Covid-19: the key days for contagion 2:27
(CNN Spanish) -
Europe is experiencing a second wave of covid-19 and several countries have imposed new restrictions to try to control the spread of the infection.
Dr. Elmer Huerta explains how this second wave unfolds and analyzes whether the same situation will happen in other parts of the world.
You can listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform, or read the transcript below.
Hello, I am Dr. Elmer Huerta and this is your daily dose of information about the new coronavirus.
Information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
Today we will see how the second wave of covid-19 is developing in Europe and if the same situation will happen in other parts of the world.
It has been about nine and a half months since the world learned of the rare outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan, China.
Over the weeks, that outbreak became the current pandemic with infections that have now reached every corner of the world.
Despite the fact that air travel facilitated the spread of the virus, taking it from Wuhan to multiple countries in a very short period of time, the pandemic has followed a certain geographical pattern of expansion.
In this sense, since its appearance in China and neighboring countries, the first major epicenter of the pandemic was in Europe, followed by the US and in third place, Latin America.
The dreaded fourth wave in Africa has yet to come.
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The period of time elapsed between the appearance of these geographic foci of infection has varied between 6 to 8 weeks.
In that sense, when Wuhan battled its epidemic in January, the rest of the world watched.
As the European focus began during the second week of February, the United States and Latin America watched.
As the first US outbreak began in New York in March, Latin America was watching.
Finally, as of May, the epidemic caught on in Latin America, with Ecuador being one of the first severely affected countries.
The pandemic has progressively spread in Latin America, but so far (third week in October), no Latin American country has had a week with zero cases or zero deaths.
That is, they have not yet come out of their first wave.
The situation is different in Europe.
After being severely affected in March, April and May, Madrid, for example, registered zero deaths for the first time during the first week of June, a month in which the rules were relaxed and many people thought that the problem had been overcome.
Unfortunately, since the last weeks of September, infection with the new coronavirus has returned to European countries.
Madrid has been in a state of alarm since October 9.
Paris and other major French cities are on a curfew from 9 at night until 6 in the morning.
Family gatherings are prohibited in London.
In Germany, it was reported on Thursday, October 15, that the record for cases in one day had been broken;
the previous peak had been on March 28.
As a consequence, Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered the closure of bars and restaurants from 11 at night and has prohibited meetings of more than 10 people.
World Health Organization official Maria Van Kerkhove has said that 80% of European countries experience a resurgence of the epidemic.
In short, there is no doubt that Europe is in the middle of the second wave of the pandemic, and although it is too early to know for sure, the second wave appears to be causing fewer fatalities than the first.
We think that due to its geographical extension, the United States cannot be considered a unique country, so it is impossible to say that it has overcome the first wave.
In that sense, like Madrid, New York that was severely hit in April and May announced zero deaths for the first time on Monday, July 13.
Since then, although new cases have appeared, the epidemic is still under control in that city, although it is increasing in other regions of the country.
In sum, there is no doubt that the pandemic is still far from being controlled.
It is very likely that Latin American countries that are seeing a decline in cases and deaths may experience a second wave in the coming weeks.
The social control measures dictated by public health policies of the rulers and personal responsibility to avoid contagion will be essential so that these second waves are less intense than the first.
The use of a mask in public places, avoiding social gatherings and crowds, and cleaning hands and surfaces are measures that we must all take while we wait for what the future brings us.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus?
Send me your questions on Twitter, we will try to answer them in our next episodes.
You can find me at @Drhuerta.
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And for the most up-to-date information, you can always head to CNNEspanol.com.
Thanks for your attention.
If you have any questions you can send them to Dr. Elmer Huerta via Twitter. You can also head over to CNNE.com/coronaviruspodcast for all episodes of our “Coronavirus: Reality vs. Reality” podcast. fiction".
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