Global coronavirus pandemic, now what?

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When there is community transmission , the one that the WHO has already assessed as sufficient to use the term pandemic, the objective, according to this international organization, should be to slow down the transmission of infections, reduce their numbers and stop them. Thus, we are considered to be in phase 6 : there is person-to-person spread in at least one country outside of the two in the initial infected WHO region . Currently, there are two main regions, Asia (South Korea, Iran, and China) and Europe (Italy, France, and Spain) .

What steps does the WHO recommend?

1. To this end, appeal is made to the implementation of the maximum emergency response mechanisms (isolating foci - cities or localities - closing educational centers, limiting the mobility of the population and prohibiting social and leisure events).

In this sense, before countries like China , first and example for the rest, South Korea and Italy later, they have already taken exceptional measures such as the closure of borders, restrictions on movements of the population, and intervention of the state security forces to compliance with all these measures.

2. Raise awareness of the problem and warn of the risks of non-compliance with the measures. In some cases, legal measures can be used to enforce quarantine and isolation periods.

3. To the extent possible, continue tracing the transmissibility of cases in areas where it is still possible , to prevent local contagions from being massive. Isolating the infected and promoting self-quarantines in people are mild symptoms.

4. Adapt the health system to the surveillance and monitoring of the disease. In addition, the preparation to assume a greater volume of attention, so contingency plans and alternative resources must be prepared.

5. Insist on hand hygiene , maintain social and personal distances

6. Test according to the capacity of the system, if there is saturation only in the most serious cases and vulnerable people.

What is the history of a contemporary pandemic?

The closest reference to a pandemic was in 2009 with influenza A. In this sense, "we must remember the purpose of " pandemic preparedness " , which was based fundamentally on the assumption that pandemic disease, in this case Covid-19 it requires a different policy response to the rest of current pathologies , "as Peter Doshi points out, in an article that reviews the exceptional situation caused by the H1N1 flu pandemic in the world.

The label of "pandemic" must necessarily carry a notion of severity , otherwise the original policy justification for having "pandemic plans" other than ongoing public health programs be questioned. "To the extent that these plans allow us to effectively respond to the spread of serious infectious diseases, regardless of the pathogen they cause , planning for the" worst case "scenario is necessary. But such scenarios are rare and, when they do occur, few people will need to convince themselves that urgent action is needed, "Doshi explains.

What about private insurance?

The general rule is that after the formal declaration by the WHO of a pandemic, private insurance does not cover Covid-19 disease . In Spain, for its part, and while the formal declaration of an epidemic arrives, from ASPE and UNESPA, whose employers of private health and private health insurances direct Carlos Rus and Pilar González de Frutos, it was agreed this morning that despite the global pandemic situation and, in case of declaration of epidemic status in Spain (not yet formally declared), the insured will continue to be covered in the case of coronavirus without exception of any case . "In this way, we maintain our commitment to users of private healthcare in our country," emphasizes Rus.

Although articles 105 and 106 of the Insurance Contract Law regulate medical care and assume the provision of medical and surgical services of the insured (within the limits of the contracted policy), things change in certain situations. And that is precisely the case of the damages caused by epidemics and pandemics officially declared as the coronavirus. That is, the diseases derived from the coronavirus and the virus itself will be outside the coverage of the policy, but since Unespa and ASPE have declared an exceptionality with the Covid-19.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

• Covid 19
• Coronavirus
• Infectious diseases
• Science and Health
• Spain
• Health

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