Do more tests justify number of cases? No and Portugal tests less than dev. Experts Want Less Isolation – Observer
Spain speaks of a commitment to two fronts: freeing up employees of essential services, in pre-collapse because they have the assets of workers in isolation; and it follows the most recent scientific evidence, which says that with the Omicron variant, “Positives in the forms of mild or asymptomatic injection stop being contagious after the seventh day”, José Miguel Cisneros, head of the department of infectious diseases, Hospital Virgen del Rocío (Seville) told El Pais.
In the United Kingdom, in an interview with the BBC, the doctor Paul Hunter even defended that this is the time to start debating the end of isolation measures. “The question of how long we’ll be able to allow people to isolate themselves if it’s positive will have to be discussed soon, because I think this is a disease that won’t go away,” he argued. In South Africa, where the Omicron variant was detected, as health authorities waived testing for SARS-CoV-2 and complying with isolation as people who avoid contact with an infected, but not looted any symptoms – even if in the last few hours has witnessed a retreat.
In an interview with Rádio Observador, epidemiologist Henrique Barros considers the time of isolation imposed in Portugal in the face of a risky contact “It was always excessive under most circumstances” and “erratic in the way of being specialized”: “Very likely we always exaggerate the number of days”.
The Medical Association itself demanded “an agile adaptation” to the rules of isolation, with the period being reduced from 10 days to seven: a statement from the clinical group suggested “the reassessment of periods of isolation and sick leave or after high risk contact (eg seven days) with testing to ensure safety own and everyone, taking into account the presence of risk factors, vaccination status and the impact of absenteeism from work”.
And Manuel Carmo Gomes also argued that it is necessary to “reduce the number of days of isolation”: “People must know that they do not necessarily have to self-isolate in about five days, if possible they do the self-test to see if they are positive and fundamental: they should not go to the hospital”, he defended in statements to SIC Notícias.
At least the political power and health authorities seem to have heard the scientists’ appeal. The Deputy Secretary of State and Health, António Lacerda Sales, admitted this Wednesday that the reduction in the number of days of isolation is a measure that is being considered by the Government. “In view of this evolution [da pandemia] it is a possibility, for sure “and a” matter that is being studied “by the Directorate-General of Health, he said.
Lacerda Sales opens the door to reducing days of isolation: “It’s a possibility” and it would be “good news for everyone”
It was also Carmo Gomes who admitted that if the Ómicron variant actually turns out to be less severe than Delta in heavily vaccinated populations, the natural immunization of the population may be a hypothesis.: “I never advocated theories of group immunity due to natural infection, but we are in a completely different situation, with a population practically all vaccinated and a variant that, for now, does not seem to be very worrying in hospitalizations”. It would also alleviate the pressure that is localized in screening, admits the epidemiologist.