**2.7 What have been the results of home care during the COVID-19 pandemic?**

During the first year of the pandemic (from March 2020 to March 2021), one of the largest home care providers in Brazil treated a total of 4,500 patients at home and registered only 179 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among patients who were already receiving home care during this period, 91 (50,8%) in women and 88 (49,2%) in men, with a mean age of 61.1 years [9]. COVID-19 had an incidence of 3.9% in the population studied, which is below the Brazilian incidence of 6%. There were 56 (31.2%) hospitalizations with 21 (11.7%) hospital deaths and 4 (2.2%) cases of home death, which represents a lethality of 13.9% (25 total cases of death). The number, clinical outcomes, and geographical distribution of the confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported daily to all healthcare teams through a case panel [10].

Apart from COVID-19, more than 2,500 patients per day were treated at home, which allowed hospital beds to be dedicated to critically COVID-19 patients and contributed to reduce total hospital occupancy.

#### **Figure 7.**

*Image representing remote monitoring of the mechanical ventilation of a patient under home care.*

*Home Care as a Safe Alternative during COVID-19 Crisis DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98529*

On the other hand, acute COVID-19 patients with mild and moderate symptoms were taken care of at their homes, and also patients in the recovery phase of the disease were admitted for rehabilitation after hospital discharge. During this 1-year period, 64 new patients with a diagnosis of mild or moderate COVID-19 were successfully treated at home and 123 post-COVID patients were admitted to home care after hospital discharge to receive rehabilitation therapy and treatment for complications.

Home care assumed an important role in avoiding hospitalization of non-critical, suspected, or confirmed cases of COVID-19 and in providing care to patients through home monitoring of oximetry, oxygen supplementation, home medical support, daily medical telephone monitoring, and the provision of a medical emergency center available daily round-the-clock.
