Sebastian Clemente
07/24/2020 - 9:47
- Clarín.com
- Cities
"We contacted you to inform you that within the framework of a Seroprevalence Study being carried out by the City Government, personnel from the Ministry of Health and the General Directorate of Statistics and Censuses will be attending your home to assess your situation and carry out a test to a member of the house ”. Thus begins a letter that is circulating and that generates uncertainty in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. It goes viral accompanied by a WhatsApp audio that warns that it is false , that it is a trick to enter the homes to steal. It's not like that.
This Friday morning, at the dam conference that Buenos Aires Minister of Health Fernán Quirós regularly gives, Daniel Ferrante, Undersecretary of Health Planning and Network Management, explained that notifications are being sent and gave details of the mechanisms that the neighbors have to check the identity of the pollsters who will visit them.
“The residents whose homes were selected received a note. Those who have doubts can call 147 or contact the statistics page of the City Government, where is the list of 23 pollsters, who must present the corresponding accreditation, "explained the official, adding:" Ideally, they can enter the address . That is why we insist on mass communication, so that the initiative and all the validation mechanisms for the safety of the people are known ”.
In the note that arrives at the homes it is communicated that the visit will be "within the next 20 days, from Monday to Friday and from 10 am to 5 pm" .
The letter sent by the City Government. A viral audio says it is missing, but officials confirmed that this is how people are told it will be tested.
"This study will allow us to know what is the level of antibodies that were generated in society. 2,000 houses were randomly taken from all neighborhoods. There, a small survey is carried out on one of the people over the age of 18 who lives in the area, and a serological test is performed that completes the measurement of antibodies in the laboratory. We have 23 pollsters and on the web is the list with their names ”.
To avoid deceit and confusion , the Buenosairean government enabled a communication channel through number 147 and also a web page that contains the list of the pollsters, with name, surname and photo. You have to enter the Statistics and Census site before letting the person who is announced pass by to do the study.
The research aims to determine how many people had the virus and did not notice it because they had no or mild symptoms and did not go to the health system to get the swab.
In Villa 31 , the same work showed that 53% of the population of the settlement generated virus antibodies, with which they were infected.
In the City it is presumed that the number is less. In any case, according to surveys carried out in cities with a similar density to Buenos Aires, it is calculated that for each documented case, that is, with a positive swab, there are between 8 and 10 who were infected without realizing it.
With some 50,000 verified cases, in the Capital there would be, if multiplied by 9, some 450,000 individuals that the virus passed through . According to Buenos Aires government calculations, by the end of August 30% of the Buenos Aires population will have been infected . According to what happened in other large cities in the world, the contagion curve began to decline with between 12% and 20% of people infected.
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