Čaplinskas explained what to do next in the fight against the pandemic: it is strange that a strategy is not yet implemented in Lithuania

According to Čaplinskas, the most effective, long-proven strategy is testing for epidemiological and public health purposes.

“It is strange that this strategy has not been addressed at all until now. What I am hearing now from the public sphere is that the use of forensic methods is being proposed, so it is necessary to speak openly. Neither Ebola, nor MERS nor infection by HIV they were overcome with forensic methods, nor will we defeat the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) explicitly recommends these methods when examining surfaces, even as a secondary measure, not as a secondary one. But generally where the prevalence is low and it is not clear if the virus has entered that country, that community, that city, that group. “

According to the expert, if we now investigate the Seimas, the Government, the Pentagon, the Capitol or a store in this way, it is very likely that coronavirus particles will be found.

“But let’s spread the wrong message that people can get infected from surfaces. I want to emphasize that at least I have not read a single scientific article that can prove that it can be infected from surfaces. “

When asked which coronavirus diagnostic strategy has proven to be most successful in the world, S. Čaplinskas emphasized that a full set of measures must be applied to manage the pandemic in a broad sense.

“It is a huge mistake to think that we will soon vaccinate a large part of the population, create herd immunity and defeat the pandemic. Now it is clear that we will not vaccinate many people quickly in the first place. The second thing is that it is not yet clear how much indeed vaccinated people can spread the virus, of course.

Vaccines are very important to minimize severe cases and deaths. Another important component is identifying the source of the infection as early as possible and isolating it. In this case, we are talking about those test strategies. Almost a year has passed, and in Lithuania it is diagnosed only for diagnostic purposes, that is, to find out whether a particular person is infected or not. In fact, there are no tests for public health purposes, that is, so-called signal monitoring. “

The teacher explained how such monitoring could help.

“We would find out in what territory, of course, now in the whole of Lithuania, in any group and for what reasons the infection occurs. The third way is to prevent the spread, that is, that one person does not come into contact with another and does not breathe the same air.

For example, what happened to those roller coasters. So we only see quarantine and insurance measures. They can only be of short duration to prepare for the other two strategies. Let’s say both vaccines and tests. Now instead of teaching the kids to skate that hill in the safest way possible, we’re not doing it, and we’re saying we’re going to close that hill and you don’t skate anymore. “

In his opinion, those kids will find another roller coaster in time. When the teacher asked him what the real threat of downhill skating is, he identified the main risk factor.

“The main problem is that it is still difficult for us to realize that we live in a reality where there are different standards. We have to accept that and, in other words, look together as much as we can to see what we can do to live safely in that new reality where the threat will persist for a long time.

When it comes to the outdoors and being outdoors, being outdoors is incomparably less dangerous than being indoors in poorly ventilated rooms. However, children can pass the infection to each other, they can pass it on to adults, but not as effectively as adults. “

According to Chaplinks, adults must first and foremost take care of themselves and protect older parents. Also teach children how to protect themselves from the virus.

Is it worth doing quick tests?

The professor was outraged that those people who did not fully understand epidemiology later spread false information in public space.

“There is no single test that answers all the questions. Both rapid antigen and rapid antibody tests are very necessary, but of course they are fast so that they can be performed as quickly and easily as possible, but their accuracy is somewhat compromised.

This aspect answers the first question that in Lithuania it is not understood that tests for epidemiological and public health purposes would help to track the signal ”.

He also stressed that it is much easier and more efficient to study people, because in Lithuania there is currently a high prevalence of disease and fire flames than surface or sewage.