Hospitals in Latin America are not yet full, but they are beginning to feel the pressure that the rapid spread of the omicron variant is generating.
The governments of the region try to face the health crisis by encouraging and even pressuring the population that is not vaccinated to do so.
But avoid, for now, imposing restrictions like those last year that kept the population of certain countries under continuous confinement.
The new wave has meant several challenges for all Latin American countries at the beginning of the year. Argentina and Mexico have registered their worst contagion rates in recent days since the pandemic began. In the case of the North American country, although the panorama in hospitals is not what it was a year ago, the inability to measure the dispersion of the virus and the difficulty that the population faces in easily accessing tests to confirm the virus are evident. Colombia, where vaccination started late but has managed to immunize 76% of citizens with at least one dose, has embarked on a strategy to increase the number. Starting this Thursday, all companies with customer service positions must require their employees to be vaccinated, among other measures adopted.
The provisions on the time of isolation after testing positive or after having contact with someone who has the virus has also changed in several countries in the region during this beginning of 2022. In Argentina, isolation is now limited to those who have not been immunized.
In Colombia, it went from 14 to seven days for everyone, even if they have received the vaccine.
In Peru, the isolation time was reduced to ten days for those with mild symptoms and, given the escalation of infections, the validity of teleworking was extended.
This is what this rising wave of coronavirus cases related to omicron in the region looks like:
Mexico: exceeded and unable to measure the spread of the virus
Teachers line up for the coronavirus vaccine, in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ (REUTERS)
The emergence of omicron in Mexico has already left a president and several government secretaries infected, a record of daily cases that is exceeded every day, dozens of canceled flights and endless lines to try to get a covid-19 detection test without success. .
And the wave has just begun.
In the last 14 days, 220,000 Mexicans have tested positive for covid-19.
Among them, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The president, who has mild symptoms, had his last appearance in a closed space and without a mask.
There he said: "I think it's the flu."
The avalanche of infections and the lack of tests have overwhelmed the Government, unable to measure the spread of the virus.
Mexico is one of the countries where fewer detection tests are carried out and these days the lines of patients surround the centers where some are offered for free.
The ferocious entry of ómicron began in the most touristic beach states. The Mexican Executive has at no time closed its borders or imposed restrictive measures such as quarantines. It has pivoted its entire strategy to fight the virus on vaccination: 74.5 million people have their full schedule, 57.7% of the total population. That figure makes Mexico one of the Latin American countries furthest behind in immunization, but it has reversed the situation that hospitals experienced in other waves: from being collapsed to having 60% of free beds. On January 13, 2021—at the height of the pandemic—15,800 cases and more than 1,200 deaths were identified; the same day a year later there are 44,000 infections and 190 deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 4.2 million cases and 300,000 deaths have been registered,according to data from the Ministry of Health, which recognizes that the real death toll could be double.
Argentina: isolation for the unvaccinated
A woman waits for her turn to be tested for covid-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
ALEJANDRO PAGNI (AFP)
"There are no more shifts."
This poster began to hang more and more from testing centers in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires ten days ago, as the omicron variant spread among the population.
This week the cases continued to rise, with a record of more than 134,000 on Tuesday, and the Government was forced to change the protocols.
Those who are vaccinated and are direct contacts of a positive case no longer have to isolate themselves: they can continue with their normal lives unless they have symptoms, but they are advised to exercise extreme caution in social gatherings.
Isolation is limited to those who have not been immunized.
The same reason has led some provinces to limit tests to those who have a fever, cough, headache or other symptoms of coronavirus. If you are a close but asymptomatic contact, you can no longer go to government centers but you must buy a test at the pharmacy or pay for a test in a private laboratory.
The Government of Alberto Fernández repeats that vaccination is key to explaining that the majority of those infected pass through the disease in a mild way.
The intensive care units today have an occupation of less than 45%, when at the peak of the second wave in some cases it exceeded 90%, and the deaths this Thursday were 139. Although seven out of ten Argentines are immunized with two dose, in the case of children it drops to 45%, which has made them the priority objective before the start of the school year, at the end of February.
Colombia: 40 flights canceled per day
A man disinfects the interior of a plane at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia.LUISA GONZALEZ (Reuters)
Colombia, where the wave of infections began to grow a little later, is already entering its fourth peak of the pandemic, with nearly 30,000 new cases per day by mid-week. In the midst of the economic reactivation, the end-of-year season festivities and traditional fairs in cities like Cali or Manizales increased travel and social interaction in a country that has already reopened restaurants and nightlife venues. As in other places, the spread of infections has begun to reach airline personnel, causing the cancellation of an average of between 40 and 45 daily flights (close to 4% of the operation), but without threatening for the moment the recovery of that sector.
Before the arrival of ómicron, the authorities have redoubled vaccination efforts, with a strategy that includes asking for the card to enter places of leisure and, starting this Thursday, that employers also require it for workers in all open establishments. to the public. The country also changed its guidelines last week to define the isolation of people with symptoms. In addition to reducing the period from 14 to 7 days, those under 60 years of age should no longer undergo any tests, since the symptoms are considered sufficient evidence of contagion. In addition, people who had covid will be able to be vaccinated 30 days after isolation, instead of the six months previously established.
