Buenos Aires warns of high occupancy of intensive care beds

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Government of the city of Buenos Aires issued an alert this Tuesday, April 20, of the high occupancy of intensive care beds due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which especially affects the private sector, where beds are occupied at 82% of capacity.

“The average in the private sector is 82%, but of course, there are ICUs that are above 95%, and the average bed capacity in the public sector is at 65%. That is why we have to continue redistributing patients,” said the Buenos Aires Minister of Health, Fernán Quirós, at a press conference.

In this sense, he pointed to the cooperation between the city hall and private centers, to which respirators were donated to meet the high demand for beds.

“There is no need to generate unnecessary tension among citizens. In an operational meeting, we communicated that we lend our reserve of respirators to the private system; we are helping. We have loaned our reserve of respirators, about 50 respirators, to private providers”, he said.

Regarding the situation the country is going through, where in the last few weeks the number of infections has increased significantly, and restrictions to mobility have been adopted, he pointed out that the important thing is “to intensify the vaccination campaign and to make an effort for two or three weeks.”

“This is a disease in which all dimensions and data must be evaluated: the number of patients, acceleration, the R rate, the number of available beds, mortality – a set of essential indicators. For the public to join us, we need them to see the situation clearly,” he added.

Quirós did not agree with some of the measures adopted by the Government of Alberto Fernández, especially the decision to suspend in-person classes for two weeks, which caused tensions between the government and the opposition Buenos Aires Government, and even reached the courts, which issued a ruling that forced the government to keep schools open in the capital.

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