Costa Ricans will learn, on Monday, April 27, the revised measures that the Government will take to gradually resume some activities, always with various restrictions in force, and without ceasing to monitor the behavior of the covid-19.
Health Minister, Daniel Salas Peraza, reiterated, this Saturday, that on Monday it will be announced what that “reactivation” will be like, warning vehemently that this will require a high dose of responsibility from all people.
“We are not in the post-covid stage. We are still at a clear risk that can cause the curve to skyrocket if we do not resume activities very carefully,” said Salas, who in an interview on Thursday explained that every time the cases shoot up (number of patients, deaths and hospitalized in Intensive Care), we will return to restrictive “quarantine” actions.
Until now, Costa Rica has managed to control the number of people infected with the new coronavirus, the number of deaths and the demand for health services, especially the most complex ones, from the covid-19.
According to the data revealed this Saturday, since the first case was detected in country, on March 6, 693 patients have been infected with the coronavirus, of which 242 have now fully recovered. Unfortunately, six patients.
The number of new cases has been low starting in the middle of April, with the exception of a few days; on April 20 there were only 2 new cases and one on April 24.
13 patients are in hospital, 7 of whom are in intensive care.
The number of active cases is at its lowest, 445 on Saturday.
Sitting alone at the conference table this Saturday, Salas explained: “If we neglect all the effort, we can go overboard. We have to do things very carefully, with a lot of discipline, it is a shared responsibility. Let’s continue in this discipline living in times of covid, let’s continue on the line those who can stay at home”.
The minister also revealed this Saturday that the hygienic measures practiced by the population as a result of the pandemic reduced the incidence of diarrhea by 28%.
Until April 4, Costa Rica registered 65,892 cases of diarrhea, while at the same date last year there were 91,464 cases. There are 25,572 fewer sick this year, the minister reported.
The minister recognized that there is a risk of new pandemic waves, so the country needs to keep the transmission of the virus in a controlled manner.
“No one here has pandemic experience, but there is a risk of pandemic waves. Costa Rica needs to maintain this transmission but in a controlled way: that we take control of the virus, and not that the virus dominates us.” said Daniel Salas, Minister of Health
Answering the question on re-infection, “It’s not from another world,” said Minister Salas, in explaining that the SARS-CoV-2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus that causes the coronavirus disease COVID-19 is expected to follow the pattern of other viruses we have in our planet, that our immune system creates anti-bodies that prevent re-infection for a period of time, maybe a year, maybe less.
Economic impact
In addition to the severe impact on the health system in all countries of the world, the covid-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented economic and social crisis.
In Costa Rica, the Central Bank forecasts a 3.6% drop in production this year, the largest since the crisis of the 1980s when it fell to 7.3% (in 1982), and higher than the 1% that decreased in the 2009 global financial crisis.
A substantial increase in the unemployment rate is expected due to the closure of businesses, and institutions such as the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) expect sharp reductions in their income.
In this case, only in Health insurance (which covers the risks of illness and maternity), the CCSS has seen a drop of more than ¢300,000 daily in worker-employer contributions.
