PAHO: No single recipe for reopening post-covid19

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has warned governments to weigh the pros and cons with a critical eye before lifting covid19 lockdown restrictions.

In a webinar on Tuesday PAHO director Dr Carissa Etienne said there isn’t a recipe or “one size that fits all” for countries in the region which wished to lift the restrictions.

She said each individual country needed to consider the consequences it was willing to endure when such measures are taken.

Etienne said, “The overarching principle in any decision in this circumstance is to find a balance between saving lives and protecting the economy.

“There needs to be a way to slow transmission to prevent overwhelming of health services and minimising the risk of critical socio-economic damage.

“Each member state, in consultation with their population, will have to decide what is the acceptable balance between the extent of loss of life as compared to economic impact.”

She said social distancing and other safety practices should be enforced and should remain the overall objective of each state.

Governments must be willing to re-establish measures if transmission rates increase, she said.

“We must be prepared to re-establish social distancing measures and adjustments in community social distancing measures. Data for testing, contacting tracing, isolation, quarantine and operations of the health system are also critical,” she said.

Director of Health Emergencies at PAHO Dr Ciro Ugarte added that the reopening of borders should also be carefully considered. as detection rates of the virus at entry points have been low.

He said, “Countries should resume cruise-ship entry with caution because cruise ships have been linked with an increased number of cases and transmission.

“There are issues with screening. It is important to highlight that screening, diagnostic and detection are done at health services and out of all the people with covid19, very few were detected atthe points of entry.

“The screening and testing are very difficult to implement at the entry or departure points, but it is still recommended, particularly looking for symptomatic people.”

He advised countries to engage with the cruise ship industry to ensure the proper precautionary health measures are enforced.