[ad_1]
The figures in this Wednesday’s newsletter are scary, but António Lacerda Sales immediately opened the daily briefing with an explanation: “Today’s portrait does not reflect the reality of the last 24 hours.” It is a laboratory in the north of the country that could not report in the computer system for five days, so, having managed to update this Wednesday, the update is the sum of all the positive cases registered in that laboratory since 30, in a total of more than 3,500 cases. It does not mean that these cases have not been followed up and treated, but it does mean that, at that time, they were not registered in the system.
This was explained by the Secretary of State for Health in the usual press conference at the DGS, highlighting that “it is the responsibility of the Government to assume the figures with the truth and the same transparency as always.” On the day when the maximum number of deaths from Covid-19 ever recorded in Portugal, Lacerda Sales also pointed out that the global fatality rate is currently 1.7% and the fatality rate above 70 years is 10. 3%.
Regarding the forecast of the peak of this second wave of the pandemic, the Secretary of State refused to anticipate when it would be, saying that it is impossible to predict, since it also depends on the “real effectiveness” of the measures now taken and whose applicability cannot yet be determined. measure. The Minister of Health had warned that, possibly, on November 4 (today) a peak of hospitalizations could be reached – 2,600 in the ward and 444 in the ICU – which was not the case.
Regarding the occupation of beds in the NHS, the minister detailed the figures: we have a total of 2,370 beds in the pavilion assigned to Covid, of which 2,012 are occupied; and we have a total of 373 in the ICU, with 325 occupied, that is, there are still 358 beds in the ward and 48 free in the ICU. Faced with hospital pressure, the Ministry of Health signed an order on Tuesday to coordinate the response in the network, allowing the least pressured hospitals to respond to the most pressured hospitals, either at the regional or interregional level, also allowing hospitals to choose to suspend during the month of November non-urgent care activity. On which hospitals are already making this suspension, however, the Government has not yet given details.
It was also on this day with the highest number of registered cases and deaths that Lacerda Sales wanted to give good news: the rate of transmission of the disease, the so-called “Rt”, has been “systematically decreasing”, being 1.27 in the last tenth and now it’s around 1.14. In the northern region, which is the one under pressure, this index was at 1.40 and is now at 1.13. Lacerda Sales even spoke of “slowdown”: “The disease transmission indicator shows a slowdown in the pandemic.”
Another novelty of the press conference was the fact that, from the end of this Wednesday, the Saúde 24 line will be able to pass provisional declarations of prophylactic isolation whenever there is a risk situation, which allows to accelerate. This process. This is not the same as saying that the SNS 24 will pass the documentation for prophylactic isolation; that’s another question.
That is what Luís Goes Pinheiro, also present at the press conference, has explained, stating that it is a provisional statement that is part of a measure taken in the Council of Ministers over the weekend and promulgated today. Only after the end of the day will SNS 24 start to have this value.
And how will it work? Depending on the phone call and the risk assessment made by healthcare professionals, instead of suggesting the transfer of the user at risk to the home, a code will be sent by SMS or email that allows the user to access a provisional declaration of isolation prophylactic. “This means that, for the employer or any entity that requires the physical presence of the person, this statement can be used to justify the need to stay at home,” explains Goes Pinheiro.
However, for the purposes of medical discharge, the user must demonstrate that they cannot be at home teleworking. In other words, if the exercise of the user’s professional activity is “impossible” to carry out in isolation, at home, then proof of this is needed from the company. “This impossibility will have to be demonstrated by the employer, and this test does not have to be done before the SNS 24, as is evident, but before the Social Security,” he explained.
Therefore, the SNS 24 only proves that the person has to be at home, and then it is still necessary for the employer to prove that that person cannot be teleworking to have access to the loss due. Otherwise, it is in isolation, but telecommuting.
