“Punishment is the last resort, but so far it has not been discussed.”

Doctors, Photo: Printscreen / RTS

“The transition from fear to total relaxation was immediate. People, with the exception of public transportation, act as if nothing happened. Last week at this time they were terrified, and now I have the impression that the dam has broken.” said the professor. Dr. Branimir Nestorović, pulmonologist, Tiršova University Children’s Hospital.

He, as a guest on the “Thursday at 9” program on RTS, said that now, as with earthquakes, several “subsequent earthquakes” are expected.

– MERS lasted until 2015 and SARS until 2014. There will be individual cases, the virus will circulate. We are now in the phase of living with the virus. It is impossible to beat the virus, we can learn to live with it. – said Dr. Nestorović.

Prof. Dr. Darija Kisić Tepavčević, epidemiologist and deputy director of the “Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut” Institute of Public Health, disagrees with him when it comes to non-compliance with the measures. He recalled that there were reasons based on epidemiological indicators on the basis of which it was decided to lift the state of emergency and mitigate the measures.

– Most of us can see how people behave in an open space where it is not so easy to transmit the virus and where it is not necessary to wear masks. However, indoors, we have seen people behave according to recommendations. We are still controlling this disease, only now there is less talk about it since there are no jumps out of the flow. This is as expected and as the course of the epidemiological curve progresses. We have continuous maintenance of laboratory results below two percent, closer to one percent. The fact that the percentage of positivity is so low shows that the presence of the virus in our population has decreased. We remember that we had days when it was above 30 percent, although at that time, it is true, there was less evidence – said Dr. Kisić Tepavčević and added that the evidence base consists of people who have appropriate symptoms, but who are less and less.

He recalled that all general preventive measures are important, but they are limited and based on personal responsibility and conscience.

– We do not have a police officer who controls whether someone is wearing a mask or not. Punishment is a last resort, but has not been discussed so far, said Dr. Kisić Tepavčević.