The Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado (United States), José Luis Jiménez, has warned that public health organizations and the population continue "to be ill-prepared" to face an eventual new pandemic, which is why, in his opinion, little progress has been made since the crisis caused by Covid-19.
In this regard, he has expressly mentioned "The World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ministries of Health, and economic power and society in general" as actors who, as he has indicated, still lack a sufficient strategy for another major health emergency.
Jiménez made these considerations during the webinar 'Pandemic Preparedness. Changes in infection prevention and control', organized online by the Spanish Network for Research on Persistent COVID (REiCOP) of the Spanish Society of General Practitioners and Family Doctors (SEMG), a session that was presented by the president of both entities, Dr. Pilar Rodríguez Ledo.
The researcher recalled that "It has been six years since the start of the pandemic" and that, although "that phase of national emergency has been overcome," "many loose ends" persist, which he described as "very important." "We are talking about the lives of millions of people" and, in particular, "two million people in our country, or a little more," he pointed out when referring to the impact of persistent Covid.
PREVENTING PERSISTENT COVID
Regarding long-term sequelae, Jiménez stressed that "The best way to prevent persistent Covid is not to get infected with acute Covid," although he urged "to reflect," because "it seems we have normalized certain things." In his opinion, "normalizing them is to remove their importance," which implies "neglecting how to reduce their occurrence" and "their prevalence," he remarked.
Therefore, he argued that resources for "protection, lifestyles, masks, hygiene, filtration, ventilation" are still necessary. "This is an ethical commitment that the entire population, especially healthcare professionals, must undertake," he emphasized, underlining that the goal is "to avoid all this cost in human life, in quality of life, but also the cost derived from illness that occurs."
Rodríguez Ledo has pointed out that, although health regulation is not directly in the hands of clinicians, they can indeed influence "decision-making." Furthermore, he has warned that "no one" is "safe from developing persistent Covid or complicated Covid," clarifying that he does so "without causing alarm."
Subsequently, Jiménez has delved into the main cause of Covid-19 infections, emphasizing that it was "airborne transmission," and that "the thing about hands and all that were minor issues." In his opinion, "confusion" was generated during the pandemic because "doctors confused severity with dilution," something he has described as "a physics error."
"THE MAJORITY" OF RESPIRATORY DISEASES ARE TRANSMITTED THROUGH THE AIR
The expert has recalled that "When we move away from someone, there is less transmission; the fact that it transmits more when we are close is strong evidence that it is airborne," as is the case with "the majority" of respiratory diseases. Thus, he has pointed out that "the longer the time, the worse the masks, the more we talk," all of this "favors contagion."
On the other hand, he has explained that "ventilation most hinders it," in addition to the use of the aforementioned masks, although he has specified that they are only 100 percent effective when they "seal well," that is, when they "leave a mark on the face." In contrast, with surgical masks, "air escapes from all sides," he has detailed.
Jiménez has also recalled that "not all people infect equally," since "the majority do not infect and there are a few with a high viral load who infect a lot." In this context, he has lamented that one of the measures that was promoted "a lot" during the pandemic, but which "has been done very little and remains a pending issue," is "having CO2 meters" in "all hospitals, in all schools."
In relation to future health crises, he has warned that the next pandemic "will be another respiratory virus," probably "another coronavirus or, perhaps, the flu." "These are the ones most likely to start spreading very quickly and in a way that we cannot stop them," he has concluded.