02/13/2021 18:45
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 02/13/2021 19:08
The Ministry of Health of the Nation reported this Saturday
another 159 deaths and 6,057 new cases
of coronavirus throughout the country.
In this way, Argentina reached 50,188 fatalities and 2,021,553 infections.
Of the last registered deaths (95 men, 63 women and one person whose sex was not specified), 55 resided in the province of Buenos Aires, 36 in Corrientes, 34 in the City of Buenos Aires (CABA), 17 in Neuquén , three in Chubut;
two in Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Misiones, Río Negro and Salta;
and one in Chaco, Jujuy, Santa Cruz and Santa Fe.
Once again,
all jurisdictions reported cases,
with the province of Buenos Aires (2,448) leading the way.
Surprisingly and for the first time, in second place of the day was San Luis, with 627 positives.
It was followed by Córdoba (554), City of Buenos Aires (541), Santa Fe (424), Neuquén (183), La Pampa (122), Río Negro (115), Chubut (112), Entre Ríos (110) and Salta (103).
They completed the part Misiones (99), Tucumán (90), Catamarca (78), Chaco (75), Santa Cruz (65), Santiago del Estero (59), Corrientes (53), La Rioja (32), Jujuy (25 ), Formosa (21), Tierra del Fuego (14) and San Juan (6).
Of the 150,400 people who are experiencing the disease, 3,514 remain hospitalized in Intensive Care Units (ICU).
The occupancy level in this sector is 59.9% in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA) and 54.7% in the rest of the country.
In the last hours, 54,718 tests were carried out, with a
positivity of 11%
.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, 6,793,797 diagnostic tests for this disease have been carried out.
Although the cases decreased in recent days, specialists warn that they could increase in the face of the opening of activities, which generate greater mobility, and the arrival of autumn, which limits outdoor activities.
"Cases have been decreasing at a rate of 14% each week
. The week of January 21 the average number of daily cases was 10,337; the week of January 28 was 8,921; that of February 2, 8,016 and this week the Average yesterday (Friday) was 6,673, "
teacher and researcher Soledad Retamar
explained to the
Télam
agency
.
The specialist, who is part of the Database Research Group (GIBD) of the Concepción del Uruguay Regional School, dependent on the National Technological University (UTN), explained that "in the case of the deceased, the decrease is less clear: the Average deaths for the week of January 21 was 176, for the week of January 28 it was 178, for the week of February 4 it was 157 and this week it is 168 ".
Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has been known that the notification of cases represents a percentage of the actual infected, the proportion of which varies depending on the criteria taken.
Thus, a prevalence study made from the measurement of antibodies in a popular neighborhood in the City of Buenos Aires had shown that for each confirmed
there were 9 cases that were not detected
, either because they were asymptomatic or because they did not reach the system of Health.
For the professor and researcher at Conicet Roberto Etchenique, who works at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of Materials, Environment and Energy (Inquimae) and at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the UBA, "the best way to estimate the number of actual infected is with the death toll and the age of the deceased ".
"This is so because it is well known what the probability of dying is at each age range (IFR or real fatality, not the one generally reported that only takes into account detected cases)", he described.
With this parameter, Etchenique's estimate is that
Argentina had slightly more than 15 million infections
: "That means that for each confirmed case there were seven that were not detected. Of course, this proportion differs a lot between districts, and now it is detected quite a lot better than mid-2020, "he explained.
The City continues with the testing of tourists who come from their vacations.
Photo: Marcelo Carroll
On the other hand, when taking a "balance" of the two million reported cases, the infectologist Elena Obieta said that "in these months we were able to learn what was useful and what was not in terms of care, diagnosis, treatment, and arriving at safe vaccines and effective in preventing serious illness and deaths, but with a global shortage that puts the world in suspense that sufficient quantity will be manufactured as soon as possible ".
"It is difficult to evaluate whether the number of cases and deaths (50,029, until yesterday) is what is 'expected' because in pandemics one does not know how it will go; it was expected that it would be contagious because it is a respiratory virus, this did that many infected were reached, which caused many deaths, but we did not have deceased people in Argentina because they could not be treated in the health system as happened in other countries, "said Obieta, a member of the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI).
Regarding what was learned, the specialist pointed out that "
it was expected
that at the end of the year, after the wake of (Diego) Maradona, the marches for the vote of the Law of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy and the meetings at the end of year and holidays the cases will increase ".
Regarding the current situation, Obieta indicated that "we are on a high plateau and the proximity of the drop in temperatures that causes people to be in closed spaces, without adequate ventilation, is worrying because we know that this favors contagion."
At this point, the infectologist, who is also Head of the Communicable and Emerging Diseases Service of the Municipality of San Isidro, clarified that "outdoor encounters are safer as long as a chinstrap is used and there is a distance of two meters, because if I am outdoors but near another person, I can catch it. "
"We will have to continue to take care with the measures that we already know are effective (correct use of the chinstrap, distance, ventilation and hand washing) if we want to mitigate a strong outbreak as happened in Europe," he closed.