“Humanity suffered even greater epidemics”: Roshal - on the situation with coronavirus and preventive measures in Russia

- Tell me, are there any cases of coronavirus among children?

- Rarely. A feature of the immune system - this virus falls on children, thank God, a little.

- Many epidemiologists say that this particular coronavirus pandemic is not unique in its essence. Tell me, do you agree with this opinion and, if so, why?

- Firstly, mankind suffered even more terrible epidemics. And the plague, and cholera, and everything you want. And coronavirus also had three varieties before that. This is another new virus. And also everything will pass. But with what losses is another question.

- Why then there were no such fears, as now, but with this coronavirus they appeared?

“You know, I have the same question.”

Such an escalation of fear in society, I think, is not very relevant for Russia. Our work, which was carried out before that, paid off. Our morbidity is lower, and mortality is lower, even if we take into account hypodiagnostics. When figures flash before your eyes: 600, 700, 800, 900 died in Italy ...

- In a day...

- Yes, a day. And in Spain is already approaching this. You start scratching your head, thinking why it happened. And you find certain reasons. Let's take, for example, the north of Italy. The crowded population there is not the same as in Russia. And the character of Italians is this: we do not care about any sanitary and hygienic standards there - wash our hands, do not communicate. They continued to walk, continued to communicate. They frivolously approached.

- In the morning, get out to drink coffee ...

- Yes. It turned out that the medical service is not so ready for this epidemic. Not enough infectious diseases hospitals, doctors, specialists, and generally medical personnel. And this all affected the results. There is such a term - social security, the security of the people. And the biological safety of the people. This biosafety system was very well developed in the Soviet Union. Very good, better than in other countries. This system was transferred by China ...

- Tell us in more detail what kind of biosafety system it is. What is she like?

- This is an early diagnosis system, preventive measures, epidemiological measures - a solution to the problem step by step. And there is a structure that is specifically involved in this business. Therefore, China quickly dealt with this infection as a whole. And Russia has taken certain cordon measures. And we had time to prepare our health system for assistance. There (in Italy. - RT ) this system was not prepared. And the same thing in Spain. Now, too, big numbers, somewhere today I heard 600, 400 ...

Yes. This is largely due not to the fact that there is a more evil virus, some kind of mutation, maybe, but to the fact that the whole system did not work. In my opinion, this is such an exam of humanity. How prepared is humanity for such pandemics? How organized. Prepared or not. If you look at what is being done around the ball, we are not very ready.

- What grade would you give to your overall efforts? If you were an examiner.

- If I were an examiner, today what would happen in Italy, in Spain, in other countries, I would put a three-point mark with a minus somewhere. I would put Germany a little higher. There, the number of cases is rather big, but the mortality rate is low - 0.5%. That is, the system is working. And now I understand the French, who have now begun to transfer seriously ill patients to Germany in order to be treated, because there are already not enough local forces in France, in these regions, which are closer to Germany. This is normal cooperation.

- Speaking specifically about Russia, what would you rate the measures that were proposed just the other day - for example, to make the next week inactive. Many already call this quarantine in Russian ...

- I want to evaluate very positively. And not because I'm a patriot. When something is bad with us, I openly talk about it.

But now, in general, Russia has worked well, judging by both morbidity and mortality. And I support those preventive measures that the government has now proposed - this is a bit of a turn into the social sphere.

Can you imagine what would happen in society if we quarantined factories, factories, life would stop, transport would stop all around? This collapse, which is worse than the virus, is definitely perfect. Therefore, the measures that the government is taking, I think are right. We do not yet have such a pandemic that exists in other countries. And we have some time to prepare the country well. Look, we haven’t even turned on the army yet. While we are working in this way, although we still have enough opportunities.

• Leonid Roshal - on the preventive measures of Russia against the coronavirus

If under these conditions we send 15 aircraft with equipment to Italy and are not afraid to strip our rear ... We are not the last to send. So, we also have opportunities and strengths. And the recent words of the Minister of Defense that the army will also be connected, to deploy medical centers and so on, show: we have a margin of safety.

