This Friday the last cured COVID-19 patient was discharged, of those linked to the coronavirus local transmission event that occurred in the Home for the Elderly No. 3, Santa Clara, in the Cuban province of Villa Clara.
The coronavirus outbreak in that home was the largest transmission event recorded in Cuba so far, and left a balance of 19 workers and 47 elderly people who were infected, three of whom died, the official Granma newspaper reported.
According to the director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology, Neil Reyes, right now another 82 elderly people belonging to the center remain under “strict care” at the Marta Abreu Special School for Children with Physical-Motor Limitations, provisionally fitted out to host a part of them.
Meanwhile, another 29 are kept under surveillance at the Rolando Pérez Quintosa Special School.
The fact that only three of the patients that caused the contagious outbreak in the center have died shows the “colossal effort” of the Cuban health system to save COVID-19 patients, taking into account that this disease attacks the elderly with greater force, said Dr. Reyes.
He also stressed that all of the workers affected by the disease are already fully recovered.
The new coronavirus local transmission event in the Santa Clara Home for the Elderly was detected in mid-April, and since then information on it has been closely followed by Cubans due to the nature of the people affected.
Although the causes of the infection were not fully clarified, according to Dr. Reyes, in focus control it was found that “a doctor and a nurse who later tested positive for COVID-19 presented respiratory symptoms and still continued to work.”
“Perhaps they didn’t believe that it was something serious or that they should not be absent and affect others, because it was resolved immediately, but the truth is that they failed to comply with the guidelines of staying at home in the face of any suspicion of illness,” said the manager at the time.
The transmission event in this Santa Clara home for the elderly is one of more than 40 that occurred in Cuba, including communities and hospital centers, but the only one registered in an institution of its kind on the island.
Cuba reported this Friday eight new COVID-19 positive cases, and one death due to the disease, with which the figures of the pandemic on the island total 1,916 infections and 81 deaths. In addition, 1,631 people have already recovered.
Here you can find the most current data and how the coronavirus curve is evolving on the island.
