Cristian Carlos. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19 - first recorded, according to scientific research, in a market in the central region of Wuhan, China - has raised the number of deaths worldwide due to this easily transmissible disease, which, in just one week, has exceeded the number of deaths by 4 million and more than 185 cases of contagion.
The World Health Organization (WHO) established the beginning of the pandemic for COVID-19 on March 11, 2020. Since 485 days ago, governments in different parts of the world established new health safety measures that, to date, have changed people's habits, including frequent hand washing, physical distancing between people in public places and the mandatory use of masks at all times.
However, the adoption of the use of the mouthpiece was surrounded by controversy and the denial of its use in a small sector of the population, which caused, during the peak of the pandemic, the annoyance of those who imposed the health regulations.
Therefore, Ethnic Media Services held a briefing session to discuss the views of the people months into the vaccination of the population and the continued use of masks.
So far, only 158 million 287,566 people have completed their vaccination schedule in the U.S., representing 48 percent of the population.
Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and senior member of the Federation of American Scientists who was also one of the first people to warn about COVID-19, indicated that the level of protection of an incomplete vaccination schedule is greatly reduced, he said, by as much as 18 percent. He warned that it is possible that, even with a complete vaccination schedule, it is possible to transmit and contract the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, so the vulnerable population remains vulnerable.
In addition, he said that the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is "wrong" to relax the use of face masks contrary, for example, to what the WHO has said.
He pointed out that protecting one's own health and that of others should always be the number one priority for social welfare following the new back-to-school recommendations for children, which he said poses an additional risk for parents. He recommended ventilating the study area, UV disinfection and HEPA air filters, in addition to the use of mouth covers for children.
"Science has clearly shown that this coronavirus is transmitted from person-to-person; the population should not be confident that herd immunity will soon exist." He noted that it is important to find the right strategies to encourage the vaccination-resistant population to get immunized.
Dr. Jose Perez, medical director of the South Central Family Health Center in Los Angeles, said that, as with the first strain of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and the delta variant, the population must protect itself in the same way. He noted that science has shown that the correct use of mouth covers is a measure that has helped to successfully prevent more cases of COVID-19 and, therefore, the number of associated deaths.
He indicated that, after the massive use of the cover mouthpiece by the population, some people suffered disorders due to the inability to identify the emotions transmitted by other people in the social context; that is, the lack in the observation of facial expressions can lead to mental problems; instead, it is preferable, he said, to save lives through the use of the cover mouthpiece.
Dr. Ben Neuman, chief virologist at the Global Health Research Complex at Texas A&M University, said it is frustrating, from the scientific community's point of view, to omit the recommendations issued by the CDC to relax the use of face masks, indicating that the government's position may have influenced the personal decision to adopt this measure.
He also indicated that "it is a matter of time" for the new coronavirus to find an even more aggressive mutation than the delta variant. "Protection starts with oneself," Neuman said, and urged the population to get vaccinated regardless of one's political stance.
