In January 2021, the story of Hugo Arteaga Nieva, a teacher who came from Guarayos due to coronavirus complications, went viral and was the only one who managed to recover from all those who were with him at that time in therapy. “13 of us entered intensive care in the dome of the National Health Fund and only I came out alive,” was the story of the teacher who survived the coronavirus.
By then the country was bearing the blow of the third wave and people were pilgrims for a space in therapies and to get oxygen. The recovery rate of patients moderates and critics was low. The same thing happened in the Intermediate Care Units (ICU) that works in second level hospitals.
According to data from the Mayor’s Office, in mid-2021 the average in ICUs was 27% while now it is 55%, that is, five out of ten people who enter this service por moderate complications caused by the virus manage to recover.
Only in the Covid-19 service of the Pampa de la Isla hospital, in the first 20 days of this month, nine were discharged. patients and three others failed to overcome the disease, and of the latter, the majority had not received any dose or only had the first anticovid dose.
The municipal secretary of Health, Roberto Vargas, attributes the increase in the average number of recoveries to the fact that the variant Ómicron, which circulates in this fourth wave, despite being highlycontagious te is less aggressive. In addition, she found a large part of the population vaccinated, which was a protection shield against serious forms.
The director of the Pampa de la Isla hospital, Fernando Becerra, attributed this improvement to the operation of the massive diagnostic centers, which allowed patients to arrive faster to seek medical care and, therefore, prevented the paintings advance to serious forms. Vaccination also allowed to avoid complications.
“Most of the patients who got complicated were not vaccinated and those who arrived on time were victorious,” he stressed.
In mid-2021, the Mayor’s Office enabled another 16 ICU beds and the offer rose to 53 units in the capital municipality.
According to the latest epidemiological report of the commune, 57% of the 53 units were occupied last week.
patients
In the Pampa de la Isla, the doctor Becerra insisted that more than 70% of the patients who come to this service did not receive any dose of the coronavirus vaccine or had only one.
He added that another vulnerable group is made up of people, who, despite being vaccinated, have underlying diseases or risk factors, such as the elderly, diabetics, hypertensive, with heart disease and other pathologies.
According to the Mayor’s Office report, between January 16 and 22 of this year, 1,321 people over the age of 60 tested positive for Covid-19 in the Santa Cruz capital. But the contagion continues more among youth and young adults, since 7,428 cases diagnosed in the previous week corresponded to people between 19 and 39 years old.
January of this year is the month that registered the most cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began, in the capital of Santa Cruz. Until the third week of January, 60,493 were counted. infections in groups of all ages, above December 2021, which closed with 38,118 confirmed cases.
Recovery in the UTIS
The coordinator of the Covid dome of the Japanese hospital, Richy Hurtado, highlights that this month they have also had more patients recovered from the Intensive Care Units (UTI) than in December 2021, although the rate of recovery has not changed with respect to the third wave, that is, six out of ten patients manage to overcome the critical condition.
Hurtado also points out that the vast majority of patients who arrive at intensive care are those who did not receive no vaccinations or have underlying diseases. In fact, in the last week, 67% of the patients who entered the dome did not have a coronavirus vaccine.
During the third wave, this service received several pregnant women who had to give birth early in order to intubate them.
In turn, the coordinator of the ICU service of the San Juan de Dios hospital, Andrés Martínez, indicated that in this wave maintained the recovery rate of patients in this service, which is between five and six out of ten.
He explained that mortality in therapies is related to several factors, such as the age of the patient, the degree of complication of the condition, the underlying diseases and the lack of the anticovid vaccine.
“The lack of vaccination is the common denominator of patients in intensive care,” he remarked.
Martínez added that in this wave it has been seen that patients they have been hospitalized longer, an average of between 15 and 20 days, although few remain in therapy for more than 40 days.
pediatric therapies
Last week, the opening of a room in the Pampa de la Isla hospital was announced to expand the capacity of ICUs for children, but to date it has not worked.
At that time, the Ministry of Health, in coordination with the The Mayor’s Office and the Governor’s Office announced the opening of eight beds for pediatric patients to decongest the services of the Mario Ortiz Children’s Hospital, which were saturated by the large number of patients who arrived with severe coronavirus symptoms.
In this regard, the municipal secretary of Health indicated that They expect the national government to allocate the personnel for the operation of these teams.
Between January 16 and 22 of this year, 576 children under the age of 18 were diagnosed with coronavirus.
The Mayor’s report indicates that in the last epidemiological week the requirement for hospital beds for patients with mild and moderate symptoms decreased.
Between week two and three of this month, there was a increase from 37 to 43 percent in the occupation of these spaces. For the authorities, this is because patients are being detected faster.
