Vaccinations or not, Chile still can’t get a grip on the pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In Chile, despite record vaccination, neither infections nor admissions to intensive care units are decreasing.

Vaccination preachers desperately try to conjure up reasons for something that cannot happen, according to the common reading. Chile is drowning in new cases and deaths, although far more than 50% of the target population has received two doses and more than 70% at least one dose.

The Chilean Medical Association (Colmed) asked on Monday to tighten quarantines and suspend the pass that grants liberties to those vaccinated when the capital is once again confined. Hospitals have collapsed.

The association submitted to the Government a series of proposals that include modifying the phased deconfinement plan implemented since the beginning of the pandemic and the so-called “dynamic quarantines”, with movement restrictions imposed and lifted in each commune (neighborhood) according to new contagions.

“We need to make a change. We are going through the most critical moment as a country since the beginning of the pandemic, the health care network is saturated, and we have an average of more than 100 deaths per day”, warned the president of Colmed, Izkia Siches.

For Siches, “the dynamic quarantines have lost part of their effectiveness, and the decisions of differentiated openings within connected territorial spaces have not helped to contain transmission”.

With an average of 7,000 cases per day in the last few days, the 7 million inhabitants of the capital start the week confined, with schools, non-essential businesses, and restaurants closed until further notice.

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It is the third time since the beginning of the pandemic – which has already caused 1.46 million cases and 30,707 total deaths – that the 52 communes of the capital enter quarantine simultaneously, after the confinements of last April the eight weeks of 2020.

However, this is more lax confinement than the previous ones, since there are hardly any inspections. Those who have the controversial vaccination card can go out for sports and essential shopping without restrictions.

The worsening of the second wave, which began in March after the end of the summer vacations, occurs parallel to a successful vaccination process, one of the most advanced in the world and thanks to which almost 60% of the target population has already received two doses.

“EPIDEMIC SHORT-CIRCUIT”

The plan presented by Colmed includes five stages, the hardest being the so-called “epidemic short-circuit”, with a maximum duration of three weeks and applicable only to those regions with an incidence of cases per 100,000 inhabitants greater than 10.

In this first phase, the mobility pass is suspended. The closure of all economic activity is not binding on the production and retail commercialization of essential goods indispensable for households, the health sector, and basic services such as water, electricity, gas, and telecommunications is decreed.

One of the main criticisms of the Government is that during quarantines, there are too many activities considered “essential”, so that mobility hardly decreases.

The proposal of the medical association also contemplates a more gradual deconfinement than the current one, with emphasis on outdoor recreational and commercial activities and the opening of schools as soon as possible.

“Many countries have had outbreaks and resurgences. The particularity of the Chilean case is that since the pandemic began, we have not been able to say that the number of infections has been under control”, said Juan Carlos Said, an internist and Master in Public Health from Imperial College London.