Date Published: 26/08/2020
ARCHIVED - 91 Covid cases in Mar Menor Health Area; San Javier shows biggest increase
ARCHIVED ARTICLE Mayors from the Mar Menor councils are meeting on Thursday to discuss co-ordinated actions
The mayor of San Javier, José Miguel Luengo announced today that the council would be closing all parks in the municipality to minimise the opportunities for groups to gather, and increasing disinfection in the municipality, following a meeting held this morning at San Javier Town Hall with the manager of the VIII Mar Menor Health Area, Tomás Fernández.
During the meeting, Sr, Fernández indicated that "San Javier is the municipality of the Mar Menor area with the most complicated trend and at the moment accounts for 32 of the 91 active cases of COVID-19 in the Mar Menor Health Area."
Updated data published on Wednesday morning shows a total of 91 active cases of COVID-19 in the Mar Menor Health Area, of which 32 belong to San Javier, 20 to San Pedro del Pinatar, 21 to Torre Pacheco and 14 to Los Alcázares, to which are added 4 patients from Caravaca, in the north-west of the region.
Of the 91 active cases, there are 7 hospitalized, two of them in the Intensive Care Unit.
The age of those infected has decreased to an average of around 40 and shows an increase in asymptomatic cases or cases with mild symptoms.
Despite the upward trend in infections, the Mar Menor region is “among the least risky in the Region of Murcia, although this is just a matter of time," said Tomás Fernández, who stated that "we are concerned about San Javier because of the sharp increase in cases during the last few days ”.
On Thursday the mayors of the four municipalities of the Mar Menor Health Area are meeting in Los Arcos hospital "to coordinate actions and assess the commitment of the population to stop the pandemic."
"We have to be very clear and forceful," said Tomás Fernández, who recalled that "despite the fact that the average age has decreased, there are hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths." The head of the Mar Menor Health Area, stated that "administrations and health facilities can do a lot but if there is no commitment from the population to get involved to stop this, we are not going to stop it."
Fernández appealed for the participation of social agents to transmit and get the message across to the different groups "because we may have a problem equal to if not greater than that of March or last April."
Tomás Fernández announced a planned increase in the number of PCR tests planned for the Mar Menor Health Area, which will focus on the Los Arcos hospital, and which would allow for up to 800 tests daily.
He also announced that the hospital center now has two floors adapted to COVID-19 patients that will be opened as needed.
The mayor of San Javier, José Miguel Luengo expressed his concern about the increase in cases that have occurred in the last two weeks in San Javier, mostly related to family and friends gathering, enclosed spaces and nightlife.
The Mayor has announced that together with measures such as the closure of parks and an increase in the daily disinfection of the municipality, that communicative work will be carried out in which it is intended to involve all kinds of associations and clubs in the municipality to reach all groups.
"The Council will make the necessary effort required, but we must live with this and we will only be able to do so if we truly all act responsibly," he said.
On Wednesday the Murcia region recorded its highest ever numbr of new cases; 340