Azores Situation Report Wednesday 5th October 2022

From our colleague in the Azores

Covid-19 

In the seven days from Friday 23rd of September until Thursday 29th of September there were 232 new positive cases of Covid-19 registered in the Azores, and a total of 1,856 tests performed. 237 people have recovered, and no new deaths have been recorded with the total still at 117 There are 247 active cases, 5 fewer than the previous week.

There are 6 patients in the region’s hospitals as of 30th of September with Covid, three of which are in hospital because of Covid. There are no patients in the ICU.

120737 people in the region have had Covid, that’s over 50% of the population.

Entrepreneurs worried about “serious insecurity” in the city of Ponta Delgada 

Several business associations expressed “deep concern” with the “increase in poverty, begging, alcoholism and drug addiction” in the city centre of Ponta Delgada and will request meetings with regional authorities and the police.

The position was expressed at a meeting that brought together the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ponta Delgada (CCIPD), the Regional Association of Tourist Activities Companies of the Azores (AREAT), the Local Accommodation Association (ALA), the Azorean Houses and the delegations the Portuguese Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies (APAVT), the Portuguese Hotel, Restaurant and Similar Association (AHRESP), the Portuguese Hospitality Association (AHP) and the Car Rental Industry Association (ARAC).

In a statement, the Ponta Delgada Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the business associations had decided to request meetings with the president of the Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, with the mayor of Ponta Delgada, Pedro Nascimento Cabral, and the PSP Regional Command, in view of the “situation of insecurity and begging” in Ponta Delgada.

The businessmen considered that the competent authorities should take “urgent measures”, justifying that “the problems that are being verified” are “different from those that occurred a few years ago”.

“The behaviour and profile of beggars are very different, being more aggressive and closely associated with problems with alcohol and drugs. Faced with this new reality, old policies and measures persist to combat them, the results of which are unacceptable”, warned the businessmen.

According to the associations, the occurrences are mainly in the centre of Ponta Delgada, “but not only”.

There are, they say, “degrading situations carried out by homeless people”, others “alcoholic”, and still “drug addicts, who use public roads and spaces of commercial establishments for actions that jeopardize public health and safety”.

The businessmen also pointed to a “galloping begging” with “very aggressive and insistent behaviour towards local passers-by and visitors”.

In the opinion of businessmen, over the years there has been “an evident lack of accountability, cooperation and interconnection between the various entities that have the competence to combat these situations”.

Faced with the “serious situation we are currently experiencing” in terms of public health, public order, business associations are calling for urgent changes in social policies, because “they are not responding satisfactorily to the increase in poverty, begging, alcoholism and of drug addiction, with a view to helping and giving people greater dignity”.

“It is necessary for the Regional Government to do much more and better in this area”, reads the statement.

Entrepreneurs also ask for a concerted and integrated intervention by the PSP, the City Council and the Regional Government that allows “a joint action plan, in the short and medium term”.

They also ask for day and night policing by the municipal police, in cooperation with the PSP, which must also reinforce “active policing, on the street” and the awareness of judicial entities for law enforcement, which “takes this reality into account”.

Another of the measures proposed by the businessmen is the identification of critical places and a greater police presence in them, the restitution of public space (gardens, streets and squares) to families and tourists, who “have stopped using them, due to insecurity and the annoying constant aggressive begging”.

Eight crew members rescued after fishing boat fire. 

Eight crew members were rescued about 555 kilometres from the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, after a fire broke out on the fishing vessel where they were traveling.

Health centres start flu vaccination and Covid reinforcement 

Starting Tuesday, the 4th of October, health centres will have an open house for flu vaccination and seasonal Covid-19 reinforcement, but the Island Health Unit advises scheduling an appointment

Flávio Vieira, a nurse at the São Miguel Island Health Unit (USISM) responsible for vaccination, explains that the simultaneous administration of the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and the flu vaccine was initiated by the most vulnerable groups. vulnerable, namely by users and professionals of residential structures for the elderly (ERPI), but “from the 4th of October we will open the possibility to the rest of the eligible population”.

Each health centre will have, on its premises, a “vaccination centre”, operating during its working hours”, or if necessary during extended hours (decision will be made by each health centre according to needs), explains Flávio Vieira.

Vaccination against influenza and Covid-19 will take place in an open house regime, “but it will be limited to the daily vaccination capacity of each health centre”, since, “in one day, we can have more professionals at the service”. , and in another we may have less”, warns the official.

For this reason, “the population is advised to schedule the vaccination”, emphasizes the official.

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It is necessary, however, to bear in mind that not everyone can take the fourth dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 – a circular from the Regional Health Directorate defined the groups eligible for the vaccine booster against Covid-19. It should also be noted that, while the fourth vaccine booster against Covid-19 can be taken by those over 60, only those over 65 are entitled to the free flu vaccine, along with pregnant women and people with certain pathologies (chronic and immunosuppressed patients), residents in ERPI and other institutions, and health professionals and other care providers.

Flávio Vieira stresses, however, that taking the flu vaccine is also recommended for those over 60 years of age, and below that age you can also get the flu vaccine, however the user must have a medical prescription and buy the vaccine at the pharmacy, then going to the health centre for administration. The person responsible for vaccination at USISM also leaves an alert for those who are not followed at the health centre and suffer from any of the pathologies in which the flu and Covid-19 vaccine is recommended: in these cases, you must bring a medical statement to certify who suffers from the pathology in question (there is a form available online), because in these cases the health centre’s computer system has not registered their pathology.

It should also be noted that the vaccine booster against Covid-19 can only be done three months after the last dose of the vaccine or a positive status.

USISM expects to receive a total of about 13,000 doses of the flu vaccine, reveals the nurse responsible for vaccination at USISM. The number of doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 has been progressively provided, as the shared services of the Ministry of Health become available. “It is based on the number of doses that we are given that we are establishing priorities and organizing the vaccination process”, emphasizes Flávio Vieira.

The nurse also explains that the Covid-19 vaccine gives immunity against the new variant, and that “this year, we are using two types of vaccines: one, more expensive, with a high dose specifically for home users and institutionalized elderly; and another vaccine for the general population”. Flávio Vieira says that the objective is to guarantee “greater immunity to a population group that in itself is more vulnerable, either individually or because it can be a focus of infection for other residents”.

Who can take the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine?

People over 60 can be vaccinated, as well as health professionals, firefighters who transport patients, professionals from Residential Structures for the Elderly, Health Homes, Regional Network of Integrated Continuing Care, Prisons, Residential Homes, and Occupational Activities Centres. And even those over 12 and under 60 have certain risk pathologies, including diabetes, obesity, active malignancy, cardiovascular disease, transplantation, immunosuppression, neurological diseases, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung disease, mental illness, and chronic liver disease (between 18 and 59 years old).

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