RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The state of Mato Grosso registered a sharp increase in demand for Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds over the weekend and is currently in the worst situation in Brazil, operating at 132% capacity – the state has had all its ICU vacancies occupied for 15 days.
On Friday, March 19th, for instance, MT had 107.28% of its high complexity vacancies in use and ranked second, behind neighboring Mato Grosso do Sul, then at 110%. Currently, MS registers 106% use of its ICU beds.
The two states in Brazil’s Midwest, along with Rondônia, which has 100% of its beds in use, are in the worst situation in the country.
These data were recorded amid an escalation in deaths and cases, in what was the worst weekend in terms of number of deaths since the start of the pandemic, with 3,728 Covid-19 fatalities in 48 hours.
With the data released, the country totals 294,042 Covid-19 deaths and 11,998,233 cases of the disease.
Moreover, 13 other states and the Federal District register over 90% bed occupancy, which, according to experts, represents a healthcare system collapse because there is no more room for patient rotation.
Among these states with over 90% ICU bed occupancy, 4 showed a slight improvement compared to Friday: Paraná decreased from 97% to 95%, Tocantins from 95% to 93%, Rio Grande do Sul from 100% to 98.4% and, finally, Ceará saw the use of its beds decrease from 92.58% to 91.6%.
The survey also shows that 8 states have more than 80% of their beds in use, and 6 of them are closer to collapsing than to reducing their occupancy rate.
In the entire country, only Amazonas, with a 77.6% occupancy rate, and Roraima, with 71%, are not in a critical situation.
The states and municipalities generate data based on different criteria, such as the situation of public and private networks, occupancy for adults, pediatrics and Covid-19 ICUs, as well as the total rate that combines all the data.
States with ICU occupancy over 100%:
Mato Grosso – 132.85%
Mato Grosso do Sul – 106%
Rondônia 100%.
States (including the Federal District) with occupancy over 90%:
Acre – 99.1%
Rio Grande do Sul – 98.4%
Goiás – 98.28
Federal District – 97.1%
Pernambuco – 97%
Santa Catarina – 96.8%
Piauí – 95.4%
Paraná – 95%
Amapá – 94.23
Espírito Santo – 93.82%
Tocantins – 93%
Ceará – 91.6%
São Paulo – 91.2%
Rio Grande do Norte – 90.44%
States with occupancy over 80% :
Maranhão – 89.98%
Minas Gerais – 88.9%
Rio de Janeiro – 86.8%
Pará – 86.67
Alagoas – 86
Bahia – 86
Sergipe – 84.3%
Paraíba – 82
States with occupancy below 80% :
Amazonas – 77.6%
Roraima – 71%
Source: CNN Brasil