other experts consider that this alternative has already been exhausted and that there is fatigue in the population. What is known is that the Ministry closely monitors the worrying growth of contagion in Kennedy, with 4,022 active cases, and Chapinero, with 875.
The Colombian Association of Emergency and Emergency Specialists also entered the ICU debate. Fabián Rosa, president of the union, told the media that the occupation is greater than that which appears in Saludata. In his opinion, these data are not in real time, but a photograph of the reports of the different health institutions.
“There are many patients who must be in the ICU and are in emergency units.” In fact, the Personería presented a report, based on a sample of eight public hospitals, in which it states that it “detected differences in the reported figures” and that some private IPS reported a “functional emergency.”
Why Kennedy and Chapinero are not in quarantine
Given the increase in infections in towns like Kennedy, which is at the levels of those in the north, which have been in strict quarantine since Tuesday, many wonder why not extend the restriction.
As of January 5, Kennedy had 4,022 active cases, more than Engativá (3,785) and Usaquén (2,744), which are in lockdown.
“The arguments of the north is that many people went on vacation from there in their private cars, what is the study that shows where they went, where did they live?” Asked Ómar Oróstegui, director of Futuros Urbanos.
Another town that is subject to surveillance by the city’s health authorities is Chapinero (with 875 active cases), which was not declared in quarantine. This area, like Kennedy, has already been quarantined several times in the first wave of infections.
According to the Secretary of Government, Luis Ernesto Gómez, “a voluntary preventive isolation throughout Bogotá for those who return from vacation; quarantines in the three localities (Suba, Usaquén and Engativá); the additional measures of the National Government, such as the restriction on the sale and consumption of liquor in the Reyes Bridge, the peak and the cedula during January, is a combination that allows good results and lower costs in economic matters, ”he explained.
For Leonardo García Rojas, president of the Medical College of Cundinamarca and Bogotá, “the situation is critical, but it cannot lead us to generate panic. It is time to evaluate the indicators with the new measures every day to generate new actions. With the increase in non-covid ICU patients and with the positive indicators rising, a functional emergency is generated in the ICU and that is what is being managed ”.
GUILLERMO REINOSO RODRÍGUEZ
Bogota Editor
@ guirei24
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