The undersecretary of Public Health, Cristóbal Cuadrado, reported that the 52 communes of the Metropolitan Region will go back to the stage of medium health impact starting Thursday, May 12 at 05:00 in the morning.
According to the health authority, in total there will be 95 communes in the country that will go from low to medium impact healthcare starting this week. The changes are as follows:
Copiapó, Caldera, Tierra Amarilla, Vallenar, Alto del Carmen, Freirina and Huasco will move to the medium health impact phase; while in the Valparaíso Region they are San Felipe, Catemu, Llay-Llay, Panquehue, Putaendo and Santa María.
Temuco, Carahue, Cunco, Curarrehue, Freire, Galvarino, Gorbea, Lautaro, Loncoche, Melipeuco, New Imperial, Father Las Casas, Perquenco, Pitrufquen, Pucon, Puerto Saavedra, Teodoro Schmidt, Tolten, Vilcun, Villarrica and Cholchol.
Puerto Montt, Calbuco, Cochamó, Fresia, Frutillar, Los Muermos, Llanquihue, Maullín and Puerto Varas.
WHAT DOES THIS CHANGE CONSIST OF?
The Minsal considers a “scenario of less intense pressure on the healthcare network, viral circulation and prevalence of serious illness and deaths, as well as factors of hospital occupation and respiratory consultations”, all this in the midst of a progressive discharge of cases in the last weeks.
In concrete steps, the use of a mask will always be mandatory in closed spaces and social distancing must be maintained, while in any open space where a physical distance of more than 1 meter cannot be maintained; the mobility pass will be required.
Los massive events, meanwhile, will have a maximum capacity of up to 10 thousand peoplewith a mask and mobility pass, provided that the space of the enclosure allows physical distance. This affects the capacity of concerts and football matchesfor example.
Undersecretary of Public Health @CCuadradoN:
“Also remember that in the yellow or medium health impact phase, capacity is restricted, considering that the minimum distance between people must be one meter, and in massive events the maximum is 10,000 people.” pic.twitter.com/pcNi6WtpqN
– Ministry of Health (@ministeriosalud) May 10, 2022
INCREASE IN CASES AND HOSPITAL WORK
This measure is taken within the framework of a 32 percent increase in Covid cases in the last seven days: this Tuesday they were 1,462 registered infected and three deaths from causes associated with the virus.
“What we are seeing is an increase in cases that we cannot immediately predict how big it is going to be, but We are taking all measures to make it as short as possible.“, undersecretary Cuadrado pointed out.
The health authority also explained that “One of the main explanations has to do with the circulation of the BA.2 variant., which is a subvariant within ómicron that was already in circulation in the country since February, but has gradually become the dominant variant in the country. What we have seen in that in all the countries in which there is a change from omicron to BA.2, is that there is an increase in cases“.
For his part, the undersecretary of Healthcare Networks, Fernando Araoswarned that “there will be a greater circulation of respiratory viruses such as influenza, syncytial virus, among others“, so “as expected, it will put pressure on the capacity of our healthcare network.”
“However, our winter contingency campaign this year includes different measures and investments aimed at preventing and coping with this burden of care” the authority warned.
“We have allocated an investment or an expense over 228 billion pesos for reinforcements both at the hospital level, reconversion of adult and pediatric beds and promotion of home hospitalization in care centers,” reported Araos.
Undersecretary of Healthcare Networks @AraosFernando:
“Now that we are entering winter, there will be a greater circulation of respiratory viruses such as Influenza, Syncytial Virus, among others, which, as expected, will put pressure on the capacity of our network” pic.twitter.com/TwVLQKTFO8
– Ministry of Health (@ministeriosalud) May 10, 2022
