Preventive medicine specialists position themselves against the olgico serological passport ‘| Society – The Union Journal

The Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene (Sempsph) has positioned itself this Friday against any form of ser serological passport that identifies who has passed the coronavirus infection. This can be known through a test that reveals whether the person has the antibodies that protect him against the pathogen because he has already been in contact with it.

There are several public and legal health criteria, but one of the most important is that this type of passport encourages people to become infected, summarize Sempsph sources.

The document calls on administrations not to propose measures that suppose a stratified limitation of freedoms and fundamental rights for health reasons; attending to the constitutional principles of non-discrimination, to the principles of equality, relevance and proportionality .

In a document published on its website, the society that groups Spanish preventivists recalls the confidential nature of any clinical information and that the legislation protects workers from companies when it comes to being required on whether they have past the disease.

Only in the case of healthcare employees, nursing homes and similar equipment should their serological status be taken into account and always for the purposes of better care.

The community of Castilla y Len, as well as some researchers, have advocated in recent days for the creation of this type of certificate, a safe-conduct that would allow its holders to return to normal life before the rest of the population.

The Ministry of Health, however, has been opposed to this type of initiative that is now beginning to be considered in light of the relaxation of the isolation measures that will follow the decrease in cases and deaths registered after a month of confinement.

At the moment, it is not known how long people who have recovered from infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, are immune to the virus. In the first SARS, which disappeared after causing nearly 800 deaths two decades ago, it would approach 10 years. MERS, another coronavirus that mainly strikes the Middle East, this period is shorter, about two years.

The Sempsph considers that the decreasing trend of new cases in Spain advises the planning of progressive de-escalation of some of the isolation measures adopted by the Government. The document avoids establishing stages and deadlines and opts for an adaptive response that allows accelerating or regressing back to normal according to the evolution of the disease and a hypothetical upswing in cases.

Regarding the use of masks by the population, the document recommends them when considering that the available evidence with SARS supports their use: The use of any type of mask reduced the transmission of infection [del SARS] in the general population. Also, the evidence seems to indicate that a use by the general population, instead of only symptomatic people, can reduce community transmission of the infection.

Among other measures in the field of care, the 54 pages of the document call on the authorities to adopt a series of measures before beginning the de-escalation of isolation, including having the capacity, including staffing, to double the number of patients treated in the ICU if necessary .

It also calls on the Government to have the ability to evaluate large numbers of symptomatic patients safely in facilities such as outdoor tents or vehicles. Likewise, to have sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for all health workers and socio-sanitary centers and a sufficient number of surgical masks to provide all patients, in both cases even if they were duplicated the cases.

In terms of public health, preventivists consider that administrations must have the means to recover and generalize the progressive tracking of contacts of those infected and have facilities such as medicalized hotels for those infected who are not hospitalized who cannot comply with insulation measures in the home .

Society also requires administrations to organize in order to carry out rapid tests on possible cases and symptomatic contacts in the first 24 hours after the patient detects the onset of symptoms.

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