PandemicPreparedness

5 May: In the weekly update, PAHO said some countries will need to maintain or increase ICU bed capacity if infections continue to rise at current rates. Nearly 40 percent of all global COVID cases last week occurred in the Americas region PAHO's director said, "Adults of all ages – including young people – are becoming seriously ill. Many of them are dying." In Brazil, deaths rates among people under 39 years old have doubled, while they quadrupled for people in their 40s. Hospitalization rates among people under 39 have risen by more than 70 percent in Chile during the past few months. In some areas of the U.S., more people in their 20s are now being hospitalized for COVID-19 than people in their 70s. Younger people are more likely to survive, said the director, which means they may remain in hospitals for weeks. She urged countries to prepare for surging hospital demand.

Posted 26 April: The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an epidemiological bulletin about increasing COVID-19 related hospitalisations and deaths in people younger than 60. The report details the change from older adults, who made up most of the severely-impacted COID patients in 2020, to the younger population in 2020 in four countries where such data was available (Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Peru.) They summarised, "Given the increase in the rate of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in younger age groups, the Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) recommends that Member States prepare health services to attend to an eventual surge in the demand of more complex care in the management of these patients." They also recommend strengthening primary healthcare services to detect cases earlier and reduce the number of people requiring complex care.