20 March 2020 – Compulsory sanitary measures adopted for preventive isolation of older adults in long-stay centers

Type of Intervention: Regulation, Specific Action
Sectors Involved: Health, Social Services
Level of Jurisdiction: National
Lead People/Agency: Decision made by Ministry of Health, Aimed at the elderly in nursing homes

Overview: Compulsory sanitary measures are adopted for the preventive isolation of older adults in long-stay centers and partial closure of activities in life centers and day centers.

A mandatory sanitary measure of isolation and preventive quarantine, for older adults residing in long-term care facilities, from March twenty-one (21), 2020 at seven in the morning (7:00 am) until May thirty (30), 2020 at eleven fifty and nine at night (11:59 pm). Consequently, the entry of people other than the center’s service and support personnel is suspended, a restriction that includes those who provide teaching-assistance services.
Full details here: https://coronaviruscolombia.gov.co/Covid19/docs/decretos/minsalud/81.pdf

Other links: 1
Type of Justification: Advice of INTERNAL government advisory committee or group, Advice of EXTERNAL expert advisor or advisory committee, Scientific Evidence (e.g. academic paper, report)
Source of Evidence or Justification: World Health Organisation, International – academic, International – other
Evidence/Justification: The World Health Organization – WHO, declared the coronavirus COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 of this year, · essentially due to the speed of its spread, urging States to take urgent and determined actions for identification, confirmation, isolation and monitoring of possible confirmed cases.

Based on the results reported by the Chinese CDC, as of February 17, 2020, the PanAmerican Health Organization identified an increasing trend in the percentage of people who die as progress is made in age groups: while at the general level the fatality is 2.3%, in people aged 60 to 69 the case fatality is 3.6%, in those aged 70 it is more than double (8.6%) and quadruple in those over 80 years of age.

That currently, Colombia has approximately 1008 Life Centers – Day Centers, which serve 522,599 older adults, and 993 long-stay centers that serve 33,382.