The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) pointed out that the region of the Americas needs to step up public health measures, such as social distancing, limiting meetings, using masks, and washing hands to reduce population exposure during the Covid era. 19 pandemic.
“Our region and our world are failing to control the corona virus. Government policy is not in tune with the gravity of the situation in too many places, and many of us have relaxed the controls that we know work and have helped us to keep us healthy and the hospitals running, ” he said during a conference.
Etienne added that she was “especially concerned about the coming weeks. Throughout our region, especially in the Americas, many hospitals are operating at or very close to their capacity ”.
He referred to the high utilization rates in intensive care units, the oxygen deficiency in some areas and the lack of capacity to cope with the rate at which new infections emerge as a result of the “continuing increase in the number of cases”.
He also stressed that “in the past week we have seen more than 2.5 million new cases of Covid-19 in America – equal to more than half of all infections worldwide – and 42,000 people died as a result of the pandemic. ”.
“We need to step up public health measures to limit the exposure of the population to this virus. Social distance, limited meetings, constant use of masks in public places and frequent hand washing are our best hope for reducing the number of Covid-19 infections at this time, ”said Etienne.
Vaccines are not enough
Vaccines against Covid-19 will help save lives and “ultimately stop the pandemic,” he emphasized, “but we also need to be aware that the doses we currently have are not enough to have a visible impact on the disease. transmission of the virus now and in the short term The doses available for use today are very limited and will remain scarce everywhere.