Of the approximately 1700 tests carried out at Covid -19 on employees and users of the nursing homes in Vila Nova de Famalicão, only four were positive (three users and one employee). The final results of the screening of the universe of residents in nursing homes, long-term care units and residential homes supporting the disabled and employees revealed a low infectious incidence among those who are one of the most vulnerable populations to contagion and allowed a preventive action by health entities.
The operation was included in the “Protect Famalicão” program, which is helping the Famalicense community to return to social life with the greatest security and the lowest possible risk of contagion. The screening was carried out over the past week in more than 20 institutions, result of an agreement established between the municipality and ARS Norte. The city council assumed responsibility and costs for carrying out tests on the elderly, in an operation carried out with the involvement of the Unilabs laboratory and with the support of the Narciso Ferreira Hospital, in Riba de Ave. The tests on the employees of the institutions were the responsibility of the Regional Administration of Northern Health.
It should be remembered that the “Protect Famalicão” program represents a major effort by the city council in preserving municipal public health and raising public awareness of the adoption of healthy behaviours. In this context, the City Council, together with the Parish Councils and with the support of companies in the municipality, is strengthening the disinfection of public spaces throughout the territory, distributing visors to all citizens who, in the exercise of their activity have contact with the public and offer a pair of disposable gloves and a community mask for each citizen.
In total, more than 135 thousand masks, the same number of pairs of gloves and more than 30 thousand protection visors are being distributed, all of them achieved within the community itself, through the mobilization of companies and entrepreneurs who in recent days have concentrated their production on the manufacture of community protection material to help Vila Nova de Famalicão return to normality safely.