(QCOSTARICA) COVID-19 patients over 40 years of age spend on average up to 11 days hospitalized in Costa Rica’s medical centers.
The president of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), Román Macaya, warned of the situation and asked that people follow strict protocols to avoid further contagion and even the collapse of the health system.
A statistical analysis of the CCSS shows how groups of people between 41 and 64 years of age, as well as those over 65 years of age, are hospitalized for a longer period.
“Older people have a longer hospital stay. Being a senior is a very important risk factor. It is the most correlated with a complication, but it is not the only cause of prolonged hospitalization. The 41 to 64-year-old is also with longer hospitalization is because they are hypertensive, diabetic, obese, smoking, or cancer patients who have other risk factors, diseases occur more and more in younger people,” said Macaya.
The figures detail that minors (under 18), on average spend 3 days hospitalized. Subsequently, the group of 19 years to 41 years of age are in hospital on average for 7.5 days.
As of July 5, the Ministry of Health reported at the noon presser, 77 hospitalized patients, of which 10 remain in intensive care. That figure did not take account death number of 20 Sunday night, a 43-year-old man with 20 days in the ICU.
Health authorities expect that the number of people hospitalized will increase in the coming days, with the growth of positive cases: 375 on Sunday and 310 on Saturday and just below 300 for 3 consecutive days prior.
In total, in the last week – Sunday, June 28 to Sunday, July 5 – the total number of COVID-19 confirmed cases have been 2,017 of the total 4,996 accumulated in the four months today of the pandemic.
Macaya called on the population to follow the measures – wearing a mask, frequent hand washing and social distancing – to avoid exposing themselves to the virus.
