With a rise in Covid cases, São Paulo restricts visiting times in hospitals

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Faced with the rise in cases of Covid-19, the City of São Paulo restricted the length of stay for visits to municipal hospitals to one hour. In the ABC region, three cities decided to suspend the entry of relatives and friends of patients.

In the capital of São Paulo, the measure was taken, according to the Coordination of Hospital Assistance, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among users of the health system.

Between the 16th of this month and this Tuesday (22nd), the Municipal Health Department recorded 59 deaths and 21,171 new cases of the disease. The occupancy rate of ICU beds (Intensive Care Units) increased from 67% to 84% in the same period, and in the wards, from 62% to 78%.

Three cities in the Greater ABC have completely suspended visits to their hospitals, also to contain the spread of Covid. Only companions are allowed, who can be replaced every 24 hours.

In São Bernardo do Campo, the measure came into effect on the last 18th. From the beginning of the month until this date, 1,621 cases of the disease had been confirmed, according to the city hall, compared to 304 in October.

São Caetano do Sul also interrupted visits to its public hospitals, since the 17th, when it started to register, on average, 53 positive cases of Covid, daily. At the beginning of the month, there were four cases a day, on average.

“We know that this variant has greater transmissibility, but less virulence. It is worrying anyway due to patients with comorbidity, cases in which the disease can be aggravated and evolve to a bad outcome”, said the municipal secretary of Health, Regina Maura Zetone, through its press office.

Diadema will suspend visits to its health units from this Thursday (24). The city recorded 7,245 cases of the disease in a week.

The temporary suspension of visits to health facilities was the subject of discussion among the health secretaries of the seven cities that make up the Greater ABC Intermunicipal Consortium last week.

Despite the measures taken by São Bernardo do Campo, São Caetano and Diadema, the matter has not yet been deliberated by the mayors of the other municipalities.

For infectologist Leonardo Weissmann, the measures taken by the city halls of São Paulo and the three cities of the ABC “are consistent”.

“Important discharges of Covid cases are being recorded, so measures that restrict the movement of people in hospitals are extremely necessary at this time”, said the specialist, a member of the Brazilian Society of Infectology.

The suspension or reduction of visiting hours, he added, help to prevent people eventually infected by the virus from transmitting it to people who are already weakened by other illnesses within the health system.

“At the present time, we are still in a pandemic, the virus has not stopped circulating. Everyone needs to do their part, including getting vaccinated”, he guided.

In addition to the suspension of visits, the city halls of the capital and ABC advise people to continue to wear masks in closed places and maintain hand hygiene.

Also to redouble care, the collegiate board of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) approved, at the end of this Tuesday night (22), the return of the mandatory use of masks on airplanes and at airports in Brazil. The measure takes effect from next Friday (25).

This Tuesday, Brazil recorded 159 deaths from Covid and 27,931 cases of the disease. With that, the country reaches 689,223 lives lost and 35,094,130 infected since the beginning of the pandemic.

The moving average of deaths is 65 per day, up 43% compared to the data from 14 days ago. The moving average of cases is at 18,592 per day, up 261% over the same period.

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