Party goers send alarm signals to health authorities

As images circulate on social media of weekend parties  in El Chorrillo  with strident  music  fireworks and people without masks sharing glasses and plates a health report  says that  Panama the highest  coronavirus incidence rate in the Americas

After seven months of the pandemic, there were 124,745 cases and 2,564 deaths from the first case in March until last Sunday.

Among the favorable numbers in the management of the health, the crisis is fatality: with 2.1%, a rate lower than the world, which is 2.9%, and in America, which is 3.3%. However, it is higher than that of Central American countries, such as Costa Rica (1.2%) and Belize (1.4%)

Panama has also managed to avoid the collapse of the hospitals, and the availability of beds has increased The current availability of beds in wards is 42% (2,239 of a total of 5,277), and in intensive care units it is 40% (242 of 599).

In addition, the country is among those that carry out the most Covid-19 diagnostic tests on a daily basis: the average is from 5,000 to 6,000 reports the  Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)

 The latest report from the organization shows that Panama has the highest incidence of cases in the Americas region – of 2,000 812 infected per 100,000 inhabitants–,above the average rate for the region –of 1,726 per 100,000 inhabitants–.

According to PAHO, in America, the highest rates of infected per 100,000 inhabitants stand out: Chile (2,554), Peru (2,539), Brazil (2,353) and the United States (2,289).

Regarding the mortality indicator, in the second week of October, the country registered mortality of 58.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. This figure exceeds the average rate for America, which is 56.9 per 100,000 people and puts it in first place among the Central American countries.

Challenges
Jorge Luis Prosperi, a  specialist in Public Health and former representative of the World Health Organization, said that Panama has been on a dangerous plateau for six weeks, which is a clear alarm signal that forces us to redouble institutional efforts and the discipline of the population since there are people who behave irresponsibly and fail to comply with biosecurity measures.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Ivette Berrío, indicated that health personnel is redoubling actions against Covid-19 and that the unified teams are working long hours in search of positive cases, but the community must cooperate.

He said that at this time the responsibility is not only of the Government but of individuals responsible for ensuring their health and that of their families, especially that of the elderly.

Berrío’s accusations arose as a result of a series of videos that circulated over the weekend of festivities in different parts of the country, and that is under investigation by the Minsa authorities.

Experts agree that achieving better numbers and indicators, nationally and internationally, is a joint effort between the Government and the community in general.