During the development of a pilot vaccination plan for children in the city of Medellin, The Deputy Minister of Health, Germán Escobar, addressed several topics of interest with the local press regarding the coronavirus in Colombia.
The official indicated that, following several epidemiological studies, experts believe that in two weeks the fourth peak of the pandemic might end due to COVID-19, since in recent days positive cases and hospitalizations have decreased. Given this, Germán Escobar referred to the possibility of removing the mandatory use of the mask.
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The doctor explained that although in other countries they begin to make its use more flexible or remove it completelyin Colombia it is still unknown when it might occur.
“I think it is premature to say that we are going to remove the mask. It is on the agenda, it is being studied by the epidemiological committee every week (…) let’s wait two weeks for the definitive behavior of this phase of the decline of the omicron wave to be able to make a decision on the matter, ”said the deputy minister.
He also assured that for now he is ruled out the application of a fourth dose of the vaccine.
COVID-19 patients do not predominate today in ICUs
For his part, the director of Provision of Services and Primary Care of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, John Delgado, reported through a statement that the data collected as of February 10, 2022, allow us to conclude that currently the occupation of the Intensive Care Units in the country per patient with coronavirus, is lower than that registered in the third wave of the virus.
“Today, COVID-19 cases do not predominate in these rooms. In the previous peak, the pressure of the coronavirus in the ICU had a maximum peak and the patients without this disease were lower, ”he said.
The official also reported that, until February 11, Cauca, Meta and Risaralda are some of the departments with the highest ICU occupation in the territoryhowever, the behavior in recent days has been improving.
“The territories have improved the audit and the ICU patient bed rotation. Home and hospital management has also been optimized, which has helped to cushion the pressures. What we want to show is that the behavior is symmetrical in the departments and will never reach the peaks that we had in June and July 2021”, he indicated.