76% of the population is vaccinated with at least one dose, 57% with the full schedule and 7.8% with a booster dose.
Also, about half of the children between 3 and 11 years old have at least one dose, an important fact before the imminent return to face-to-face classes this January.
"Children should be the last case in which isolation is conducted," emphasized the Minister of Health, Fernando Ruiz, who has called for speeding up the vaccination of minors.
In Bogotá, which has been the epicenter of the pandemic, analyzes indicate that 98% of current cases are caused by omicron, and the epidemiological committee that advises the capital anticipates that the peak of infections will take place in the first half of February. , with hospital occupancy still below 60%.
Brazil: pressure on ICUs and data blackout
Children receive the Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Sebastian Moreira (EFE)
Hospitals in Brazil are already beginning to feel the pressure that the explosion of cases of the omicron variant has caused since the Christmas holidays.
The ICUs for covid patients in a third of the states are on alert in the face of increased occupancy, according to Fiocruz, a public health institute.
In any case, the specialists do not predict the risk of collapse as they did months ago because the symptoms are milder and the influx of patients is much smaller.
Meanwhile, the data blackout of the Ministry of Health persists, which has lasted more than a month.
Attributed to a cyber attack, it keeps specialists blind to the evolution of the pandemic.
Given this scenario, President Jair Bolsonaro declared that “ómicron is welcome because it could indicate the end of the pandemic”, a statement immediately replicated by the WHO.
The multilateral organization recalled that, although it is less serious, "it is not a mild disease."
Cruises have been suspended by this new wave.
An increase in influx to outpatient clinics to be vaccinated has been confirmed.
After weeks of controversy instigated by the reticent Bolsonaro, the first child has been immunized in Brazil, an 8-year-old indigenous boy who suffers from a genetic disease.
The campaign to puncture children under 5-11 years of age begins on Monday.
And the demand for tests has increased so much that the authorities have decreed that pharmacies and health centers reserve them for the most serious cases and thus avoid shortages.
Chile: vaccination and self-care
Two people receive a dose of the vaccine against covid-19, in Santiago, Chile.Alberto Valdes (EFE)
In Chile, the circulation of the omicron variant has led to the number of daily infections skyrocketing to the levels of seven months ago, when the high levels of vaccination against covid-19 did not exist today (92.2% of the target population, 14,012,842 people, has completed their vaccination schedule). This Thursday, the Ministry of Health reported 7,291 new cases, 4,157 more than a week ago, with a positivity of 6.9%. "The next few weeks can be very hard," said the Undersecretary of Public Health, María Teresa Valenzuela. The Government's strategy continues to be to vaccinate and push self-care measures, which seems complex in the middle of the summer vacation period, with full spas and tourist areas. For now, however,It seems very difficult for the authorities to decide to carry out strong restrictions, such as new quarantines. The experts push, rather, for greater controls to be made of the mobility pass, which determines if a person has their vaccinations up to date, which allows greater possibilities of movement.
The situation has the current authorities and those of the next government, that of Gabriel Boric, who debuts in March, on alert.
A report prepared by Mauricio Canals, professor at the School of Public Health of the University of Chile, projects that on the 24th of this month the daily infections of covid-19 will reach their maximum since the pandemic was officially detected in Chile in March. of 2020. According to Canals' calculations, there would be 15,498 daily cases, which would exceed the 9,171 new infections that were registered on April 9, 2021, the highest figure to date.
Peru: six days for a test result
Health personnel take the test to detect covid-19 in a health center in Lima, Peru.
ERNESTO BENAVIDES (AFP)
On Tuesday, the Minister of Health, Hernando Cevallos, reported that ómicron represents more than 80% of the cases of coronavirus in Lima and Callao. Peru has exceeded the peaks of the second wave of infections (which occurred between January and June 2021). On Wednesday, 27,772 confirmed cases were registered, the highest number of new daily infections since the start of the pandemic.
After a week of huge queues at public establishments in Lima and Callao that carry out a diagnosis of covid-19, the minister ordered that those over 60 years of age —or people with comorbidities— and who had been in contact, have priority for molecular tests. positive for the coronavirus. There was not enough evidence for so much demand. Those who took the test last week waited six days to receive the result, when before it took only 24 hours.
The number of critical care beds is also a concern: 72% of pediatric COVID-ICUs were occupied until this Thursday. Of 889 ICU beds for adults, only 387 were available. In 37 provinces, the high-risk status for infections implies a curfew from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. and the prohibition of social gatherings or festivities: the most important that has been canceled It is the Candelaria Festival, in the Puno region.
The Government has made other decisions due to omicron: it reduced the isolation time to ten days for those who had mild cases of coronavirus, extended the validity of remote work for the public and private sectors until December, and established the obligation for those over 50 years of presenting your three-dose vaccination certificate to enter closed establishments, starting on the 23rd of this month.
Immunization of children under 11 years of age will begin on January 20.
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