With cases on the rise, how is the coronavirus protocol that Mar del Plata has this summer

There was a moment of extreme tension in Mar del Plata in September when intensive care doctors warned that the healthcare system was “on the verge of collapse”. In a few days, they said, the beds would no longer be available for further hospitalizations.

It was during the peak of coronavirus infections. So, Mar del Plata regressed in its isolation phase, various activities were limited and gradually it was possible to get out of the gap.

The season started on December 1, the Buenos Aires health operation was also launched. The health system includes reinforcements of care in hospital guards and outpatient clinics, multiple sites to be tested, prevention tasks, an increase in mobile (ambulances, 4×4, helicopter, plane) for better logistics, but the city faces the summer practically with the same intensive care weapons you had from March to today.

That is to say, the same number of beds and the same number of resuscitation doctors, the professional resource who makes or does not operate a bed in an intensive care unit (ICU).

The painting does not stop being disturbing: now they are not only here from Mar del Plata. There are, and the number will increase in the days to come, thousands of tourists crowd around these beaches and wear masks in random mode.

At the same time, with the number of bookings increasing for the next few weeks (although still lower than in other seasons), also the number of daily infections increases.

The board on which the statistics were based is now a inclined plane, it increases from week to week. December 12 was the lowest number since mid-August, with 87 new positives. There was pause: 104, 128, 168, 191 and 210 are numbers of cases recorded on promotion days, and this Wednesday they were 259 confirmed cases.

The maximum record in Mar del Plata was 477 cases on September 25. On October 3, the Interzonal General Hospital of Agudos (HIGA) transferred a patient to a medical plane to admit him to a sanatorium in the federal capital because he no longer had intensive care beds.

These days a second modular hospital here (others also in San Bernardo, Villa Gesell, Necochea and Monte Hermoso), and both will be available for testing and care for people with mild and moderate symptoms of coronavirus: they will not be used for the treatment of very complex cases. They are finishing it in the next few days.

The first modular hospital built with HIGA has 24 intensive care beds, but only half have been operational since it opened in mid-year. “They are beds, but without anyone assisting them, it’s as if they weren’t“, said to Bugle a seasoned medical source, who recognized the province’s constant effort to find human resources.

Thus, faced with an epidemic generating serious cases, the situation will depend on responsiveness which have private clinics and public establishments, HIGA and its modular neighbor, the only very complex public in the region.

The Buenos Aires protocol for “Management of cases and contacts of COVID-19 within the framework of the tourist season” indicates that he is traveling or during the period of accommodation, if a person develops symptoms consistent with coronavirus, you must contact line 148 for instructions.

Then the rigorous recommendations: using masks, reinforcing hand washing, disinfecting surfaces, and securing that person in administrative isolation until they are treated and health workers advise what to do.

It stipulates that the traveler must perform isolation until the end of the period corresponding to a confirmed case, and the alternatives are two. If the tourist is in clinical condition and with his own means of getting around, he must return to his place of residence to complete the isolation. If you do not have the means or if your health prevents you from doing so, the municipality must accommodate you in an extra-hospital center.

In any case, says the protocol of the province of Buenos Aires, those who test positive for Covid-19 can stay in hotels or temporary accommodation.

The municipality of General Pueyrredón this week launched the promotion and prevention operation. It includes the attention of its Covid CEMA (Center for Ambulatory Medical Specialties) center until midnight, a test and processing center for PCR samples, street staff working with the Province in health posts on the Coast ” to strengthen the health system in a pandemic context ”, and stations at the train station and at the airport to control passengers.

With the season underway, the good news may be almost total availability of equipment. “The situation is relatively calm because at this time, when there is a large number of consultations, as many as there were at the peak, most of the positives are young. This means that the hospitalization has not increased soaring, “she told this newspaper. source.

After a year of paralysis that plunged all the legs of the tourism sector into a deep crisis, the desire here is for thousands of visitors to arrive. Although without alarm, persists among tour operators and the same officials concern that the city experiences a strong regrowth and leaves everyone with nothing.

The Buenos Aires Ministry of Health has warned him more than once: in the face of an epidemic that puts the health system under control, “there is no doubt restrictive measures“.

Mar del Plata. Corresponding

AS