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Criticism of the government move came quickly, but Minister Paris defended the idea. “Families were thought of,” he said. And he pointed to the specialists: “What experts? What figures have they given? What numbers? Because generally those who criticize, the experts in quotes, do not say figures, do not say numbers, do not give statistics, “he launched.
As “risky”, “inconsistent” and “an error that could put the control of the pandemic at risk” was described by specialists the announcement of the Government that opens the door to family reunions during National Holidays, even in quarantined communes.
In good accounts, the measure will allow each home to receive – between Friday 18 and Sunday 20 September – five people and in open places up to 10 guests, for which a permit must be requested on the Virtual Police Station page of Carabineros, regardless of the phase of the Step by Step plan in force.
And although the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, defended the announcement on Thursday, assuring that “it was very thoughtful” and “very talked about”, several experts quickly came out to question the idea due to the fatal consequences that it could bring, considering that several outbreaks of contagion occurred precisely in family gatherings.
Without going any further, the first victim to die from the virus in Chile was infected during an activity of these characteristics.
“In Chile we are still in the community transmission phase, with a high risk (of becoming infected) when we leave the home, when we make a transfer or get together with someone,” says María Paz Bertoglia, an academic at the School of Public Health of the University of Chile and president of the Chilean Society of Epidemiology (Sochepi).
“That is why we have seen with great concern that the authorities have decided to suspend the quarantine (strictly). The authorities must advance at this time in strengthening the entire strategy to minimize health impacts, “he adds.
“Suspending quarantines when there is community transmission – ends – we consider it to be an error that can put the control of the pandemic in our country at risk.”
“It is time to mourn our dead”
Consulted by BioBioChile, the doctor in Public Health and academic from the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Usach, Christian García, assures that the relaxation of the restrictions announced by the Government “goes in the opposite direction to any epidemiological logic.”
Like Bertoglia, the specialist affirms that “Chile still continues with many cases”, which unfortunately goes hand in hand with a “very poor traceability” that just began to be implemented in July, in a “very late and dangerous” way.
“We cannot find the amount of contacts we need. We did not even find the contacts of each diagnosed case that lives within the same house. Between three and four people live in each house and we find two and a half contacts for each case ”.
– Christian García, epidemiologist
“The recommendation for people – he adds – is that they continue everything the same (…) This 18 is a moment of reflection and of mourning our dead, more than 15 thousand deceased”, he sentenced.
“It is paving the way for the virus”
According to Geraldine Vives, public health expert and director of the Diego Portales University School of Dentistry, the Minsal measure “is a risk in which responsibility is absolutely endorsed on individuals individually” and that otherwise “It will not be feasible to audit.”
“The consequence of that – he points out – is finally a greater number of deaths. If 200 people are infected, between one and six (patients) can die according to the current indicators that we know of the virus ”.
“Here half of the information is raised (…) but the risk of that is not communicated to them. People based on this communication that exists are believing a little that the worst is over and that we can go back to the life we had before and that is very risky and a bad strategy, “he lashes out.
The announcement of the Government will be the subject of debate within the council of the Medical College scheduled for this Friday, although Germán Acuña, president of the organization in the Bío Bío region – one of the most affected areas in recent weeks – called on the Executive to “Do not open doors for meetings and that we maintain the spirit of quarantines.”
“If in these National Holidays we become infected or die, we will forever regret the worst 18 of our lives,” he said in a message posted by Colmed on Twitter.
From the political world there were also reactions. Deputy Juan Luis Castro (PS) assured that what the health authority pointed out is “absurd.”
Thus, the former president of the Medical College said that “the virus is paving the way for him,” because “it does nothing to stop the transmission that still exists.”
Paris “meditates” the measure
Early this morning, the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, met the criticism, assuring that “we are going to monitor” the measure and “meditate more if there are people who think it is risky.”
Along these lines, he affirmed that he received calls from authorities in the regions with the highest viral circulation (including Bío Bío), so the particular cases of those areas that have expressed concern will be reviewed.
“Seven out of every ten cases (in the Bío Bío) are due to family outbreaks, therefore when yesterday we first learned about the measure ‘Fondéate en tu casa’ (…) it seems to us a good measure for the regions and communes that are in phase 2 , 3, 4 and 5. Of the 33 communes, 26 in our region are in this, but there are seven that are in Phase 1, and for those we ask the minister to evaluate this measure, “said the mayor.
– Mayor of Bío Bío, Sergio Giacaman
“I always say that you have to dialogue, that you have to talk about things, you have to meditate on them and obviously if you have to go back or take other measures in some special regions we will do so, without a doubt,” he said.
Consulted by the announcement, he said that “there was no rush, it was very thoughtful, it was very talked about, the family was thought about, here we did not think about the big parties… it is for the family to get together and not just go out outside the houses to celebrate at the inns ”.
And finally he pointed to the criticisms of the specialists: “What experts? What figures have they given? What numbers? Because generally those who criticize, the experts in quotation marks, do not say figures, do not say numbers, do not give statistics, on the other hand they do demand statistics, numbers, figures from us ”, he launched.
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