9 activities that could scare us because of the 2:27 pandemic
(CNN Spanish) -
The coronavirus pandemic has been part of our daily lives for a year.
We have learned many things from the situation and many of those learnings we put into practice every day.
But is it enough for the next pandemic?
In this episode, Dr. Elmer Huerta tells us what lessons we must learn to prepare for the next pandemic.
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 on the new coronavirus.
Information that we hope will be useful to take care of your health and that of your family.
The start of the pandemic in Latin America
March is a very special month in the course of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus in America.
Although some countries detected the disease for the first time in February, it was in March that most Latin American countries detected their first case, and therefore began to implement their first control measures.
After a year has passed since we began to see with horror and surprise that the pandemic began to cause death and suffering in the countries of the region, it is time to take a general balance and see what mistakes we must avoid and what lessons we must learn from in order to be prepared for the next pandemic, which experts do not doubt will come at some point in the future.
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In this regard, an interesting article, published by
The New York Times
, gives us an idea of what was done wrong during the year and what could be done better in the future.
What can we learn from this pandemic?
Through several interviews with a group of experts, the article gives us a series of points of view that we will review in this episode.
Although the answers are focused on the United States, we are sure that many of those lessons will resonate in the thinking of listeners in various countries in Latin America.
Some of them highlight the following aspects:
1) Are we prepared for another pandemic?
In preparation for the next pandemic, let's think about various attack scenarios.
In the current pandemic, the new coronavirus is spread mainly through the respiratory tract, but what if the next pandemic is caused by a virus or bacteria that is spread through the digestive and respiratory tract, or through the sexual route, or through the three?
Society must have plans to face these and other possibilities.
2) Science, a key factor
Society must make science the fundamental pillar of the response to any future pandemic.
Let's reflect on the contribution of science during the present pandemic.
Vaccines, drugs proven that work, hospital care based on scientific concepts are some of the elements of control of the present pandemic, which are proving that science is essential to control it.
3) How to respond to a pandemic
It is important that the response to the pandemic, despite being local in nature, has general guidelines from a central government, which is coordinated and based on science and evidence.
In the current pandemic, we have seen how in some countries - the United States and Brazil, for example - the lack of leadership from the central government, resulted in results that were not ideal in managing the pandemic.
4) Government communication
It is important that governments develop effective, evidence-based, science-based communication plans for the public.
Plans that are capable of counteracting the enormous influence of
fake news
or false news, as well as the conspiracy theories that have been so negative during this pandemic.
5) Government investment in health
Governments must invest in public health systems that base their operation on the generation of accurate and reliable data.
In many countries in the region, including the United States, it has been difficult to count cases of illness and death from the pandemic.
6) Strengthening of rural health centers
Governments should strengthen small health centers in city and rural neighborhoods, instead of investing their entire operation on large hospitals, which due to the high number of patients are unable to meet the demand.
7) Attack social inequality
Socio-economic inequalities in society must be corrected.
As we saw in the episode of December 15, in the United States, for example and given the greater exposure to contagion -for reasons of work and poverty- black and Hispanic populations have suffered more cases of illness and death than other ethnic groups and social.
8) Protect the vulnerable population
Planning must be made of how to protect the most vulnerable people in society.
In the current pandemic, the most vulnerable people have been the elderly, unfortunately, as we saw in the episode of October 27.
Certain societies did not foresee the enormous damage that the pandemic could cause to their elderly.
9) Personal responsibility
Governments must - from the beginning of the pandemic - offer educational campaigns to society, promoting personal responsibility in health care.
In the current pandemic, we have had some examples in which the opposite was promoted, politicizing, for example, the use of masks.
10) Responsibility regarding the treatments
Governments should discourage the promotion of alternative treatments that are not scientifically proven.
As we have heard in several episodes, we have witnessed how, during the year, the use of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin and chlorine dioxide among other substances have contributed to giving a false sense of security to the public.
We know that the present pandemic is in full swing and it is too early to know what will happen, but as we look ahead, it is also important to look in the rearview mirror and prepare for what may happen in the future.
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.
You see that we answer them.
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Thanks for your attention.
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