Silvia Gomez
05/22/2020 - 18:33
- Clarín.com
- Cities
36% of the City's coronavirus cases are concentrated in the towns and settlements . However, official data also indicates that the case fatality rate there is 0.9% ; 2.32% lower than that of the entire Capital, where it reaches 3.23%. According to specialists, this is because in vulnerable neighborhoods there is an active search for the infected, which allows early detection of the disease, since its inhabitants are younger on average.
City and Nation governments continue these "door-to-door" operations in vulnerable neighborhoods to find positive cases of coronavirus before infections are multiplied. From this Saturday, this health policy expands to Hidden City and, on Tuesday, to the Pope Francisco neighborhood. Both villas, known as numbers 15 and 20, are located in Lugano. They are somewhat less populous than 31, 1.11.14 and 21.24, where almost 50% of the population living in villas is concentrated.
Until this Friday, the Buenos Aires Government confirmed 1,877 cases of Covid-19 in the vulnerable neighborhoods of Buenos Aires , when 5,200 were recorded throughout the City. The most affected town is 31, with 1,225 cases and 4 deaths. Below is the Barrio Padre Ricciardelli (1-11-14), with another 528 and 13 deceased. The other cases are divided into villas 21-24-NHT Zavaleta (75), 20 (18), Ciudad Oculta (13), Cildañez (5), Rodrigo Bueno (3), Ramón Carrillo (3), Los Piletones ( 3), Fatima (2), Inta (1) and The Triangle (1). ; two in the Fatima neighborhood; one in the Inta neighborhood and one in the El Triángulo settlement.
COVID-19 in
vulnerable neighborhoods of the City
Tap to explore the data
Source: GCBA Infographic: Clarín
In the press conference that he offered this Friday, the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Fernán Quiros, explained: "The active search and swabbing of people with symptoms, or very crowded cohabitants of the sick, has allowed us to diagnose a significant number of people".
The number of people indicated by the minister increases the statistics of those infected but, at the same time, they are sick patients assisted early by the health system . And this is one of the reasons why, although the number of positive cases detected is higher in vulnerable neighborhoods, fewer patients die from Covid-19.
In dialogue with Clarín , the infectious medicine doctor Pedro Cahn, gave his point of view: "Door-to-door testing leads to an early diagnosis , which improves the care and treatment that can be carried out with this patient. This It explains part of the mortality statistics. Another explanation has to do with the average age of the people who live in towns and settlements . When living in terrible conditions, the life expectancy is lower. There are many more young people in these neighborhoods. Young people are the most affected, but at the same time, those who best pass the disease. "
Villa 31 is the one with the most cases of coronavirus. (AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko)
To implement the tests, Nación and Ciudad developed the Detect program : they reach the homes of people who had close contact with those who are already diagnosed and perform swabs or PCR tests. They also test those who have at least two symptoms related to the disease: cough, fever, altered taste and smell, sore throat, among others.
To locate the people who must be tested, a strong dissemination campaign is being carried out within the neighborhoods. The idea is that the neighbors spontaneously approach the health centers. for example, in Villa 31 there are three CeSACs. But the authorities also work in the territory with the apple delegates and with the social organizations. Many of the latter have spent years in their neighborhoods and with their help it is easier to get to the doors of the neighbors.
In towns like 1.11.14, where the State was absent until just a couple of years ago, on the first day of the Detect program, it was only possible to test a dozen people.
On the other hand, the Buenosairean and national governments plan to mount in the environs of Villa 31 a pavilion to take care of the neighbors . This idea arose from the last meeting held by President Alberto Fernández and the head of the City Government, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. The Benito Quinquela Martín cruise terminal , located very close to the town, would be used, where they would set up spaces for testing and also an isolation site. A mobile modular hospital belonging to the Ministry of Defense of the Nation would also be used.
"The work to adapt the terminal and equip it begins these days. For the residents of the neighborhood, it is a close and comfortable option . In the same place, tests can be carried out and if it is necessary to isolate someone, an area will be adapted for this situation ", they explained from the National Executive.
"It may be an interesting strategy , it seems to me a correct path," said Pedro Cahn. "It is not convenient to move the neighbors, it is necessary that the situation is resolved in the neighborhoods, for this reason I also agree that Febrile Units of Urgency (UFU). But these actions have to be done now, they are essential. We must bring the solution closer to these neighborhoods. "
For the infectologist, who is part of the team of doctors consulted by President Alberto Fernández, this pandemic may be an opportunity for many residents of the "formal city" to see for the first time "how people who work in domestic service live, who they are policemen, construction workers, who take care of the elderly. "
Community protection centers in vulnerable neighborhoods.
One of the solutions created by the Ministry of Human Development and Habitat for these neighborhoods was to organize, together with parishes and clubs, 28 "shelter centers" for older adults . These sites have beds, bathrooms, television, workshops and medical assistance. The idea is that people over 70 who live in villages and settlements move to quarantine in better housing conditions. However, the resource is not being used by neighbors. According to the ministry, at the moment only four of these centers were put into operation (two in 21.24 and two in Ciudad Oculta), with 8 older adults.