In AM, two cities determine mandatory use of masks because of Covid-19 again

Measures were installed after Amazonas returned to the pandemic orange phase, which represents the moderate risk of Covid-19 transmissibility (Ricardo Oliveira/Amazon Agency)

July 13, 2022

17:07

Bruno Pacheco – from Amazon Agency

MANAUS – Amid the increase in the number of cases of Covid-19 in the Amazonas, two cities in the countryside of the state again decreed the mandatory use of masks. In Rio Preto da Eva (81 kilometers from Manaus), the determination is for the item of protection and prevention against the spread of the virus is used indoors.

Read also: AM has increase in cases of Covid-19 with Manaus experiencing fourth wave and ‘silent flu’, experts warn

Measures were installed after Amazonas returned to the pandemic orange phase, which represents the moderate risk of Covid-19 transmissibility (Ricardo Oliveira/AMAZON AGENCY)

In Careiro da Várzea (21 kilometers from the capital), the requirement to use masks is in all public and private school units of municipal education and school transport. The measure is valid until August 12 this year and also covers all Basic Health Units (BHU), Basic Health Units River (BHU) and the Municipal Hospital in the city.

See also: Fourth wave: Amazonas back to the orange phase of Covid-19 and sees significant increase in infections

The decrees were published in the editions of Tuesday, 12, and Wednesday, 13, in the Official Journal of Municipalities (DOM), and aim to contain the spread of coronavirus after the Amazon back to pandemic orange phase, which represents the moderate risk of transmittability of the disease and requires attention. In addition, experts say that the state is already facing the fourth wave of the virus.

Masks are again mandatory in Rio Preto da Eva and Careiro da Várzea (Ricardo Oliveira/AMAZON AGENCY)

Covid-19

With 6,736 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Rio Preto da Eva until this Tuesday, 12, and counting 86 deaths, the city highlighted that the city lives the seasonal period of higher circulation of respiratory viruses and recommended, still, the use of masks by people 70 years old or older, in any environment, as well as by people with comorbidities, immunosuppressed and with flu symptoms throughout the city.

Decree was signed by Mayor Anderson Souza (Reproduction)

The city hall also determines the implementation of measures with publicity campaigns that promote the acceleration of population vaccination, with the goal of increasing vaccination coverage and preventing the increase in cases of Covid-19, as well as hospitalizations and deaths caused by the disease. The measures were proposed by the municipal intersectoral committee for fighting and confronting the coronavirus.

Significant increase

In Careiro da Várzea, the city hall highlights that it has observed a significant increase in the number of cases of people with flu syndrome and positive for pandemic in the city. “Even with all doses of the complete vaccine cycle, there are positive cases for Covid-19,” says the city hall, in an excerpt from the decree published in the DOM.

In Careiro da Várzea, decree was signed by mayor Pedro Guedes (Reproduction)

In addition to making it mandatory to wear masks, the Careiro da Várzea City Hall recommended to commercial establishments, bars and restaurants or places with social events, with public circulation or agglomeration, the use of hand sanitizer, the use of masks and social distancing.

Fourth wave

The Amazon is facing the fourth wave of the pandemic, is what the scientist and epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, from Fiocruz Amazon, has been affirming. According to the specialist, the increase in the number of pandemic cases in the state was already expected, given the constant evolution of the new coronavirus, especially the most contagious mutations, such as the descendants of the Omicron variant and the relaxations fostered by health authorities.

Data from the Health Surveillance Foundation of Amazonas – Dr. Rosemary Costa Pinto (FVS-RCP) show that the daily moving average of Covid-19 cases in Amazonas had a 756% increase in the 14-day period (June 22 to July 5 this year). The jump was from 48 to 411 in this time interval, according to the new bulletin of the Epidemiological Situation of Covid-19 in the State, available at this link.

Only in the countryside of Amazonas, the FVS-RCP observed a 1,033% increase in the daily average of Covid-19 cases, rising from nine to 102 cases. In Manaus, the growth was 692% (from 39 to 309 cases). The folder also warned that there was a high occupation of hospital beds, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and clinical beds, public and private health networks for patients diagnosed with the pandemic. 

“From June 22 to July 5, the occupancy varied from five to 12 ICU beds and from ten to 57 clinical beds. In the same period of 14 days analyzed, there were two deaths in Manaus, on June 26 and July 4”, said the FVS-AM.