Salud Gto monitors situation of Covid 19

Gto Health System monitors the course of Covid 19 through 14 respiratory disease monitoring units

Guanajuato/Gto News

Guanajuato has 14 respiratory disease monitoring units to track the circulation of Covid 19 and other viruses.

Fatima Melchor Marquez Director of Epidemiological Surveillance and Emerging Diseases reported that since last year, due to federal strategy, Covid 19 surveillance became conventional surveillance through respiratory disease monitoring units with their respective spikes in cases in summer and winter.

Since the pandemic until three years ago, cases were still being tracked in all health units that exceed 1,600 medical units.

Only tracking 14 medical units by IMSS, ISSSTE and the Health System and no longer 1,600 as was previously done, does not allow for a comparison of cases between last year and this year.

“Today there is no way to make that comparison, because last year all the units in the entire sector confirmed cases, and we are talking about more than 1,600 and today it is only done through 14 units, so the number of cases that we have is not comparable”, said Fatima Melchor.

Through these 14 medical units chosen according to specific criteria to perform this function, Guanajuato monitors the frequency and circulation of the virus.

In Guanajuato, the most frequent viruses continue to be rhinoviruses, which are responsible for the common cold groups, to a lesser extent influenza, and ranked 3rd is Covid 19.

Melchor Marquez said that Guanajuato experiences a positivity rate for Covid 19 between 3 and 5% when, after the pandemic, it was still up to 40 or 50%.

However, although Covid 19 is a respiratory illness, just like the flu or a cold, not all people present the same symptoms at the same frequency or intensity.

That is why a person with the flu may not present a headache, but may have a fever, sneezing and a sore throat.

“There are those who only have a sore throat, or a fever, or everything; it can vary, but we are talking about respiratory symptoms like the flu, it is advisable not to self-medicate, not to use antibiotics, but seek medical attention, because health personnel are also the ones who know”, said Melchor.

Also, 70% of the 17 deaths in Guanajuato that have occurred this year due to Covid 19 are older adults, some with additional diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, asthma, obesity, smoking and who unfortunately were not vaccinated at the time.