Dr. Elmer Huerta, a public health specialist, explained in the evening news Panama Hoy about the new omicron variant, the form of contagion, the dreaded closures and vaccination.
Initially, it revealed that one of the most important knowledge in the control of this pandemic has been the recognition that the main route of contagion of the coronavirus is the aerosols that pass from person to person, through the respiratory tract.
He commented that it took many months to convince the scientific community that the virus was spread more by aerosols than by thick droplets. “Last year it was thought that it was because of the thick drops, the sneeze, the cough, not now, just talk and just that. Microscopic droplets that are aerosols come out on your breath and that stays in the air, in a closed room without ventilation for two or three hours, if there has been an infected person in a hotel or a room, in a house, they go out and go , but in that air the virus remains, and someone can enter and only by breathing will they become infected, that is why the importance of the mask ”, he explained.
Regarding omicron, he indicated that one should not be alarmed, but rather try to be informed and look for channels of serious information to help us make the right decisions.
“When a variant appears, there are three things that matter to us from a public health point of view; One is how infectious the variant is, how virulent it is, and whether or not it escapes the action of vaccines. At this moment we are just learning the characteristics of omicron ”, commented the doctor.
The doctor emphasized that these variants are known as mutations, so the population must be clear that viruses and bacteria are not the same. “Viruses are not living beings, people often confused the virus with the bacteria. The difference between viruses and bacteria is that bacteria such as those that cause tuberculosis, typhoid, are living beings: they are born, grow, reproduce and die, while viruses are pieces of chemical molecules that do not have life, are not born or they die, they only reproduce and in that reproduction, they mutate, they change. It is the same virus, but we could say that the shape of the nose is changing, or the shape is changing, “he said.
He pointed out that the more it infects people and the longer the virus remains in people, the faster it changes and mutates, and the more likely it is that mutants of public health importance will appear.
As for South Africa, where the new omicron variant was unleashed, he said it is not that vaccines have been lacking, “just that people don’t want to get vaccinated. People have been eaten by anti-vaccines saying that they are going to turn into robots, that they are going to put chips, that it was part of a global conspiracy to take over the world, they have believed in South Africa ”.
He also addressed the issue of total closures and quarantines, ensuring that these mobility restrictions do not work at this current time of the pandemic, so he recommends always being attentive to new variants because many more may appear.
