But these are not normal times. Few hospitals today have room to take in new patients, even in the richest and most populous part of Brazil.
When Dineia Martins Firmino entered the hospital in early March, doctors intubated the 76-year-old and, according to her granddaughter Pamela Rivippi, 30, moved her family to an ICU for more sophisticated treatment.
She never takes it off the official, government-run list for transfer. “No vacancy appeared when she needed it and she finally died on Saturday,” Ravippi said. “We did the funeral on Sunday.”
The brutal new wave of coronavirus that has claimed Firmino’s life is flooding intensive care beds in São Paulo and across the country.
As of Sunday, 21 Brazilian states and the Federal District had an ICU occupancy rate of more than 80%. Of these, 14 were on the verge of collapse with an appeal of more than 90%.
In the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, ICUs were so congested that the largest public hospital treating Covid-19 cases in the state capital Porto Alegre said on Sunday it had been forced to close its doors to new patients.
“The hospital’s ICU Covid department already has 132% occupancy,” the hospital management of Porto Alegre Hospital das Clinicas said in a statement.
With full halls comes the demand for oxygen and other basic necessities. In the north, the state of Rondonia has 97.6% ICU occupancy and the Attorney General’s Office has warned that local oxygen supplies could run out in just two weeks.
Brazilian health minister Pazuello, who is currently under investigation for dealing with the Manaus crisis, recently estimated that 22 to 25 million doses would be available in March – a sharp drop from earlier predictions that up to 46 million doses vaccination would be available this month. .
The federal government is negotiating new vaccine agreements, including an order for the Russian-made Sputnik V. But the shortages are tentative. In the coastal city of Rio de Janeiro, officials have already been forced to suspend the administration of first doses. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes has said the campaign will resume as soon as more vaccines are available through the Brazilian Ministry of Health
With the daily death toll in the thousands, every hour that passes means lives lost.
According to hospital officials, a dozen Covid-19 patients died in a gloomy five-day period this month at Akira Tada Hospital. Everyone was on a waiting list to be transferred to an ICU.
Dr Maria Dolores da Silva, an emergency physician at the hospital, had never seen anything like it. A 42-year veteran of Brazil’s public health system, she usually does not break out about her job, but in an interview with CNN, she bows her head and cries and thinks of the loss.
“Psychologically it affects us,” said dr. Da Silva said. “As much as we want to be strong, the feelings come to the fore because of so much suffering we see.”
A local court recently ruled that at least 17 ICU beds should be made available to those waiting to be transferred, citing São Paulo’s official statistics, which claim that about 10% of ICU beds in the region is still available. The state faces a $ 6,000 fine every day for not providing beds to patients.
But dozens more doctors Akira Tada patients remain waiting to be moved for treatment. On Sunday morning, a 13th waiting patient died.
On Sunday night, none of the remaining patients were transferred.
Journalists Rodrigo Pedroso, Marcia Reverdosa and Matt Rivers of CNN report from São Paulo. CNN’s Caitlin Hu reports from New York.