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If the state does not immediately take energetic and radical measures to suppress the kovida-19 epidemic, the number of new patients will increase dramatically and the health system will collapse, said retired epidemiologist Prof. Dr. Zoran Radovanovic.
Radovanovic said the biggest hot spots for the coronavirus are public transportation vehicles and catering facilities, mainly rafts and nightclubs.
“Staying in catering facilities increases the risk of getting infected at least twice. It was a long time since it was necessary to prohibit work in discos and rafts and limit the work of restaurants and cafes until eight at night,” said the epidemiologist.
He claimed that the owners of many rafts and discos are criminals, fanatics and politicians, and that it is an additional job for them.
“And for many of the security in those facilities, it is a collateral work, because they receive salaries in the police and the BIA. Therefore, the state should only take care of the waiters and cooks and prohibit the work of these sources of the epidemic, “Radovanovic said.
He added that “a measure must be found between protecting the economy and protecting health, because if half of the production workers in a factory get sick, the economy will certainly be devalued.”
When asked how he comments on the large number of recently discovered infection cases, Radovanović says the government is “more sincere” this time, so it shows the numbers more realistically.
“But obviously we didn’t learn anything from the previous two waves, because we didn’t take action in time before this third wave of the epidemic. We kept the borders open while the neighborhood burned and we didn’t test enough people for symptoms of kovida-19, “said the professor. .
When asked what the forecasts are for the period until the end of the year, Radovanović said that it all depends on the measures that are taken.
“Any gathering of more than five people, sporting and even cultural events should be banned. Gyms and betting houses should also be banned. Schools should not be closed for now, because children are less infected and are not dangerous as carriers. of infection, “said the epidemiologist. .
Radovanovic says that where there are strong tipping points, travel should be limited, as has been done in Italy and Slovenia.
If the necessary measures are taken, the professor estimated, it can be expected that, regardless of the long delay, the curve for the number of new patients will flatten by two weeks.
He stated that in the fight against the epidemic, in addition to discovering positive cases, the basic thing is to seek their contacts.
“Unfortunately, that was not enough in Serbia, and that is why the epidemic has now escalated,” Radovanovic said.
He estimated that this wave of epidemics will not end before December.
When asked if the health care system will be able to survive, given the growing number of infected people, Radovanovic said that medical workers are exhausted and dissatisfied.
Doctors from the United Against Kovid group warned Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar that there is great dissatisfaction among them with the state’s attitude towards the health situation. The problem is that people with other illnesses will not have a place to be cared for. life, “Radovanovic said.
When asked why the government now, when the number of infected cases is measured in thousands, does not react as it did in March and April, when officially there were significantly fewer infected, the epidemiologist said that then the crisis personnel and the government reported incorrect data.
“It is clear that at that time the headquarters and the government had much higher figures than officially announced, so the situation was much darker than it was shown. And then the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, was really scared and applied very radical measures, “he said. Radovanovic.
When asked why radical measures are not being applied now, Radovanović says that crisis personnel and the government have lost credibility with the people.
“They know that people no longer trust them and that is why they are reluctant to take the necessary measures because they would cause public alarm, as was the case two months ago when Vučić again announced the introduction of the curfew,” assessed the epidemiologist.
If you were a member of the crisis staff, as to the decisions you would make today to prevent the spread of the epidemic, Radovanovic says that he would not allow Serbia to get into this situation, because he would control the borders in September and organize tests of a large number of people.
According to him, when the system is bad, it hardly works even under normal circumstances, and when an emergency situation occurs, then it “shoots”.
The problem is that there are not enough people trained in leadership positions in health care, many are located on partisan lines, without knowledge and authority in the collectives and in the profession. The priority for such obedient directors and bosses, mainly in public health institutes, is “to preserve their positions of action, and not the health of the population,” said the professor.
He said that this is the fourth degree of transmission of the virus in the community, and now the tests to detect the infection are less effective because there are so many.
“There are only 100 epidemiologists in Serbia. But the state should hire unemployed medical workers to find contacts and verify their health status. It is all a matter of organization,” concluded Professor Radovanović.
Read more about kovid-19 and the consequences of the pandemic in the country and the world on the page. Coronavirus
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