COVID-19: Ignorance lasts until it knocks on your door

If the epidemiological situation due to COVID-19 was not so worrying at this time in the province, in baseball terms we could say that in recent days Holguín is hitting home runs, one after another with full bases, a predictable fact due to the reckless behavior of some people in the face of the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus.

Higher positivity rates have been reported for days, with figures that have never been reported since the beginning of the pandemic in March 18, 2020, when the first positive case was diagnosed here.

For example, on April 16, 26 autochthonous cases were reported; Monday 19, 61positive cases; and on the 20th, a record of 80 positives to the new coronavirus (73 contacts of confirmed cases, three with an undetermined source of infection and four imported from Russia).

With these 80 patients, distributed among the municipalities of Holguín (69), Frank País (three), Moa (five), Urbano Noris (two) and Sagua de Tánamo (one), there are more than a hundred positive cases, including 17 children; 15 suspects and 10,10 contacts in surveillance admitted to health centers.

A very complex panorama, which can continue to be complicated by an increase in the number of diagnosed patients without a specific source of infection, which leads to predicting the existence of people without identifying who are transmitting the virus in the community, family or workplace.

Faced with this epidemiological situation, the new code of life imposed by COVID-19 must be assumed with all rigor, because people who remain at home, such as newborns and children under five years old, pregnant women and older adults are getting sick, since those who go out from home, when they return, do not comply with the elementary standards of hygiene established in these times.

For these reason, it is essential that the general population understand the risks to which they are exposed when contracting SARS-CoV-2, due to its implication for their health, that of their loved ones, friends and neighbors.

The health system corresponds to the timely identification and isolation of all confirmed cases, contacts and suspects, to achieve a comprehensive and in-depth epidemiological survey through which possible contacts are identified, to increase the active research in the community and work centers and ensure that the measures established for this stage are complied with, among other actions that lead to controlling the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.