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The vaccine is the best bet to overcome the covid-19 pandemic and we continue to have reason to believe that it will be a reality in the near future. Until then, however, it is important to diversify your strategies and not lose sight of other solutions with the potential to make a difference immediately.
At this time, in addition to maintaining respect for the use of the mask, hygienic care and the rules of physical distance, the best candidates to offer short-term solutions, allowing us to mitigate greater escalations of contagion and ensure a near return to life. normality, are the rapid tests for the coronavirus.
Imagine a equipment low cost, accessible to everyone, which can be used daily at home by anyone and guarantees reliable results in less than 20 minutes. What could represent a solution of this type, once widespread, for companies, for schools, for public services in general? What possibilities would it open for the cultural offer, sporting events, nightclubs, commercial aviation?
Recently, there has been a lot of debate, especially in Portugal, the famous mobile phone application that would allow the monitoring of positive cases of covid-19. But the truth is, without much higher percentages of proven citizens, this technology will always have limited value.
Some time ago, massively and systematically testing the population seemed unfeasible. Much less realistic would be to imagine that this could be done by the citizens themselves, like any other daily routine, in a kind of check in before the start of their activities. But this is precisely what is now on the table.
The United Kingdom has just announced an investment of the order of 550 million euros for research and development of these “kits“COVID-19. In the United States, renowned epidemiologists have requested identical measures from the federal government, which may well announce them soon. In the European Union, we must also consider this possibility very carefully.
Earlier this week, the PSD delegation in the European Parliament sent a letter to the European Commissioner responsible for Science and Innovation, Mariya Gabriel, asking her what initiatives the Union has in place in relation to these tests. And urging the European Commission, if it has not already done so, to invest in research and development to assess the effectiveness and reliability of the tests and their eventual widespread distribution.
As representatives of the citizens, we all have an obligation – European authorities, Member State governments, Members of the European Parliament and nationals – not to waste opportunities.
I confess that I never liked the slogan “Everything will be fine” that has accompanied this pandemic. And I didn’t like it because it suggests that things will work out for you. Everything will be “fine” if we do not lower our guard and if we are increasingly able to anticipate problems and be proactive in finding solutions.
The author writes according to the new spelling agreement.
