03/22/2021 18:52
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 03/22/2021 6:52 PM
Pedro Cahn, infectologist who is part of the medical advisory committee of the Ministry of Health and the Presidency in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, spoke of the possible second wave of coronavirus in the country and was surprised to maintain that "they
no longer do so long quarantines are missing
. "
The director of the
Huiuda Foundation
is one of the visible faces that fought for confinement as a method of combating the pandemic outbreak during the past year.
However, he outlined that phrase when asked if the same scenario could happen again, as if it were "a lesson" from the experience.
"
A lesson
that last year left us is that you do not have to take the same measures from Ushuaia to La Quiaca at the same time. We
no longer need such long quarantines
. With ten days of isolation we know that it is possible to control a large part of the phenomenon, and around there you need to do it in Buenos Aires and not in Tucumán, or vice versa. We will have to take those places where there are sprouts, "he explained, in an interview with
Tiempo Argentino
.
"
Society is not the same
, because there is a very high degree of exhaustion," insisted the infectologist, in his new perspective.
And he went further in his reflection, at times, self-critical: "If at some point we can effectively control the pandemic, we have to think very well
what things that happened cannot happen again
, and what customs and habits that we incorporate you have to maintain, such as hand hygiene ".
Even so, Cahn closed ranks with the official position in the face of criticism.
"Obviously and regrettably, this has become a political issue," he launched.
"The pandemic is used to make politics and
measures are attacked
. If the cases rise, it is the fault of the Ministry of Health; if they put limitations so that they do not rise, it is an 'infection' that nullifies the freedoms of the people. It is very difficult handle things like that, "he complained.
As a presidential advisor, Cahn knew how to endorse the decisions made by the Government.
For this reason and its high profile, criticisms of the handling of the pandemic often include it.
Thus, at least, it was noted by Miguel Ángel Pichetto, who harshly crossed the infectologist on Twitter when his sayings about quarantine went viral.
The same character who locked us up for almost a year, Dr. Cahn, now tells us that long quarantines are no longer necessary.
- Miguel Ángel Pichetto (@MiguelPichetto) March 22, 2021
"The same character who locked us up for almost a year now tells us that long quarantines are no longer necessary," the former candidate for vice president of Juntos por el Cambio tweeted.
And, in a second post, he launched: "He
says he learned this in the
endless
quarantine
last year, when all of us were used as helpless and naive
test bunnies
."
Cahn also referred to the arrival of a second wave of infections in the country, said that, given the panorama of "what is happening around, in Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil, it is very
difficult to think that it cannot happen to us
".
In his opinion, "a couple of factors play a role: first, increased mobility. The virus does not travel alone. There are many
intra-family infections, the result of closed meetings
that should not be done. And there is an aggravating factor: viral variants, a
lot more transmissible
person to person ".
The now Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti, together with the head of the Guest Foundation, Pedro Cahn and the special ambassador on Coronavirus of the World Health Organization for Latin America and the Caribbean, Mirta Roses.
Photo EFE.
"We are in an uneven race, because the virus begins to mutate before people are vaccinated," he added, given the appearance of new strains of coronavirus.
"The South American variants - of which I do not yet have evidence that we have community transmission in the country - are worrisome because the effectiveness of some vaccines is clearly affected, at least that of AstraZeneca," he said.
However, given the options being considered to prevent the spread of covid variants, the epidemiologist explained that closing the borders "
would be another blow to the economy,
" and that, therefore, he maintained that the Executive does not decree it.
"The total closures are inapplicable," he insisted.
"Here there is
a tension
between health and economic needs. If the answer were all health, as of Monday, no one goes out on the street, and we control the pandemic, only that is impossible," he considered.
However, he made a caveat about the need to travel and take vacations.
"We are in a pandemic, there are people dying, and you are telling me that you are going to
a graduate trip
... Let's differentiate what is substantial. Are you going to Buzios to the beach? This is not the time
to do it, "he exemplified.
DS
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