- From the very beginning of the spread of this virus in Russia, there is a lot of speculation that in fact there are allegedly more cases. What would you recommend - how to relate to this people and how to avoid any panic mood? Especially against the background of the fact that, as you say, the measures that both the Moscow and federal authorities are taking are better than anyone else.

- Well, something in Russia should be better.

And not only this. Does it depend on diagnostic tests? Yes, it does. Now, the US president said: “Why are there more infections in America? Because we conduct more tests. ” Will the number of sick people increase if we all do tests for everyone? Yes, maybe it will increase. But, in addition to tests, there is also a clinical picture.

Yet now the entire medical community, which also needs to be thanked, is fully prepared. And at first, doctors went to the diagnosis sometimes without enough uniforms, gowns, masks, endangering their lives. Indeed, now in the same Italy, up to 30% of doctors are infected with the virus. This also worsens the situation. And we had problems in this regard too. Now a little better. Just recently, only here in Moscow nine new laboratories opened. They open up all over Russia. In general, the situation in Russia is not so tragic. If the media are you, the channels will not escalate outrage.

- Now the third wave of Russians is returning, who are returning from abroad. What do you think, when does Russia expect a peak in the incidence of coronavirus?

- I think we were brought up during this time. In the experience of the same Italy, Spain and so on. Will this bring the Russians back to a significant, catastrophic increase in the spread of coronavirus. I think not. First, now we’ll be more seriously quarantining them for two weeks. And there will be a more serious examination. And I do not see the prerequisites for the fact that this can cause a catastrophic increase in the incidence of diseases or a reason for not returning citizens.

- No, no one talks about the reason not to return. Just in terms of chronology. When will the epidemic in Russia decline?

“I'm not a fortuneteller.”

- Can you guess from personal experience?

“I repeat once again that I am not a fortuneteller.” With a good option, two to three months - and should decrease. I speak from the experience of other pandemics, even more serious than this coronavirus. And I do not think that those who come can significantly affect the statistics. Then, almost 80% of cases are mild forms of the disease. A person is ill, he has immunity. This is good - more will have immunity to this virus.

- Do you think it is right that those who carry this virus in a milder form are treated at home?

- If a person is smart and complies with the epidemiological regime, that’s right. If he doesn’t run further in the company, to his friends, if he will wash his hands, he will behave quite correctly in the toilet: with a toilet paper, press the tank button, open the tap, doors - if he tries not to contact those with a runny nose, cough , there are respiratory infections, then I think all this will be normal. But for us the biggest question now is the psychological one. Because you need to sit at home in quarantine. But it’s very difficult to sit at home, in this enclosed space, with your family. And here psychologists have to give their recommendations what to do. What a person should do every day at home. It's crazy you can go. We must immediately give these recommendations to those who are in our home quarantine today. This does not threaten me, because I am a busy person. I have a computer, I have a connection with the whole world, I am always at work. I can sit in a car, sit here, sit at home, work as expected. If consultation with patients is necessary, then here. For myself, I see no problem. But understand. So as not to wash the people. From idleness.

- Do you think that the current pandemic will change the protocol for first aid for ARVI in principle?

- No.

- And what lessons will it teach?

The most important lesson is the need to rebuild health systems. Because, I’m talking about this everywhere, the recent optimization of health care - the reduction of the bed capacity and staff - this, as we now understand, was not entirely true. We must be prepared for serious disasters. We must be prepared for serious pandemics. We must be prepared for serious terrorist attacks. We must be ready for anything. And, first of all, the healthcare system must be ready.

First of all, the healthcare system. Because the first ones who go into battle are still doctors, these are medical nurses, and this is service personnel. Now they are defending Russia. And we have poured so much dirt on doctors lately. And now we understand that these are very dear people. In many countries, they applaud doctors. They applauded the doctors, I saw in Israel, they applaud the doctors in Italy, in Spain, in France. And we must applaud the doctors. There is such an organization - the All-Russian Popular Front. And they launched this site: "Thank you, doctor." And thousands of Russians responded to this: thanks, doctor.