Costa Rica considers declaring red alert due to hospital overcrowding caused by Covid-19

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The National Emergency Commission (CNE) of Costa Rica is considering the possibility of decreeing a red alert due to the saturation that the country’s hospitals are facing due to a new wave of Covid-19 infections that broke out in mid-April.

The CNE explained this Sunday, May 9, in a communiqué that “it is analyzing in detail the possibility of raising to red alert status the sanitary emergency according to the legal order and given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two weeks.”

This red alert would mean the application of strong restrictive measures to various activities and circulation.

The government advised that there would be a meeting with representatives of different productive, religious and social sectors on Monday to evaluate the current situation and possible measures.

In charge of the public hospital network, the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) sent a note to the Emergency Commission. It exposes the serious situation of the hospitals and the request for a red alert.

“The ICUs are saturated, and this means that Covid or non-Covid patients may be waiting for room in an emergency department. This is compromising the level of care,” said Román Macaya, CCSS president.

CCSS Data indicate that the ICUs are full and there are waiting lists of patients who need to be admitted to that area. CCSS says hospitals throughout the country are being forced to allocate beds and wards that belong to other services to the care of Covid-19. “There are more than 1,000 beds with covid patients. This is a reality that the institution has not experienced in 80 years of history,” commented Macaya.

The official said that after receiving a letter signed by all the managers of the CCSS, he sent an official letter to the Executive Branch so that “timely measures are taken, and the issue is addressed thoroughly” given the saturation of the hospitals.

On Saturday, authorities reported 1,153 people hospitalized for covid-19, of which 435 required intensive care. According to the CCSS, the optimal capacity for ICU care is 359 beds.

In the first three months of 2021, Costa Rica was at a plateau of around 400 cases of Covid-19 per day but is currently facing a third wave of infections after the Easter vacations, when authorities did not establish restrictions and large numbers of people were observed in tourist sites.

Since the beginning of the second half of April, Costa Rica began to register more than 1,000 cases per day, reaching peaks of more than 2,000 per day in the last two weeks.

To bend the infection curve, the government ordered the closure of non-essential economic activities in the country’s center from May 3 to 9. Still, there are sectors such as the National Medical Union that demand stronger measures.

Meanwhile, vaccination is progressing gradually according to the number of doses the country is receiving weekly. The latest data indicate that 950,252 doses of the vaccine had been applied in this country of 5 million inhabitants as of May 3. In total, 345,153 people have received both doses.