The arrival of Christmas is related to social gatherings and family parties, a situation that worries the authorities of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS), who call to maintain social distancing measures and avoid an increase in infections of COVID-19.
“We are still in a Pandemic and that should not be forgotten as we now enter the Christmas season,” said the executive president of the CCSS, Román Macaya, at a press conference this week.
The official emphasized that there are records of increases in the number of patients with COVID-19 admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) in the last two weeks, according to the data, the current occupation is 70 percent of the beds destined for the care of the virus.
“December is a month that we associate with family parties, meetings and all kinds of social activities,” said Macaya, reiterating that “we are still in a health crise, this Christmas has to be different, we have to always maintain the protocols of frequent handwashing, sneezing protocols, physical distancing, the use of the mask and everything we already know throughout of more than eight months of Pandemic that we must do to avoid our own contagion and that of others,” he said. For the Social Security authorities, it is necessary for people to maintain “self-care” measures to prevent the Christmas season from causing a rebound in COVID-19 infections.
Much worry among authorities
The medical manager of the CCSS, Dr. Mario Ruiz, said that “they are very concerned” about the increase in the number of health internments and mentioned that this week there were 220 people in an ICU and 23 transfers were made nationwide, this means that 23 seriously infected patients were transferred, who were in hospitals in the periphery and are now in national hospitals.
“We are in a Pandemic, it continues and our responsibility is to provide the best possible care, but we ask the population to help us maintain distance and hygiene measures,” added Dr. Ruiz.
