COVID-19: One year after the first positive in Holguín
- Written by Lourdes Pichs Rodríguez
- Published in Opinion
- Hits: 2039
The 18 of this marks a year the confirmation of the first positive for COVID-19 in the province, when a 57-year-old Canadian citizen was diagnosed with the disease, a few hours after his arrival at a hotel in the tourist destination of Holguín.
He was also the first patient recovered and discharged from here after his admission and treatment at the Fermín Valdés Domínguez military hospital.
In these 12 months the territory has faced three outbreaks of COVID-19. In the third outbreak, started last November, the number of positives, contacts and suspects has been higher than the previous waves of the pandemic, mainly from January to March.
In the first months of 2021 the behavior of transmission with a high viral load, spread throughout the 14 municipalities, has led several territories to be declared in limited autochthonous transmission, as well as to maintain quarantine areas due to number of active foci.
Also, the increase in the number of patients with an indeterminate source of infection with weeks of exceeding 50 people infected, which is a major concern for health authorities, as in any epidemic it is essential to know who infected whom, in order to be able to cut the chain of transmission in a pertinent way.
This situation is a result of the increase in the number of contacts of confirmed extra-domiciliary cases (CCCE), a trend in the transmission of COVID-19 in recent weeks in the province.
Also, there has been an increase in positive cases among pediatric ages. In January, 43 children were reported with the new coronavirus, 61 in February and in the first 16 days of March, 49 cases have been reported, including infants.
In the case of children, the contagion has been linked to irresponsibility in the protection of children and violations of prevention and hygiene measures by adults that expose them to contact with home visitors without first complying with the established protocols.
During the stage, there was also a decrease in the number of confirmed cases related to international travelers, as a result of the measures implemented as of February 6 with the opening of isolation centers for travelers, who are performed a PCR at the border (airport), a second on the fifth day in the isolation center and a third nine days after arriving in the country, in their community.
The complex epidemiological situation faced by the province has led to the opening of a various isolation centers for suspected cases of Covid-19 and contacts, in addition to the Fermín Valdés Domínguez military hospital where positive cases are addmitted.
One of the achievements in this stage was the inauguration of the Molecular Biology Laboratory in areas of the Vladimir Ilich Lenin hospital, to analyze real-time PCR samples of patients from Holguín and other nearby provinces.
This center, equipped with innovative technology and qualified personnel, has been a decisive support in the fight against COVID-19 with more than a thousand daily studies on average from November to now.
A year has passed since March 18, 2020 and health professionals are still involved in facing the pandemic, while more responsibility and discipline is required from all in complying with the measures established in health protocols to control COVID-19.
