A team of researchers from the University of Montreal thinks they have found the recipe to end the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec. She discovered it by analyzing the mathematical models of 32 studies examining the coronavirus crisis. “If we managed to do, in less than three days, a good process of testing, contact tracing and support for people who self-quarantine, we could stop the pandemic,” said public health doctor Carl- Étienne Juneau, who is one of the authors of this review.
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According to Carl-Étienne Juneau, the pandemic containment process is divided into four stages. When a person becomes ill, they must first take the initiative to get tested. Then, the test must be accessible and the results come out quickly. Then, when the result is positive, the next step is to find all of that person’s contacts. Studies suggest that if we can reach 80% of people’s contacts, still within three days, and there is no further transmission of the disease in those people who quarantine, we can control the epidemic
, emphasizes Carl-Étienne Juneau.
The fourth and final step is to quarantine all infected people and support them during this time.
Carl-Étienne Juneau specifies that the longer the delays between each of these stages, the less likely we are to control the pandemic.
According to him, to make this process more efficient and thus hope to put an end to the crisis, a person must be mandated to supervise it, with a budget dedicated to this end. To my knowledge, there is no one in Quebec who is responsible for the efficiency of the process from start to finish.
, deplores the doctor of public health.
He adds that we are at an ideal time to reform this process as we are in a pandemic lull. The fewer cases, the easier it is to control
, he recalls.
Carl-Étienne Juneau mentions that during the A (H1N1) flu crisis, researchers estimated that it was 4,000 times cheaper to focus on contact tracing than to close schools. Yes, we’ll have to spend to do it, but it’s still cheaper than closing everything
, he said.
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