Argentina reached this Monday (20/10) the million positive cases of Covid-19. The figures place our country in the top ten of countries with the highest number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic. But unlike the rest of the nations, only in Argentina there were 7 months of quarantine. The numbers question the committee of infectious scientists that advises the national government. On social networks, the favourite terrain for the Rift, comments and criticism focused on the figure of Pedro Cahn for his clarification that scientists only advise and do not make health decisions.
On Monday (19/10), the National Ministry of Health reported 12,982 new cases of coronavirus, bringing Argentina's total to 1,002,662.
The crossing of the psychological barrier of a million cases occurs when this Tuesday (20/10) is seven months since President Alberto Fernandez ordered the social isolation, preventive and compulsory.
In this context, the newspaper La Nación consulted the members of the committee of experts that advises the national government. Among these opinions, the social networks pointed to the infectious disease expert Pedro Cahn for his clarifications that he was not part of the government's health decisions.
"We are not part of the government, we do not govern, we do not decide, we only give opinions, suggestions that are sometimes taken and other times not," the expert explained to the morning paper.
"We are not part of the government, we do not govern, we do not decide, we only give opinions, suggestions that are sometimes taken and other times not. We work ad honorem; in order to resign, as some are asking, we must first be hired. We make available articles, scientific news and when we meet with the health authorities we exchange opinions. It is the government that makes the decisions, not us," added Cahn, scientific director of the Huésped Foundation.
He added: "I do not recall us giving the Government a suggestion that is wrong. We have been quite prudent in general, recommending some actions that were not always carried out".
For him, if the confinement had not begun in March "today there would be four or five times as many deaths because the beds had not been reached" as the first months of isolation strengthened the health system throughout the country.
However, he said: "The quarantine was frayed by fatigue or by messages from some people who were not in quarantine. There was also a lack of a more vigorous contact tracing policy because quarantine alone does not solve the problem, contacts would have to be isolated and tested to stay ahead of the virus. It's not a question of indiscriminate testing with mass testing, but rather finding asymptomatic patients in certain clusters," said the HIV/AIDS specialist.
In social networks Pedro Cahn became a trend due to the criticism of many users of his statements. They mainly questioned him for disassociating himself from the policies of the national government and blaming those who questioned the quarantine.