Tip of the Iceberg of Covid-19 Deaths Outside Health Facilities
24 July 2021 – LaporCovid-19 collects data on deaths due to Covid-19 that occurred outside health facilities, including during self-isolation, from mid-June until now. In a press conference held on July 22 2021, Said Fariz Hibban, LaporCovid-19 Data Analyst, said that there were 2,313 fatalities due to self-isolation. This data was obtained from death recaps carried out by LaporCovid-19 for the period 1 June to 21 July 2021.
PRESS RELEASE
Tip of the Iceberg of Covid-19 Deaths Outside Health Facilities
The deaths of patients outside health facilities, including those who are self-isolating, marks the failure of hospitals to accommodate the ongoing surge in patients. This is the most obvious indicator of the collapse of our health facilities.
July 24, 2021 – LaporCovid-19 collects data on deaths due to Covid-19 that occurred outside health facilities, including during self-isolation, from mid-June until now. In a press conference held on July 22 2021, Said Fariz Hibban, LaporCovid-19 Data Analyst, said that there were 2,313 fatalities due to self-isolation. This data was obtained from death recaps carried out by LaporCovid-19 for the period 1 June to 21 July 2021.
Apart from being based on data crowdsourcing or from citizen reports or active searches in the media and social media, then verified, data is also obtained from reports from a number of collaborating institutions. A total of 708 fatalities were obtained by LaporCovid-19, CISDI reported 446 fatalities from 30 June 2021 to 6 July 2021 in 100 community health centers in West Java, and the DKI Jakarta Health Service reported 1,161 fatalities in the period from early June to 21 July 2021 in their work area.
From this data, reports of patient deaths outside hospitals have been found in 78 districts/cities in 16 provinces. DKI Jakarta is the province with the most deaths in self-isolation cases, namely 1214 after we combine the figures from the DKI Health Office with
our findings. The city of East Jakarta is the city with the most fatalities due to self-isolation at 403, the district with the most in Klaten at 99, said Said Fariz Fariz Hibban.
The highest deaths occurred on 29-30 June 2021 and 13-14 July 2021. However, this does not include the number of deaths whose dates of death were not recorded. Of course, this figure is not the actual figure, because there is still a lot of data that we have not yet obtained. We hope that other related institutions that have access to transparent death data will also. Said Fariz Hibban said.
Ahmad Arif, co-lead of LaporCovid-19, said that the high number of self-isolation deaths in Jakarta does not mean that other areas have lower rates. However, this is because the data in Jakarta already represents real conditions, thanks to good data collection by the DKI Jakarta Health Office and the willingness to
they share the data. "Before there was official data from DKI Jakarta, there were more reports of isoman deaths from West Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Central Java and Banten, then DKI Jakarta. So, it is very possible that other areas have had more victims, but they have not been recorded and reported transparently. This is like the tip of the iceberg," he said.
Therefore, Arif hopes that there will be transparency in data on deaths of isoman patients, which should be a real indicator of the collapse of health facilities in an area. "Isoman should be reserved for patients with mild symptoms or even no symptoms. However, because
"Hospitals are full, patients with moderate to severe symptoms are forced to self-isolate at home, and in the end they can no longer be helped," he said.
Apart from that, the death of self-isolated people also indicates that monitoring and support for them is not being carried out properly, by primary health facilities or by the local environment. To reduce the risk of death of isoman patients, Arif suggested that regions increase the number of self-isolation centers with monitoring from health workers. "Many people have difficulty undergoing self-isolation, especially if all their family members are also positive. Health monitoring and logistical support is really needed," he said.
Apart from the fact that the health facilities were full, Arif also said that many self-isolating patients deliberately avoided hospitals, including because they were consumed by misinformation about "coviding". Some patients thought it was a normal illness, so they were checked late and died. This especially occurs in suburban and rural areas, which is the result of failed risk communication so far.
Arif said that data transparency and good risk communication are needed so that people are aware of the risks, care and obey health protocols, including being able to respond appropriately if someone has symptoms of Covid-19. Good, transparent, as-is information will be constructive sense of crisis in society.
Regarding reporting of death data in DKI Jakarta, dr. Lies Dwi, Head of disease prevention and control (P2P) DKI Health Office, said that DKI Jakarta is trying to have reliable death data reporting, because we have carried out death surveillance starting from 2018, whether those who died in hospitals or outside health facilities, including providing certificates to those who died in hospitals and outside health facilities.
Cross-sector collaborative work is also carried out by the DKI Health Office. Death registration is utilized by the City Parks Service in the cemetery section which collects burial data. This data is used by Dukcapil for population records. said Dr.
Lies Dwi.
Dr. Vini, Head of Health Services for the West Java Health Office, also stated that case management outside health facilities requires assistance from various sectors. We hope various institutions
The community can also help monitor patients outside health facilities. There are patients
which is not monitored due to limited health worker resources, even though we have
prepare an isolation center
Dr. Sutrisno, SpOG. K, Chair of IDI East Java, reminded again that in handling the pandemic, especially emphasizing deaths during self-isolation, it is necessary to have testing numbers that are in accordance with World Health Organization standards to be able to collect data on positive patients accurately. With strong testing, positive patient data will be recorded early and captured, so that facilities are not flooded. When health facilities overflow, residents die while self-isolating and they are not recorded in the data
death
The large number of cases of self-isolation deaths that are not reported means that this data cannot be used for decision making. Don't be surprised if the data in Malang is only 0, even though the data in cemeteries is almost 20-30 times higher, but this happens in all cities/districts, said the Chair of IDI East Java.
Diah Saminarsih, Senior Advisor on Gender on Youth WHO and founder of CISDI, explained that 446 deaths in self-isolation from 100 community health centers in 12 city districts in West Java under the PUSPA (Integrated and Champion Health Center) program were likely still under-reported, because of the 100 puskesmas, only 97 puskesmas carried out complete reporting and at that time, several PUSPA volunteers also experienced Covid-19.
Most deaths occur in the elderly and people with comorbidities. Of the 925 Family Cards sampled, 38% were not in conditions at home that allowed for independent isolation, such as living with people with comorbidities, pregnant women, small children, the elderly (unable to separate sick members from healthy family members).
Recommendation
Seeing the trend in self-isolation deaths, LaporCovid-19 urges the Central Government and
Area for:
- Refers to the definition of death provided by WHO for recording Covid-19 deaths. WHO urges that probable deaths should also be recorded, so that the scale of the pandemic can be clearly measured and people understand the real danger of the pandemic.
- Ensure that each local government records deaths by collaborating across sectors such as hospitals, health centers and funeral services so that death data is real and accountable data
- Ensure the availability of rapid antigen test logistics for fast diagnosis so that positive patients are caught and receive medical assistance quickly so that health facilities can prepare facilities and patients do not experience any deterioration.
- Prepare a centralized shelter so that positive patients can have access to adequate self-isolation facilities as well as regular monitoring by health facility staff.
About Reporting COVID-19
LaporCovid-19 is a forum (platforms) fellow citizens to share information regarding the number of incidents related to COVID-19 around us. A bottom-up approach through citizen reporting or crowdsourcing so that every citizen can participate in conveying information about cases related to COVID-19. For more information, visit:
Website: www.laporcovid19.org
IG: @laporcovid19
Twitter: @laporcovid
FB: Citizens' Coalition to Report Covid-19
Contact Person: Amanda (+6285866044058)
