06/12/2020 - 8:43
- Clarín.com
- Society
Amid pressure from the province of Buenos Aires for the City of Buenos Aires to go back with the relaxation of the quarantine, the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Fernán Quirós, admitted that in recent days, the curve of coronavirus infections "It started to rise", although he attributed it to the application of the Detect plan in all neighborhoods.
In this framework, Quirós insisted that "the R is still above 1, therefore, the worst is yet to come and we still have to climb the mountain", but explained that "the progression of the R continues to be slow."
"The contagion rate began to rise again . And it coincides with these three or four days with the start of Detect in the rest of the City," he said.
During a press conference giving details of the City's epidemiological situation, Quirós said that, despite this acceleration in recent days, it is still "relatively stabilized" so there is no need to go back in phase.
"If we see that the speed of growth of the curve for the next few days accelerates, we will tell the public and we will propose some modification. If we see that the curve continues in the phase it is in, we will continue to do so the enormous effort to continue testing, lower the R below 1 and the worst is over, "he said.
In this sense, Quirós explained that there are "13,069 total cases in the City of Buenos Aires, with 297 deaths and a fatality rate of 2.27%".
"86% of the positives are under 60 years old and almost 80% of the deceased are over 60 years old, with an average age of 74.7 years, as we always show this virus makes young people sick but irreparably damages older people, "said Quirós in his presentation.
Regarding the vulnerable neighborhoods of the City, he indicated that there are 5,821 confirmed cases, with 59 deaths with a fatality of 1.01%. In total 2,871 people were discharged.
The minister gave details of the mobile DetectAR program, which proactively searches for cases in the rest of the City. "In Balvanera 187 people were tested and 107 were positive, in Flores 150 tests were made and 15 were positive. We will continue on Saturday in La Boca, on Tuesday in Constitución and on Friday in Barracas."
"Over 7 or 10 days the City will be with DetectAR working proactively every day," said Quirós.
As announced, tests were begun today on nursing home workers, "to have epidemiological surveillance of those who can carry and bring the virus and thus avoid contagion within institutions."
"In hospitals we are already testing workers, this is progressive day by day and for next week it will be fully functioning. To date we have carried out 1,936 serological tests of which 1,876 were negative and 60 were positive. Of the 60 PCRs performed, 44 were negative and 7 positive. There are 9 still in process, "Quirós said.
Asked about the declarations of the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández, about the possibility of returning to phase 1 in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA), Quirós said: "The issue of phases is a technical question, I think the President intends to collaborate and we greatly appreciate your support. ”
"The citizens of the City of Buenos Aires have a different view, there are those who believe that the pandemic is not serious or that they can no longer tolerate what we are asking for as public policy and there are those who strictly comply with what we propose. We try to find a common denominator of those looks ”, explained Quirós
And he clarified: "We allowed more activities in the last days to maintain the link between the government and the citizenry, not because we believe that things are much better ."
The minister did not avoid the dilemma of the Buenos Aires runners who, since Monday, went out to do physical activity between 20 and 8 and caused strong criticism.
"We are going to walk or retrace the proposals according to the data for each week, today's data is in sight and with those data we see a relatively stabilized curve. Wanting to mix an image that was not good on Monday night with the results we have this week is not speaking clearly to the public, that will be reflected in 7 to 14 days. If we observe that in the neighborhoods where people ran there is a greater activity of viral circulation, we are going to say it ”, he concluded.
JPE