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As well as Europe, which has been fighting the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic for almost three months, Chile, which detected its first case on March 3 and currently has 174 deaths and 12,306 infected, has already released a plan to resume activities. everyday. “We are preparing for the new normal, for the safe return”, President Sebastián Piñera said in an interview with Channel 13 this Friday.
The Chilean government confirmed the gradual reopening of shopping centers, the return of public officials to their jobs and the return to classes, among other things. In fact, Paula Daza, undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, even stated that people can now go for a coffee “With a few friends”.
The measures taken by the Government to face the pandemic -among them, the controversial “health card” for patients with supposed immunity after overcoming the Covid-19- have been questioned by different sectors, including by some large businessmen such as the owner of Cencosud, the German Horst Paulmann.
Is it time for the “new normal”?
Juan Pablo Torres Torretti, an infectologist and academic at the University of Chile, told DW that although good results have been achieved and that the curve has been flattening, “control measures have to be maintained in this phase of the pandemic. We do not have solid data in the scientific evidence to help us determine whether it is safe to return to class promptly or reopen shopping malls. ”
For her part, the founder of the Latinobarómetro polling firm Marta Lagos, told DW that the government’s handling of the crisis “is puzzling. A ‘new normal’ and opening the malls means that the strictness of social contact is over. It seems to me that it has done well in its epidemiological domain and many lives have been saved, but the rest is a disaster, both communicationally and socially. This Government is incompetent in the social ”.
Are the protests back?
The pandemic has slowed the social protests that have been taking place massively throughout the country since last October 18, which turned out to be a relief for the Government. In fact, the plebiscite to choose a new Constitution was postponed to October 25.
However, in recent days, various groups of no more than 50 people have defied the partial quarantine measures and have gathered to protest in Santiago. Faced with the return of this “normality”, many consider it legitimate to return to the streets to demonstrate.
“People are already taking to the streets. From the moment of the announcement of the ‘new normality’, we are all baffled… In a month from now, if there are more massive movements, there will be protests anyway, so it seems very naive on the part of the Government, ”said Marta. Lagos.
For his part, Fernando Atria, a critical lawyer of the current Constitution and president of the political party in formation Common Force, told DW that “once the health emergency passes, the constitutional process will regain its strength … A new Constitution would have created a policy that would be able to distribute the cost of measures to confront the pandemic in a fairer way ”.
The infectologist Juan Pablo Torres also warned about the dangers of joining the protests and that “it would imply a real risk, which does not mean that it is not possible to continue advancing in the concepts that were raised in Chile, such as inequality. This health process must be an opportunity for inequalities of different types to be confronted and allow for an even better response to a pandemic tomorrow. ”
The work of the Medical College
During the crisis, the Health Minister Jaime Mañalich and the President of the Chilean Medical College Izkia Siches, have had public differences to face the pandemic. The leader of the union association has criticized, but at the same time advised the Government.
Izkia has been the most credible and trustworthy leadership there has been during this pandemic. He has had a critical position of the Minister of Health, but constructive. He has participated in the social tables. That has given him a lot of credibility publicly, ”said Fernando Atria.
“I think that, in such a complex problem, all eyes are very relevant. The position of the Medical College is a contribution in managing the pandemic. Also the Ministry of Science and also what the Ministry of Health is doing. The problem here is so complex that all kinds of looks have to be synergistic, not antagonistic, “Torres Torretti concluded.
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