A Lebanese city enters the scene of the outbreak of the “Crown”!

Lucy Barskian – Call Home

Yesterday, the Bekaa governorate center in Zahle, which includes the governor’s office and department employees, was closed after an employee was confirmed to have been injured, pending his PCR examinations. The government also issued two decisions to close the Population Department and the Surveys Department. The closure decision follows a similar measure taken at the Chamber of Commerce building, which includes the Department Center of the Ministry of Industry in Zahle, and another at the Ministry of Social Affairs. This came days after a riot in Zahle men’s prison, after 236 inmates were infected with the virus out of more than 500 inmates.

Sad news is spreading in the city, 40-year-old Ziad Nabhan, son of the people of Kafr Zabad who works for the Zahle Electricity Company. Stubbornness in social distancing decisions.

The city is full of news about Corona patients in various neighborhoods. Although the mayor of the municipality, Asaad Zogheib, refused to submit to pressure from the Zahleis by asking them to mention the names of the injured so that others would avoid contact with them, Zogheib only announced the identity of his wife among those infected with the virus, asking them to take all preventive measures and not intimidate the sick. For Ms Miriam Skaf, who shared the same message, announcing that one of her two children had tested positive for the virus at her residence in Switzerland.

According to an official medical reference in Zahle, the city has practically fallen into a stage of social outbreak of the virus, which is hidden by the superiority of contacts over epidemiological surveillance devices when carrying out controls on their own.

It takes four to five days for the results of contact tests to be reported to the injured, followed by a similar waiting period to determine the date of the examination. This is sufficient time to begin recovery, especially for those who do not show symptoms of the disease significantly. This puts those who are in contact with the responsibility of sticking to the stone, even if they are not sure of its positive results.

This pace, which Zahleon complains is slow in investigating the disease, resulted in panic at the gates of the only equipped private laboratory in the city, in addition to the Corona laboratory at the Elias Hrawi Government Hospital. And finally, his story …

Al-Hrawi Hospital is the only hospital to receive critical infections with the virus, after all private hospitals in the city refused to address the epidemic or those infected with it. According to the information, the “Corona” department at the hospital is currently overcrowded with 17 patients filling all its beds, in addition to occupying the intensive care unit and artificial respiration beds.

While the surge in critical cases may exceed the hospital’s ability, which may be forced to refrain from receiving additional patients shortly, its administration faced the challenge of losing all of its designated beds for Corona treatment a few days ago, following a Decision of the Minister of Health to transfer patients from Roumieh prison.

This decision sparked a wave of opposition from religious and political actors, to limit the rush of the Health Ministry to deprive Zahle and his district of the only hospital opportunity available at the Zahleh Government Hospital. Permission to receive prisoners was limited to two beds in a room, which is currently under strict security.

And demands are increasing on Zahle to allocate all departments of the Elias Hrawi Hospital for Corona patients, while the hospital administration insists that the private sector join the battle against the epidemic. Until either option is achieved, opinions differ regarding the complete closure and quarantine of the city.