The president of the Spanish Epidemiologists believes that it is not yet time to get rid of the mask in the building. Elena Vanessa Martinez arrived at elDiario.es hours after the PSOE agreed to a motion with Ciudadanos asking the government to remove the face mask “according to scientific evidence” amid growing tensions over their removal and messages sent to the social media in anticipation. By the government that this will happen soon.
However, Martinez is in favor of waiting at least three weeks, if not longer, to measure the effect that could have the most daring step in the recent management of the pandemic: the completion of mandatory isolation. This measure is only valid for one week and, in his opinion, should have been supported by better communication between the Autonomous Communities and the Ministry of Health to avoid two risks: it is perceived that from now on there is an open bar. And that people mistakenly think the pandemic is over. “I only saw the light once and the omicron came. It still stays,” he says.
Spain has moved forward with many neighboring countries after the end of isolation, is this an acceptable measure at the level of public health?
This is not so much right or wrong in terms of public health, but rather that our goal is to try to see what are the most effective measures to control a serious illness. With Omicron we saw that it is impossible to stop the circulation. You should try weighing. The epidemiology of the disease has changed a lot. The state of immunity is different: not only because of the high percentage of vaccinations, but also because it has infected a large number of people, which can affect. Amplifier Vaccinate and protect those who have not been immunized. On the other hand, we know the option is less serious. With these two factors we are in a different scenario than when the pandemic started. In the sixth wave, the health centers were saturated, the public health services could not conduct research, so the traces of contact were lost … Test yourself We no longer see all cases. So if we are to focus on those who may have a serious illness, we are doing what is necessary with this population.
The idea of strategy is not bad. Clearly, it gives a bit of dizziness and should have been better assessed whether there were conditions to change, to make the jump.
In a hurry?
All our actions should be based on data and in any case, it has not been observed whether the indicators set out in the strategy itself to implement this change, which are the occupancy data of pure hospitals, have been met. In general, it seems to be declining, but the analysis had to be done and if so, shown.
The new strategy argues that this is a recommendation to isolate, do not see too many people, do not go to crowded events, do not contact socially vulnerable people … If you do not read the print, can it be interpreted as an open bar? Is this a risk?
Yes, communication on public health issues is difficult. It is not a lowercase letter, but a uppercase letter. This is a recommendation for COVID-19 and the flu. It is not a matter of concern, but of realizing that when a person is ill, one should try to limit social relationships in general and, above all, contact with vulnerable people.
One thing that is lacking is that what the strategy recommends, such as working remotely, is to support other administrations. In some jobs it is impossible to work from home and we have to provide mechanisms that are not punctual right now, just to make it more real and effective that you can stay home for three days without the need for sick leave.
In general, comparisons with other countries are not easy. The isolation step here has been taken before, but in other countries there is something that did not work in Spain and we must try to establish it: people with infections have to stay home and restrict their social activities.
Speaking of risks, can it be perceived that we are facing the end of a pandemic? Are we really?
This is a risk and it is the responsibility of all of us who work on it to insist that the pandemic is not over. The problem is that it gives the population the feeling that it is over: there is still a serious illness and there is still a very high transmission.
Strategy-driven changes affect people’s daily lives. However, there were no institutional communication campaigns, appearances or press conferences on the part of the Ministry. That is, it did not send a clear message to the population: Stay home if you can. How do you rate it?
This is a problem for all administrations, as the strategy has been approved by all communities together with the Ministry. Much better, it would be desirable, in fact, there is still time to have clear communication so that people know where we are and clear up any doubts that may arise. Institutional campaigns, meetings with the press …
Strategy critics believe that stopping counting all cases makes it difficult to measure where we are in a pandemic. Does the developed transition system serve to see and act on trends?
Everybody in the hospital is going to collect and only with this data can we have an idea of whether it changes, for example, according to age groups. That is, the moment a person arrives at the hospital with a respiratory infection, we will detect it, albeit with a slight delay in relation to the infection. We will also have information on all the dead and the entire socially vulnerable population.
In addition, the sentinel system is under the joint supervision of acute respiratory infections (ARI). With these data – taken from representative samples of health centers across the area – we can see evolution and detect growth, although we do not know that they are specifically caused by COVID-19. This is a semi-automatic extraction and it is not an additional job for primary care. We have the tools to be able to act on time and in a timely manner.
On the other hand, it determines what stage we should take back in strategy. We will need to see if we can go back to a more comprehensive strategy if we find that the frequency of IRAs exceeds a certain level. It’s not that we stop counting all the cases, but de facto we were not already doing it on the last wave. We knew we did not have everything, but we did not know what we lacked.
Does the new strategy protect the vulnerable?
It is difficult when there is a quality of transmission to ensure the protection of the vulnerable. Here it is very important that people limit contacts. This is a possible risk, but as we know it, I think it can be controlled if we are responsible.
How much is left of the mask in the building?
Now, and especially when launching a new strategy, with the risks we have just discussed, this is not the time. It is possible in the not too distant future, but you have to place yourself in every moment and every circumstance. If you start several things at once, you will not understand whether it has an effect because you do not force yourself to isolate yourself or because you want to remove the mask. Distance will allow us to estimate.
How long do we have to wait for the binding insulation finish effect?
Timing is the worst thing that has ever happened to us because you set expectations. The experience is that it usually takes three weeks to see the effect of the event. This comes at a time when Easter is coming and I do not think the best idea is to eliminate the use of masks during increased mobility and socialization. Removing them before the holidays is not good, we will still have to wait until the end of Easter.
What do you attribute to the fact that the government is delaying the decision to remove them? It was announced a few weeks ago that this would be very soon; Now both the president and the health minister are more cautious.
I could not answer. I like to think they follow the recommendations of the technicians.
What can we expect from the transmission of the virus in the coming months? Circulation stopped at a fairly high level.
I do not know. We still have a lot of uncertainty about the behavior of the virus and all the associated factors around it. Logically, it is likely that it will behave like the other seasonal coronaviruses we have and cause colds. SARS-CoV-2 has so far lived virtually alone, and viruses behave differently if their ecological niche is just theirs or they share it. This winter was the first to spread other viruses. The flu started in the sentinel system just before Christmas, and it disappeared with Omicron.
Is this what awaits us from now on? Enough of the circulating virus, but are serious cases controlled by the effect of the vaccine?
We hope we have gravity to a minimum. I could not say the level of circulation of a mild disease. I would absorb the rest of the respiratory viruses.
The question of how much is left in the pandemic phase is superfluous?
I saw the light only once and the omicron came. Still left.
Years?
I do not think so.
Does the possibility of a fourth widespread dose decrease?
It should be used only when necessary if a decrease in protection is observed over time and this leads to serious forms. In this case, another dose can be evaluated to solve the problem, but, insist, only when necessary.
This week we had a report on the latest data from the Ministry of Health as we knew it before. What will the new data tell us?
We will have all hospitalized, over 60 years old and all confirmed positives collected. However, we can not count the lethality because we do not see how many people die in relation to the total number of cases. With complete population data, such as the elderly, it is possible to monitor most indicators. It has been observed that evolution has been very parallel and can give us an idea of how it is going.
Source: El Diario
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
