Introduction:

In Panama, temporary centers for medical care were created in some public establishments to meet the massive demand for cases with COVID-19.

Objective:

To clinically describe hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19. Methods: A descriptive, ambispective, case series study was conducted from February to April 2021. It included all admissions in the first 5 months of the Comprehensive Care Center for Moderate Cases due to COVID-19 in Figali. A questionnaire was designed for each patient with data collected from individual electronic medical records.

Results:

Out of 628 admitted patients, 58.1% were men and 41.6% were in the age group ≥60 years. 54.94% were admitted after 7 days of symptoms, mainly from isolation hotels (39.65%) and hospitals (26.43%). The most frequent symptoms were cough, dyspnea, fever and weakness. 84.39% were classified as moderate COVID-19. 51.75% required admission to the Special Respiratory Care Unit, and out of these 3.82% required invasive mechanical ventilation. 67.70% were discharged and 14.59% were transferred to third level hospitals after orotracheal intubation.

Conclusions:

Centro Figali provided medical care to patients with moderate, severe and critical COVID-19. General and upper respiratory symptoms prevailed, which intensified in the pulmonary phase of the disease and led to admission. Among men, older adults and patients with chronic non-communicable diseases were the majority of those admitted and deceased.

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