The clinical discharge to the last patient of the 17 positives for the COVID-19 in this province shows the tendency to control the disease, which today threatens to become endemic in the national territory.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Delia Pérez Concepción, 87 years-old and resident in the municipality of Manatí, was detected as positive for the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus during the national study in an apparently healthy population. Now, she enjoys the warmth of home and expresses gratitude to those who cared for her.
Onel Alonso Pérez, son of the patient, told La Voz del Faro radio station that, since her admission, the family maintained daily communication with the professionals of the Fermín Valdés Domínguez hospital. He said that after the result of his mother, her contacts were isolated in the Frank País special school and later in their homes.
In accordance with medical protocols, Delia will remain isolated for 14 days at home, under the strict supervision of the Primary Health Care staff.
With this good news, all the confirmed cases in Las Tunas were discharged from the clinic, and 13 of them had already received an epidemiological discharge, after completing the isolation in the homes. Recall that, unfortunately, one of the reported died.
The apparent calm should not be a reason to neglect hygiene measures or social distancing. Specialists warn that, at this stage, new events could arise, as occurs in several nations where deconfinement plans were accelerated.
In this regard, Dr. Pedro Más Bermejo, vice-president of the Cuban Society of Hygiene and Epidemiology, told Cubadebate that "relaxation measures must be well thought out and with indicators that allow evaluating what is done by territory." The country has conceived recovery stages in which services and activities will be opened under the strict organization of the processes.
Experts predict that COVID-19 could become endemic. This term is understood as the habitual presence of a disease in a certain population. “Due to the behavior of the last days, we can speak of a tendency to control the disease. (…) This control means that the Health System can support what comes in the future, which is endemic,” Más Bermejo affirmed.
Cuba must learn to live with the virus. Now, even more than before, hygiene measures and social distancing must be extreme and we must remain attentive to government regulations.
