Puerto Rico Faces Staggering COVID Case Explosion
Armed with her vaccine passport and a giddy urge to celebrate the holiday season, Laura Delgado — and 60,000 other people in Puerto Rico — attended a Bad Bunny concert three weeks ago.
The superspreader concert helped usher in an explosion of COVID-19 cases in Puerto Rico, which until then had been celebrating one of the most successful vaccination campaigns in the United States. The concert was one of a series of business events, company holiday parties and family gatherings that fueled a 4,600% increase in cases on the island, a surge that public health officials worry could linger into the new year; the Puerto Rican holiday season stretches to Three Kings Day on Thursday.
But in the face of a highly contagious new variant, a high vaccination rate is not that meaningful anymore, Irizarry said. Most in Puerto Rico have passed the six-month limit beyond which the vaccine’s effectiveness begins to wane, yet at least 40% have yet to receive their booster shots, health officials said.
There are currently 317 people hospitalized with COVID-19, more than a quarter of whom are children, according to the island’s Department of Health. That’s about half the number of people who were hospitalized with the illness at this time last year before so many people were vaccinated. But it is still proving to be a challenge for hospitals.
Mass public events, including an important celebration to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the island’s capital, San Juan, have been canceled. “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” which ABC had planned to broadcast live from Puerto Rico in front of big crowds, was downgraded to a virtual event.
The average age of people who become infected on the island is 33, health officials said. But experts worry that if young people who become infected while attending parties and other events visit elders for New Year’s and Three Kings Day, the number of sick older people is certain to rise.
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