We are losing to COVID-19. What to do?

Published in El Pais, 28 May 2020.

The Latin American countries are more than two months in some form of quarantine, but unfortunately the expected results have not been achieved. The situation is worsening as quarantines become less stringent. Lack of adherence to the “quarantine” standard has become a recipe for an economic and health disaster. While a strict quarantine would work now, it is certain that due to the large number of people dependent on the informal economy (50-70% of the working population), it is difficult to ask that the economy be paralyzed again.

Latin America had a great opportunity to take strong early action to control the virus quickly. Unfortunately, only few countries like Paraguay, Uruguay and Panama are on the right track and the rest continue with high contagion curves. Quarantine did not work and staying home for another 8 weeks is not going to work either. What measures could work? The key is to reduce the number of daily contacts to reduce the probability of becoming infected. Following all of these effective strategies is important to reduce infections, not one but all!

• Keep 1.5 meters distance from other people (cameramen, government, avoid lines).
• Evade crowds, lines. Some governments continue to pay salaries and bonuses in lines, which motivates contagion (for example, Bolivia)
• Wash your hands more times than normal during the day
• Cover your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing (mask, scarf, cloth)
• Do not touch the face. The hands transfer the virus to the eyes, nose, or mouth.
• If you feel weak, stay at home.

The more these strategies are respected, the faster the contagion will be reduced. There are people who believe that there are already treatments, but nothing is scientifically confirmed and the side effects can be terrible for health or they just do not work. There is also no vaccine and that can take up to a year. At this time, the best treatment  is to avoid the risk of contagion.

People over 60 are at higher risk. 95% of deaths in the Netherlands from COVID-19 were in this group. To protect them, it is important to reduce their number of trips to the street and visits, promoting home shopping.