QCOSTARICA – The spike in cases of covid-19 in recent days set off the alarms and has the authorities analyzing the possibility of bringing back the “hammer”.
The situation is very worrying since while the week before last there were 2,743 new cases, during the past week the figure rose to 4,989.
The Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, said this Monday at a press conference that, if the increase in infections continued, there could be changes in the sanitary measures, such as the return to the vehicle restriction on weekends, reduced travel hours during the week and also reduce the capacity in stores and shut down certain activities.
Even face-to-face classes in schools and colleges could even be suspended.
The Minister did not give details or confirm that tougher measures will be put in place, only to say this is the last call before that would occur.
“It’s like being at a bus station or at the airport and the last boarding call is announced,” said Salas.
“If we see that the curve continues to increase we would have to go back to the restrictions. It seems that many people do not care about the matter, they go to parties with friends, they do not take care of themselves, they do not wear a mask and they are infected. In general, they are not the ones who become seriously ill, but rather they carry the disease to their grandparents, parents, older siblings, and these people are the ones who do lose their lives due to the virus.
“In this, it is not that the population is a spectator and we (the Government) are the protagonists, if we take the attitude that we have to wait and see what the Government says to lower the cases, we are in bad shape because the responsibility belongs to everyone. This is a global emergency, it is not only here in Costa Rica, this is not the government of terror, nor the minister who is scared, what we want is for people to be safe, this is a message of love,” the minister emphasized.
At Monday’s special press conference from Casa Presidencial, the medical manager at the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), Dr. Mario Ruiz, explained the rise in hospitalizations during the past several weeks, reaching a level we hadn’t seen since the end of last year.
On Monday, there were 435 people in hospital, of which 208 were in intensive care.
On March 14, the numbers were 234 and 129 respectively.
