This morning, the Minister of Health, Enrique Paris, in an interview with Radio Duna spoke about the situation in the country with respect to the coronavirus and the passage that the communes of Central Station and Santiago have experienced, which yesterday began their first day in Transition phase and showed a clear increase in crowds and circulation in the streets.
A specific case was the large number of people that gathered on the outskirts of the Chinese Mall.
In this regard, the minister indicated that the collaboration not only of the tenants, but also of the citizens, is required to prevent these situations from occurring.
“Very early this morning, the mayor (Felipe) Alessandri wrote to me, he was very worried, the truth is that we insist a lot, and they too, on physical distancing, on the use of a mask,” he said. “I saw there photos of people who were practically glued to each other.”
At this point, the head of the Health portfolio expressed that measures should be taken or they would have to close this type of business.
“I believe that merchants, and those who open such businesses, should also cooperate. There should have been these circles on the sidewalks that are easy to make or paint to keep the distance, “he said. “It is a lesson that we have to draw, we are going to have to become more strict and perhaps not open yet the commercial centers of this type, massive, the malls or the small malls ”.
Fortunately, said Paris, in the images it could be seen that everyone was wearing masks, and that in part prevents the viral spread, however “they were all very attached, and that is very serious.”
Regarding the figures, The Health Minister stressed that the variation in new cases in the last 7 days is -8%.
“The region that worries us most is Atacama, because it has done much more testing than before, and there we have two problems: we have Copiapó with many problems, and then Tierra Amarilla, Caldera, and other smaller places with many problems appeared,” he said. .
These places, he indicated, are cities that have small numbers of inhabitants, and when you have 2, 3 or 10 new cases, “obviously the percentage increase is gigantic.”
As indicated, they are also concerned about the situation in Santiago with what happened yesterday in the Chinese Mall and what that may mean in the future.
“In other countries, 4 or 5 weeks after making a change is when a regrowth occurs,” he said.
“Today the Metropolitan Region only has 339 new cases, that is, it is a considerable drop, and the CRP at the MRI level is 4.7. At the national level it is 6.2, because we had outbreaks in Magallanes and Aysén ”, he indicated.
In some municipalities of the RM, he pointed out, there was an increase in cases, “But they are increases in quite small numbers”, while in other communes like Ñuñoa and Colina, there was a loss.
Along the same lines, on the possibility that some communes go to the third phase of the Step by Step Plan, or that more communes go to Transition, the minister indicated that he believed it was “very soon (…) especially because of what we saw yesterday.”
“We do not want to take that step until we have an evaluation of the communes that have passed to this stage ”, he said, recalling that just yesterday Estación Central and Santiago went to phase two. “You have to wait at least a week to have a more objective report.”
Regarding traceability, the minister indicated that 31% of cases are due to active search, and they must continue working on this to reduce the R – that is, the number of individuals that a person with coronavirus can infect -.
“There is a criticism that must be accepted – and yesterday I met with the mayors – it is traceability: TWe have to strongly increase our traceability strength so that these people go to the health residence or stay at home doing the quarantine, “he said.
If there is an increase in infections, he reiterated, it will not be seen for another couple of weeks.
“That is what I fear, that it will happen in 3 or 4 more weeksIf we are not singing victory, I am very worried, because what we saw yesterday in Santiago and God forbid that happens today in Providencia, in Central Station, we are going to have an impact in four more weeks, if people do not understand that, no I know why he is not capable of understanding, maybe we have given bad signals, I don’t know, “he said.
Regarding the plebiscite and the sanitary protocols for its implementation, Paris indicated that he has met with Patricio Santarmaría and his team for Zoom and hasn “a protocol has been agreed upon, in some things they agree, in others they do not.”
“At the moment the plebiscite can be held, it is a right to go to vote. The question is how we do it with patients who are positive ”.
At this moment, the number of positive patients is around 16 thousand throughout Chile, he indicates, and that is something very difficult to decide.
“We had proposed that they vote at deferred tables within the same premises,” he said.
Regarding the protocol, for the moment all the isolation measures, alcohol gel, face masks should be considered, that the polling places are without plastic or gender doors because the virus can remain there longer, mark the places where people they have to stand up to vote, have a special place for the elderly, among other things.
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