Doctors want stronger restrictions to reduce Covid infections

Doctors suggest that vaccination, physical care, masks, and hand washing should be reinforced.

 The control measures announced Monday night by the Government to contain citizen mobility and alcohol consumption have received conflicting views from specialists. However, they coincide with the fact that the country needs greater rigor and control in the current conditions of the pandemic.

For the healthcare epidemiologist Carlos Manuel Feliz, these measures are insufficient to face the current situation of the spread of the virus facing the country. He defined them as part of the financial protection scheme maintained by the Government. He said that if strict measures of total closure are not taken, no results will be seen, given the level of the pandemic.

On Monday night, the President of the Republic issued Decree 349-21, which establishes a new curfew schedule for several provinces, restrictions on the sale and consumption of alcohol, controls on the use of public places, and regulations on sites dedicated to sports practice and physical exercise, among others.

Feliz said that it is not possible for an active pandemic, with an almost collapsed health system, to come with a curfew starting at 6:00 in the afternoon with mobility extension until 9:00 at night and on weekends. Weekday’s mobility until 6:00 in the afternoon.

He understands that this indicates no clear vision of the magnitude of the pandemic at present.

Greater reinforcement and time
Likewise, the renowned cardiologist Pedro Ureña said that although he understands that the measures adopted are correct and supports them, he thinks that more significant reinforcement is required in public places of distancing and masks regardless of the time.

“The current situation also requires greater testing capacity both in the population with clinical manifestations and in the contacts and consequent isolation,” said the specialist who has been closely monitoring the pandemic.

He understands that one week of application will not be enough, considering the recently passed Mother’s Day and this coming weekend with a Thursday holiday.

No face-to-face activities
The day before, Dr. Alejandro Báez, who led the Covid-19 emergency committee during the first months of the pandemia, had made a series of recommendations, including canceling face-to-face events for the next 15 days, especially in Greater Santo Domingo.

He said that the Dominican Republic is currently experiencing worrying evidence that speaks of the third wave of COVID19 cases and that for reasons of population density, mobility, and referrals for the use of hospital resources, Greater Santo Domingo has initially been the most stressed, but that there is to maintain controls and measures that strengthen other needy provinces.

Among his suggestions are reinforcing vaccination, physical distancing, masks, hand washing, intelligent use of isolation tests, and contact tracing. It is vitally important to avoid unnecessary meetings and events.

It also requires, he said, an increase in hospital capacity, with a focus on Intensive Care / ICU with technological solutions for optimal and effective use of the scarce human resources specialized in this critical area.

Total closure
Yesterday, Listín Diario published the call made by the president of the Dominican Society of Pulmonology and Thorax Surgery, Dr. Evangelina Soler, through the “Appointment with the Covid,” where she was emphatic in calling the Government to urgently arrange the total closure of the country and all activities nationwide for a week 24/7, as well as opening large spaces for patient care, given the collapse that the health system assures and the aggressiveness of the new variants.

FIGURES
Cedimat supports measures
Likewise, Cedimat reported its support for the measures announced by the Government and reiterated its commitment to continue fighting on the front line as it has done since the beginning of the pandemic. He also called on the population of age to be vaccinated to be inoculated and comply with the protection measures. It indicates that since the beginning of the pandemic, it has been in charge of patients’ health care affected with Covid-19, having enabled not only an area of ​​hospital beds and ICU for this care but also a walk-in consultation every day of the week that hundreds of people attend.