COVID-19 pandemic in Puerto Rico

COVID-19 pandemic in Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rico National Guard and other officials establish the action plan for COVID-19 screening at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
Pilots and aircraft personnel are screened for COVID-19 at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
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  • The Puerto Rico National Guard and other officials establish the action plan for COVID-19 screening at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
  • Pilots and aircraft personnel are screened for COVID-19 at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
DiseaseCOVID-19
Virus strainSARS-CoV-2
LocationPuerto Rico
First outbreakWuhan, Hubei, China
Index caseSan Juan
Arrival dateMarch 13, 2020
(4 years, 1 month, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Confirmed cases267,677[1]
Suspected cases208,091[1]
Hospitalized cases47 (current) [2]
Deaths
4,152 [2]
Vaccinations95.4% (2,935,115) have received at least one dose
85.9% (2,642,924) have received both doses
Government website
Puerto Rico Department of Health
Suspected cases have not been confirmed by laboratory tests as being due to this strain, although some other strains may have been ruled out.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Puerto Rico was an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Puerto Rico started addressing the risks of an outbreak in early 2020. The island took "some of the most dramatic steps of any U.S. jurisdiction to control the virus," and "several U.S. cities and states followed Puerto Rico's lead, imposing curfews and shutting businesses" of their own.[3] On February 29, Puerto Rico then governor Wanda Vázquez Garced established a task force to look into how the virus could affect Puerto Rico and to lay out plans on how to best mitigate any outbreaks. Given the long delays encountered by the Puerto Rico government in obtaining reasonable turnaround from the CDC test labs in Atlanta for samples submitted for testing, the local government took the position that every suspicious case was to be treated as a COVID-19 case until test results were received, and ordered patients to be kept in isolation for 14 days. On March 12, one day before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed, the governor declared a state of emergency and activated the Puerto Rico National Guard to help monitor travelers arriving to the Island through its airports and cruise ship docks. In Section 6 of the bulletin, the citizens of Puerto Rico were put on a curfew allowing them to travel out of their homes from 5AM to 9PM only for essential business such as to buy medicine or seek medical assistance, purchase groceries, or to care for a sick person.[4]

The first cases of COVID-19 in Puerto Rico were reported on March 13. They consisted of two Italian tourists and a 71-year-old cancer patient. The governor expressing concern that the curfew established on the 12th was not being followed, took stronger actions, and asked all non-essential businesses be close from March 15 through March 30.[5][6] The first death recorded was that of the 68-year-old Italian woman tourist; a few days later her husband was reported to have recovered from the virus. Testing is being conducted by veteran's hospitals, private labs, and the Puerto Rico Department of Health.[7]

As of October 24, 2021, 2,298,983 residents of Puerto Rico have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, equivalent to 88.7% of the population.[8]

  1. ^ a b "COVID-19 EN CIFRAS EN PUERTO RICO" [COVID-19 in statistics in Puerto Rico]. March 13, 2022. Retrieved March 13, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Dos nuevas muertes por COVID-19 elevan a 4,152 el total de víctimas en Puerto Rico" [Two new deaths from COVID-19 elevates the total victims of victims in Puerto Rico to 4,152]. El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). March 15, 2022. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  3. ^ Puerto Rico seeks to suspend all incoming flights to battle COVID-19 spread. Archived April 7, 2020, at the Wayback Machine Jim Wyss. Miami Herald. March 18, 2020. Accessed 17 April 2020.
  4. ^ Miranda, María (March 15, 2020). "Puerto Rico Governor Announces Curfew Amid Outbreak". Caribbean Business. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  5. ^ Rivera Clementa, Yaritza (March 15, 2020). "Gobernadora decreta toque de queda por el coronavirus". El Vocero de Puerto Rico (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  6. ^ "Wanda Vázquez decreta toque de queda para todo Puerto Rico para contener el coronavirus [Wanda Vázquez declares curfew for all of Puerto Rico to contain coronavirus]". El Nuevo Dia (in Spanish). March 15, 2020. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stats was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Fallece por COVID-19 una mujer de 78 años de la región de Bayamón" [78 year old woman dies from COVID-19 in the region of Bayamón]. El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). October 24, 2021. Archived from the original on October 24, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2021.

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