The last day of 2020 did not bring relief to the City of Buenos Aires, the place where the coronavirus pandemic began in Argentina in March. On December 31, 2,146 cases were registered, according to the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health: 1,405 corresponded to infected people living in the Capital; while 741 were infections among non-residents.
If the absolute records of each day are compared, the values of December 31 represent an increase of 71% compared to December 24, when there were 1,250 infected, according to what the Buenos Aires government released on that date. The jump is even greater if the figures are contrasted with December 17, two weeks earlier, when there were 859 infected. So the increase rises to 150%.
With the data of December 31, 2020, the total number of infected rose to 174,619. And the dead in the City are 5,883 since the arrival of the pandemic. The first death from coronavirus occurred on March 7: the victim was a 64-year-old man who had returned from France and was admitted to the Argerich Hospital. Since then, more than 300 days have passed, and in between there was a quarantine that lasted for months, but not now, in summer, when a decrease in cases was expected, do the numbers offer calm. Although there is a data that for the moment keeps the red button off.
The growth of the contagion curve did not cause a problem of lack of response in the health system: the occupation of intensive care beds was 22.8% as of December 31, according to the Ministry of Health in the daily part of the health situation. On the last day of 2020 there were 103 beds occupied with seriously ill patients out of a total of 450 available for people in that situation.
On the other hand, the fatality rate, that is, the percentage of deaths over positive diagnoses, stood at 3.3%. And, in return, on December 31 724 patients were discharged. Since March, 147,468 people have recovered in the City.
On Wednesday, the rise in coronavirus infections had returned to sit at the same table President Alberto Fernández, Governor Axel Kicillof and the Head of Government Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. In the Olivos residence, in an image that has not been repeated since the beginning of November, it was analyzed to resume the restrictions if the infected in the Capital and Province continue to increase.
The meeting will be repeated at the end of next week, between Thursday and Friday, when the epidemiological status and possible measures to reduce circulation are analyzed.
In the City, the Health area is waiting for the statistical results of the next few days to understand the scope of the phenomenon. Two variants are contemplated: on the one hand, a seasonal upturn as a result of the meetings and demonstrations that took place in December; on the other hand, the beginning of a second wave. The January 2021 numbers will define whether what happens is due to one trend or another.
On the side of the Province, Jorge Rachid, a sanitary doctor and member of the advisory committee of Governor Axel Kicillof, proposed this Friday that a “night time restriction to circulate” be imposed, among other measures to mitigate the increase in coronavirus infections. In this sense, he indicated that his proposal is that circulation be limited “between 22 and 6” and, also, added as a suggestion “the closing of borders”.
On the first day of 2020, the projection of the teacher and researcher Soledad Retamar was also known, who in dialogue with Télam pointed out that in the province of Buenos Aires the daily average of infected is 2,767 cases and 52 deaths; in the City of 755 cases and 10 deaths, being “numbers similar to October 14, in volume of infected and at the end of November, in deceased.”
The specialist, who is part of the Database Research Group of the Concepción del Uruguay Regional Faculty of the National Technological University, explained that “until December 10 these percentages were negative, that is, fewer cases were reported each week than in the previous one “. But then the trend was reversed.
JPE GS