New hospital tower opens to attend covid-19 patients

The plan is to admit the first group of patients on Tuesday, July 28. / Social Security courtesy photo

Published Monday, July 27, 2020

New hospital tower opens to

attend covid-19 patients

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The East Tower of the Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia Hospital opens 75 intensive care beds to deal with the covid-19 pandemic, Social Security announced

The first set of covid-19 patients admitted will be attended on the sixth and seventh floors of the new tower, according to Román Macaya-Hayes, president of Social Security.

Meanwhile the ministry inspected the third, fourth and fifth floors, which will be opening soon for the care of patients with covid-19.

In total, the East Tower has 64 beds on the sixth floor and 11 isolation cubicles on the seventh floor, an expansion of intensive care beds for the care of critically ill covid-19 patients.

The seventh floor was already designed for the care of patients in isolation who have severe complications, for example, those with multi-resistant bacteria or another condition that requires special isolated care.

The plan is to admit the first group of patients on Tuesday, July 28. There are 12 beds available for patients at any moment. The sixth floor has 32 of 64 beds available with monitors and computer equipment.

According to Social Security, 646 health workers will be working in the tower. Among these professionals are general medicine doctors, nurses, respiratory experts, laboratory, pharmacy, psychology, radiology, nutrition, among others.

While the new tower inaugurates equipment, the North Tower expands 50 additional beds on the fifth floor for the care of more covid-19 patients, classified with mild to moderate diagnoses.

According to the authorities, a plan is also being worked on to add an area within the Psychiatric Hospital, located in Pavas, for the care of at least 500 patients with covid-19, classified in moderate condition.

Health authorities are in a race against time to open new medical areas and shelters for the care of patients with covid-19, due to an accelerated increase in people infected in recent weeks.

As of Sunday afternoon, the ministry provided the following statistics of the status of the virus in the country:

• 629 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 11,389 active cases. The ages of patients infected range from a three-month-old baby to a 98-year-old person.

• 4,316 foreign-born people have been infected of the 15,229 cases since March, approximately 28% of the total cases.

• 310 patients are being treated in public hospitals, where 254 patients are in recovery rooms and 56 are in Intensive Care Units, ICU, with delicate health conditions. Most of the infected patients are quarantined in their homes.

• 3,736 coronavirus patients have fully recovered, which is a 24% recovery rate.

• 53,069 people have been ruled out.

• 79,544 medical covid-19 tests have been made.

• 104 deaths of patients infected with covid-19 since March. Which is almost a 0.7% death rate.

Of the total of deaths, one person whose nationality is not yet identified, 25 foreign-born people, and 78 Costa Ricans. Of these 38 were women and 66 men.

Readers can reach the updated number of total patients in each district at the National Distance Education University on its Covid-19 Map.

As of Sunday night, the pandemic has killed 648,913 patients worldwide, according to recent statistics reported by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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Should the government invest to open hotels as shelters for covid-19 patients classified in moderate condition? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com