“Covid-19 no longer a pandemic in Mexico, but remains an endemic disease”

Tijuana.- In Mexico, and worldwide, this week the health emergency caused by the Covid-19 virus, which lasted just over three years, has come to an end.

The federal government announced on May 8 that only 20 new cases were registered, characteristics to be able to decree its termination.

The director of the Tijuana General Hospital (HGT), Clemente Zúñiga Gil, said that this means that the disease is no longer a pandemic, however, the virus will remain an endemic disease.

“This does not mean that it will disappear, but rather that we will continue to have cases from time to time, generally predominantly in the winter seasons. It means that the number of cases has decreased and although there are still a number of deaths, they are much less and that it can be controlled by the health system, ”he explained.

He added that the vast majority of Mexicans have immunity against the disease, either because of contagion or the anti-Covid-19 vaccine, but the virus remains in our environment.

“It also influences that the new variants are not as lethal as the variants that struck us in the first instance,” said Clemente Zúñiga.

He said that the virus will continue to rise, although with fewer cases as at the beginning of the pandemic, particularly in the winter season.

In the last two weeks, 388 active cases and three deaths from Covid-19 were registered in Baja California, according to the May 8 report issued by the state Health Secretariat.

In total, 178,827 cases and 12,388 deaths have been confirmed, in the two years and two months since the arrival of Covid-19 in Baja California.

Until now, what is known about the Covid-19 virus?

It mainly affects the respiratory factor and can later affect other tissues. It is a virus whose new variants have been less aggressive, so to speak, than the original variant. The fact that we have gotten sick and vaccinated has the consequence that we have developed immunity as a population and that the ability of the virus to devastate the population as it did at the beginning, since they no longer exist.

What are the recommendations in case a person has symptoms or tests positive?

The most important thing is to go to the doctor, there are people at high risk that we have to continue treating in a timely manner to prevent them from developing a severe disease, being detected early, since they are older adults who already have a chronic disease, or also pregnant women.

It is important to emphasize that sanitary measures continue to be important, especially in times when we have more cases, using face masks in certain places such as hospitals, clinics, offices, keeping a certain distance, hand washing is essential. All the measures that we learned in the pandemic must be maintained, although not to the degree that we had to use them three years ago.

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What changes did the pandemic bring?

It changed our lives, no one had imagined that we would go through something like this, the fact that we had to have restrictions in 2020. It has taught us a lot in the field of health, to work as a team and respond to an epidemic of magnitude we face. It has taught us that the Mexican health system, although it has its flaws, is also capable of converting itself to a system that the population requires, depending on the diseases.

In the winter, is it the season that we can be more susceptible?

This type of virus whose main route of entry is the respiratory tract, possibly between September and October we will know more or less the impact that we are going to have in the winter, which is not just Covid, there is also the Respiratory System Virus, Influenza, of which we have to be very aware.

Will the vaccine be necessary in the future?

For people over 65 years of age who have both vaccines and a booster is enough for now, it will depend on the epidemiology of the virus in the following months, we will see if a booster will be necessary or not.

The director of the Tijuana General Hospital (HGT), Clemente Zúñiga Gil, said that there is always the possibility of a massive return of Covid-19 infections, but ruled out that it would be with the same dimensions as in 2020 and 2021.

“It is very unlikely that we will again have a situation where we have to protect ourselves as we did, being completely vulnerable due to covid 19, it is very unlikely,” he said.