Eight out of ten symptomatic people seeking a test in Araraquara have Covid

The city of Araraquara, in the interior of São Paulo, bet on a universal testing strategy and found alarming rates of contamination by the omicron variant of Covid-19. The disease has already killed eight people this year in the city, which is 273 km from the capital.

Up to 8 out of 10 symptomatic patients who sought health care and were tested for Covid-19 in the city had the disease. Last Saturday (15), for example, 353 tests were carried out on symptomatic patients who sought health services, of which 277 were positive.

Including routine tests carried out in public and private services, 1,299 tests were carried out in the municipality on Saturday, with 486 positive cases. Thus, of every ten tests performed on symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in the municipality, four were positive.

It was in one of these routine exams that Mayor Edinho Silva (PT), also asymptomatic, discovered last week that he had Covid-19. He is in quarantine and doing his work-from-home schedule.

Araraquara became a symbol of the fight against Covid-19 in Brazil during the height of the delta in 2021, when it adopted severe restrictive measures, including strict isolation, and implemented a policy of mass testing.

This year, with the advancement of cases of the disease, the city has carried out up to 2,5000 tests per day. There were peaks of 1,100 new cases in one day and a daily moving average of 649 infected, all of them with the omicron.

With the growth in demand for care in the public and private networks, the prefecture reopened the Campaign Hospital, this time transformed into a Testing Reference Center for Covid-19. The so-called universal testing has been applied to 100% of the demand that arrives in search of service and also to companies and employees of the municipal network.

Even with the advance of cases, Araraquara should not suspend parties and large events yet, nor institute restrictive measures of movement beyond those announced by the state.

The municipal decree published last Saturday provides for a maximum capacity of 70% in events requiring a complete vaccination schedule (two doses of vaccine or a single dose) or a dose and negative test for Covid-19.

The mandatory use of mask and hygiene was also reinforced. Inspection must be carried out by sampling at the door of the events. In a note, the prefecture informed that the “Coronavirus Contingency Committee monitors the data daily and, if necessary, will take new measures” and ruled out, for now, the hypothesis of a new lockdown.

The measure would be “only suitable for when there is a risk of collapse in the hospital system”. According to the city hall, despite the increase in contamination, there are still no difficulties in hospitalizing patients or a situation that characterizes a risk of collapse of the health system, as “vaccination has prevented the aggravation of cases, which does not require hospitalization”.

This Monday (17), the city recorded occupancy of 41% of infirmary beds for patients with Covid-19 and 44% of ICU beds (Intensive Care Unit). In all, the city has 3,422 active cases of Covid-19.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the city has recorded 612 deaths from Covid-19 and 39,882 confirmed cases – equivalent to 16.7% of the city’s population. In the last 15 days, 21,405 Covid-19 tests were carried out and 7,126 cases were confirmed.

The case rate for every 100,000 inhabitants of the city is 169 and is above the national average, of 109, and the state average, of 102. However, the percentage of lethality of the disease in Araraquara was well below the others: 1, 5% of cases against 3.5% in São Paulo and 2.7% in Brazil.

Araraquara has also bet on the advancement of vaccination. In addition to the traditional immunization centers, it has a drive-thru from 8 am to 4 pm and awaits the delivery of doses for child immunization against Covid-19. The arrival of 940 doses is confirmed, which will be aimed at children from 5 to 11 years old with comorbidities.

With 238 thousand inhabitants, the city has 83% of its population with two doses or a single dose of the vaccine. City hall data also show that 9,316 inhabitants have also received the third dose.

On his social media, Mayor Edinho Silva classified the pandemic scenario in the city as worrying: “The ômicron has generated an amazing and unprecedented rate of contamination in all cities in our region”.

In April 2021, Araraquara implemented a ten-day lockdown with severe measures. After the intervention, the numbers of new cases and hospitalizations dropped and, for the first time in two months, the city went two days in a row without reports of deaths from Covid-19.

The closing of the streets was accompanied by the transformation of an old motel into a back-up unit for patients unable to maintain isolation at home. It also adapted a church as an extension of the UPA (Emergency Care Unit) in Vila Xavier for early admissions.

The city even came to anticipate two holidays, suspend public transport and create sanitary barriers for vehicles from other cities without justification to enter Araraquara (road travelers underwent rapid tests during the blockades).