Last Monday, the German media Der Spiegel reported that a group of experts from that country in aerosol research sent a letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel, urging her to change her strategy to face the covid. As is known, Germany, once considered a benchmark in the matter, is devastated by a wave of infections that has brought the health system to critical levels.
In response, Merkel’s government has done what many others have tried unsuccessfully: toughen freedom restriction measures. In reaction to this, the scientists explained to the Chancellor that “if we want to control the pandemic, the first thing we must do is sensitize the population that the danger is inside”, that is, in closed spaces. They immediately added in frustration: “Unfortunately, to this day the essential findings of our research work have not been translated into practical action.”
This statement only confirms the fact that, as the pandemic has almost everywhere become a matter of politics and media hype, an essential part of the evidence has been ignored to deal with it.
According to the group of experts that writes to Merkel, among which is the president of the German Aerosol Research Association, closed spaces such as offices, living rooms, homes, among others, are the places of contagion. On the other hand, they categorically say, outdoor places such as terraces, parks, streets, etc., are not sources of infection. Preventing people from leaving their homes and attending these places, they claim, is purely “symbolic” and counterproductive.
The quarantines, they warn as if they were talking about Chile, “do not prevent secret meetings in closed places, but only increase the motivation to evade even more government orders,” leading people to gather indoors where they cannot see them spreading plus the virus. The same experts indicate that it is nonsense to use a mask in open spaces, since the probability of contagion is practically nil. “Wearing a mask in the pedestrian zone and then having a coffee table in your own living room without a mask is not what we, as experts, understand by infection prevention,” they stated.
What needs to be done, they argue, in addition to promoting outdoor life and minimizing life in enclosed spaces, where it does make sense to wear a mask, is to install filters and other mechanisms that clean the air in those spaces. The experts also pointed out that there were no major contagion events during the holiday periods, unlike the encounters between people in closed places such as buses, care homes or others.
Finally, they concluded that this policy change that emphasizes life outdoors and care in closed places will lead to greater success in facing the pandemic, and they closed their letter with a reflection that in our country has been found almost totally absent: measures are communicated appropriately, people will regain some of their freedom of movement during this difficult time. ”
Are we going to learn something from all this in Chile in the face of the evident failure of the quarantines?
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