Santiago accelerates pace to achieve 70% vaccination

SANTIAGO – The heart of the city is accelerating the pace to achieve the goal that 70% of its population is vaccinated with the second dose against covid-19.

People are encouraged to get vaccinated to get out of the curfew, while the economy is trying to recover with the hopeful impetus of the merchants who are betting on the reopening of their businesses, according to the president of the Association of Merchants and Industrialists of Santiago (Acis), Sandy Filpo.

According to unofficial data handled by the business sector, of the 1,200,000 people who can be vaccinated in this province, some 900,000 residents have received the first dose. This figure is around 70%.
Filpo explained that, of this number, about 500 thousand people already have the second dose, equivalent to 40%. However, the official figure of the population vaccinated in Santiago is not known.

Santiago is still far from the established goal; the effort made by the health authorities and the reception of the population to the call to follow the immunization is reflected in the hospital occupation.

Meanwhile, the economic recovery has been noticeable with the reopening of commercial establishments closed and others that provided services with certain limitations due to the restrictions of the physical distance and the curfew schedule.

“The importance of the vaccination has been reflected in hospital occupancy,” said Dr. Verónica Lockward, from the Unión Médica del Norte clinic, who explained that 70% of the rooms for patients with the virus are available.

The doctor said that this center has only 30 patients admitted for coronavirus. Eight are in the intensive care unit, and four of them are on ventilators.

As people come to the vaccination centers, the number of patients in the hospital ward is decreasing, according to Dr. Lockward.

The Hospital Metropolitano de Santiago (HOMS) also shows a significant drop in the number of patients: it has 16 inpatients and 94 beds available. In the intensive care unit, three people are admitted out of a capacity of eight, revealed a source at that private center.

However, at the Corominas clinic, the situation is different. Of 36 rooms intended for covid patients, 34 are occupied, while of the fifteen intensive care beds, eleven are occupied, and nine of these patients are connected to ventilators.