São Paulo Admits to Increased Covid-19 Hospitalizations in November for First Time

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The São Paulo State government conceded on Monday, November 16th, that there is an increase in hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the state. In the last epidemiological week, which covers November 8th to 14th, hospitalizations of suspected and confirmed cases of the disease increased by 18 percent compared to the preceding week: the daily average of new hospitalizations rose from 859 to 1,009.

The São Paulo Plan, which governs the quarantine stages in the several regions of the state, establishing heavier or lighter measures according to the health indicators of each location, will not be updated this week. According to the government, the change will not be made due to a flaw in the Ministry of Health’s data that impacted the death figures for Covid-19 in São Paulo last week. These indicators determine the quarantine phases in each region.

On Monday, the state totaled 40,576 deaths from coronavirus and 1,169,377 confirmed cases of the disease since the start of the pandemic. The total of new weekly cases, which was dropping, remained stable in the state of São Paulo in relation to the preceding week.

According to the state Health Secretary Jean Gorinchteyn, if health indicators continue to grow, more restrictive quarantine measures may be implemented. “If we have increased rates, surely much more stringent and restrictive measures will be taken in order to continue to safeguard lives. This is how we will do this,” says Jean.

On the other hand, Governor João Doria stated that the reclassification of quarantine was deferred out of “caution”.

“The lack of information on cases and deaths for six days last week, caused by a breakdown in the Ministry of Health’s system […] affected the normalization of data throughout Brazil, and here in São Paulo in particular. We are therefore deferring the update of the São Paulo Plan until November 30th. It is a cautionary measure and that demonstrates our responsibility in not changing the qualification of states without all the indicators available,” says Doria.

Last week, doctors from 15 hospitals had already alerted to the increase of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the city of São Paulo’s private hospitals. However, state Health Secretary Jean Gorinchteyn denied on Thursday, November 12th, that the numbers were rising.

“All hospitalizations occurring in the state of São Paulo, whether in the public or private environment, are notified to our regulatory agencies within the state Health Secretariat. So we work with official numbers. These official numbers do not show what has been published by the media,” he said at the time.

In addition to private hospital reports in the capital, official data released by the state government for the health system in Greater São Paulo already pointed to an increase in the rolling average of hospitalizations in November, compared to October.

Mayor of São Paulo City and candidate for reelection Bruno Covas had also denied that hospitalizations were on the rise.

“What we have is some specific data from some private hospitals, which also accommodate many people from outside São Paulo, so this does not reflect the evolution of the pandemic in the city. The combined figures for the city of São Paulo show that there is no upsurge of the disease. Our rates continue to drop here,” he said on Friday, November 13th.

The reclassification of the São Paulo state regions in the plan to reopen the economy during the coronavirus pandemic was scheduled to take place on Monday, November 16th, but has now been deferred until November 30th.

According to the state administration, the reason is the data blackout that caused instability in the Ministry of Health’s Sivep-Gripe system on November 5th. At the time, the São Paulo State Government was unable to update Covid-19 data for five days.

“The lack of information on cases and deaths for six days last week, caused by a breakdown in the Ministry of Health’s system now, as of this week will apparently be solved, but has affected the normalization of data across Brazil and here in São Paulo in particular. We are therefore deferring the update of the São Paulo plan to November 30th,” said Governor João Doria.

The São Paulo Plan regulates the quarantine throughout the state, classifies the state regions in colors, determining which locations may progress in terms of business reopening measures. The criteria that underpin the regions’ classification are:

• Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed occupancy;
• Total beds per 100,000 inhabitants;
• Variation of new admissions, compared to the preceding week;
• Variation of new confirmed cases, compared to the preceding week;
• Variation of new confirmed deaths, compared to the preceding week.
• In the Green phase, deaths and cases for every 100,000 inhabitants are also considered
• Regions that reach phase 3 (Yellow) or 4 (Green) will remain in these phases as long as they have weekly indicators of fewer than 40 Covid-19 hospitalizations per 100,000 inhabitants and five deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

Currently, the state has eleven regions in the yellow phase and six in the green phase.

Source: G1