Читать книгу A Psychological Perspective Of The Health Personnel In Times Of Pandemic - Juan Moisés De La Serna - Страница 11

The evolution of the pandemic

Despite the fact that the circumstances are recent and do not allow us to analyse the information with a certain perspective, a small sequence of dates and data regarding the current pandemic is presented below, emphasizing information on health personnel, first in a general way and then specifically in Spain.

Thus, it should be noted that the new coronavirus 2019 (n-CoV) as it was initially named, also known as “China virus” or “Wuhan virus” which is the name of the Chinese province where the contagion began, being its official name COVID-19 according to WHO statements on February 11, 2020.

Although the first declared case of COVID-19 was at the end of December in China, some investigations indicate that several cases had previously occurred which had not been reported to the O.M.S. Likewise, there has been criticism about the late declaration of a pandemic by this organization made on that same day, March 11, 2020, when there were already more than 1,000,000 infected in the world (@radio_angelica, 2020) (see Illustration 7).

Illustration 7 Tweet Declaration of Pandemic

A virus, unknown until that moment, that little by little was spreading, but of which importance it seemed only that the health personnel were aware, thus the population until they saw the measures that were being adopted by the different governments, was “calm” trusting in the bonanzas of its own health system.

Perhaps the most “drastic” and unpopular measure adopted little by little by most countries as people infected with the virus were detected among their citizens, has been that of confinement at home when required, where the person must to avoid going out into the street and to do so only in justified cases since, if not, he can be arrested and taken to prison, or receive a heavy penalty for it.

The practice of confinement began in China and to the amazement of the world, where a large part of the population of the Hubei province, where is Wuhan, the city where the outbreak occurred, was confined in their homes.

A confinement that affected millions of citizens overnight, something that until then would be thought to be impossible due to the number of people involved, a decision that was adopted on January 24, 2020 (@shildalys, 2020) ( see Illustration 8).

Illustration 8 Tweet about quarantine in China

Controversial decision regarding the limitation that it supposes with respect to individual rights of movement and even work, but that it is necessary to adopt in times of health crisis if the good of the community is considered, carried out with the purpose of stopping the spread of the disease among citizens.

Aspect not always understood by the population that is confined, hence the governments have invested millions in advertising campaigns through the media and social networks to “modify” the vision of this restrictive measure, as necessary in based on the circumstances that are being experienced at that time.

After the decision taken by China and based on the growing number of cases that were beginning to be detected, Italy carried out the same restrictive measures in terms of movement in some of the northern regions, a decision adopted on the March 7, 2020, then passing the measure to the entire country, and from there to prevent the effects of the consequences of COVID-19, each country has been adopting similar measures, deciding in each case the partial or total closure of activities non-essential, or literally closing the country to prevent “infected” foreigners from bringing the disease (@Renzo_Utili, 2020) (see Illustration 9).

Illustration 9 Tweet about the quarantine of Italy

In the specific case of Spain, the first contagion occurred on January 31, 2020, from a foreign citizen.

Situation that has required that the government have had to take measures as the number of infected and deceased has been increasing, so much so that Spain has become considered one of the main sources of contagion after China and Italy.

Being March 14 when the state of alarm was decreed and with it the confinement of the majority of the population in their homes, being exempt from this measure the essential personnel, including the bodies and security forces, those involved in the supply or the cleaning of the city, and of course, the health personnel.

They had to see how their family had to remain confined in the houses while they had to go to work daily where they did not know if they could be infected and thus expose their family to contagion. Several measures adopted, such as confinement, have served to slow down the evolution in terms of the number of new infections, which has made it possible in many localities to prevent the collapse of the health system (Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 2020) (see Illustration 10).

To exemplify this reality that is being experienced by health professionals in this fight against the consequences of COVID-19, below I transcribe an invaluable document from my point of view, since it has been the testimony of a professional who in mode of “War Report” in his own words has been collecting the day to day of how health professionals have had to deal with this pandemic.

Illustration 10 Evolution of the Curve in Spain

A text written by Mr. Juan Abarca Cidon, doctor in Medicine and Surgery from the San Pablo-CEU University, currently serving as President of HM Hospitals and its CEO, in addition to being the president of the IDIS by its initials in Spanish, (Foundation (Institute for Development and Integration of Health); and the vice president of the Spanish Association of Health Law; who has also been a member of the permanent commission of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Health for seven years.

Thus, day by day he has been publishing and sharing this experience through social networks to make known the reality of the struggle of health professionals from a unique perspective.

A document that I share with the author’s authorization and that reflects the evolution of the pandemic and its effects on both, patients and healthcare personnel.

The following publications have been extracted for their representativeness and are presented in an orderly way by dates as Dr. Juan Abarca Cidon has written them (Abarca Cidon, 2020g, 2020c, 2020j, 2020l, 2020k, 2020b, 2020m, 2020a, 2020i, 2020d, 2020h, 2020e, 2020f).