The US recorded, on Tuesday (28), the highest moving average of Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. The country has registered nearly 300,000 new infections a day and faces an increase in hospitalizations.
Based on this scenario, infectologist and epidemiologist Denise Garrett stated to CNN that Brazil must keep an eye on what is happening with the Americans and prepare the health system for a possible increase in hospitalizations because of the Ômicron variant.
“We started the epidemic after the US. So looking at them is an indication of what could happen around here,” said Garrett, who is vice president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and former US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the doctor, although Ômicron has a lower hospitalization rate compared to other variants, the greater transmissibility of the strain will lead to a greater number of cases and, consequently, hospitalizations.
“The country has to be getting ready, and this serves as a warning for Brazil. It has to be preparing the health system to receive these extra cases that we are seeing elsewhere,” he said.
“As we look at the US, we see an extremely overburdened healthcare system, an extremely high capacity shortage of hospital beds and an interruption of services. This is because the many people who are sick, even if they are not hospitalized, end up staying at home. Several flights were canceled because there are no professionals to perform the service”, added the doctor.
Garrett said the United States made some decisions, such as relaxing the use of masks, that contributed to the increase in cases. “There is still the aggravation of not having a very good vaccination coverage rate, which makes the situation worse with the Ômicron variant”.
Reference: CNN Brasil
