Abstract Objective To characterize hospitalizations for covid-19 among aged individuals residing in Minas Gerais, Brazil, from March 2020 to March 2022, with a focus on geographical distribution, sociodemographic, clinical, epidemiological, and care data. Method This quantitative and descriptive study used sociodemographic, clinical, epidemiological, and care data from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Database, including covid-19-related data. A total of 102,029 hospitalizations of aged individuals for covid-19 were analyzed for descriptive purposes and mapping the incidence by municipality and macro-region. Results High incidence was observed in 196 of the 853 municipalities in Minas Gerais, ranging from 3,098 to 8,916 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Hospitalizations were predominantly male (50.7%), aged 60-70 years (39.0%), of mixed race (41.6%), with 1st to 5th grade education (17.6%), and presenting risk factors or comorbidities (54.0%). Common symptoms included dyspnea and oxygen saturation below 95% (72.8% each). Regarding care data, a portion of patients required intensive care unit admission (34.0%), non-invasive ventilatory support (54.1%), and presented interstitial infiltrates in chest X-rays (20.4%). Although most cases resulted in recovery (55.6%), it is noteworthy that 41.8% of hospitalized aged individuals died. Conclusion This study highlights the existence of areas in Minas Gerais with a higher incidence of covid-19 cases that require ongoing monitoring, with a focus on the care of subgroups of aged individuals who are male, younger, of mixed race, have lower educational attainment, and have risk factors or comorbidities. Additionally, special attention is needed for aged individuals with signs and symptoms indicative of clinical severity.

Resumo Objetivo caracterizar as internações por covid-19, no período de março de 2020 a março de 2022, entre pessoas idosas residentes em Minas Gerais, Brasil, segundo distribuição geográfica, dados sociodemográficos, clínicos e epidemiológicos e de atendimento. Método estudo quantitativo e descritivo realizado com dados sociodemográficos, clínicos, epidemiológicos e de atendimento, do Banco de Dados de Síndrome Respiratória Aguda Grave - incluindo dados da covid-19. Foram consideradas 102.029 internações por covid-19 em pessoas idosas Resultados em 196 dos 853 municípios de Minas Gerais, a incidência foi elevada (3.098 a 8.916 casos por 100.000 habitantes). Houve predomínio de internações em pessoas idosas do sexo masculino (50,7%), entre 60├70 anos (39,0%), pardas (41,6%), com 1ª a 5ª série (17,6%) e que apresentavam fatores de risco/comorbidade (54,0%), dispneia e saturação de oxigênio <95% (72,8%, cada). Referente aos dados de atendimento, uma parcela necessitou de internação em UTI (34,0%), suporte ventilatório não invasivo (54,1%) e apresentou Raio-X com infiltrado intersticial (20,4%). Embora a cura tenha sido o desfecho mais frequente (55,6%), destaca-se que 41,8% das pessoas idosas foram a óbito. Conclusão o estudo mostrou que existem áreas de Minas Gerais com maior número de casos, que precisam ser monitoradas, fornecendo ênfase na atenção aos subgrupos de pessoas idosas do sexo masculino, mais jovens, pardas, com menor escolaridade e fatores de risco/comorbidades, além daqueles com sinais e sintomas indicativos de gravidade clínica.

ABSTRACT Background: The number of deaths and people infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Brazil has steadily increased in the first few months of the pandemic. Despite the underreporting of coronavirus cases by government agencies across the country, São Paulo has the highest rate among all Brazilian states. Methods: To identify the highest-risk municipalities during the initial outbreak, we utilized daily confirmed case data from official reports between February 25 and May 5, 2020, which were aggregated to the municipality level. A prospective space-time scan statistic was conducted to detect active clusters in three different time periods. Results: Our findings suggest that approximately 4.6 times more municipalities belong to a significant space-time cluster with a relative risk (RR) > 1 on May 5, 2020. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the applicability of the space-time scan statistic for the detection of emerging clusters of COVID-19. In particular, we identified the clusters and RR of municipalities in the initial months of the pandemic, explaining the spatiotemporal patterns of COVID-19 transmission in the state of São Paulo. These results can be used to improve disease monitoring and facilitate targeted interventions.

Abstract Permanent preservation areas reduce the exposure of sediments and nutrients in aquatic medium and improve the quality of water. The analysis of natural features and anthropic use in rivers’ surroundings makes it possible detecting potential ecological unbalance. This study analyzed the potential and emerging environmental fragility in Permanent Preservation Areas (PPA). Environmental fragilities around drainage areas composing the sub-basin were assessed based on soil, relief, rainfall, land use/land cover (LULC) features. The degrees of emerging environmental fragility observed in the second-order stream were lower than those in first-order ones: 3.07 and 2.68, on average, respectively; and standard deviation of approximately 0.7 was recorded in each group. First-order streams are more closely associated with high slopes, and it increases their fragility. Then reduction of fragility levels around water springs due to conservationist practices will decrease material and energy transfer throughout network connections and rebalance the assessed aquatic ecosystem.