At least 16 Brazilian capitals decided not to have a New Year’s Eve party this year due to the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic. The executive coordinator of the Covid-19 Contingency Center in São Paulo, João Gabbardo, told the CNN that not promoting the end-of-the-year party “is a security measure that would greatly reduce our risks”.
Despite the coordinator’s position, São Paulo is among the capitals that informed the CNN that the New Year’s Eve party will be held this year.
In an interview with CNN New Day, Gabbardo highlighted that we are in a “unique moment” of the pandemic in relation to the authorities’ guidance.
“For the first time we have an ‘alignment of the stars’. The Ministry of Health issued a note, somewhat unprecedented, recommending the use of masks, social distancing and vaccination. The president himself is, in an unprecedented way, suggesting that Carnival should not be held. And state and municipal public administrators, for the most part, have expressed themselves for not promoting or canceling these events”, commented the coordinator.
Due to this “almost unique and uniform orientation”, João Gabbardo believes that the “great majority of managers” will not promote these festivities that may cause agglomeration. “Anyone who wants to make this type of party, must analyze very carefully whether it is worth facing the risk at this time of the pandemic,” he argued.
Regarding the fear caused by the detection of two cases of the Ômicron variant of the coronavirus in São Paulo, the coordinator of the Contingency Center recalled that the Delta variant had no major impact in Brazil. “We expect this to happen again [com a Ômicron]”, he said.
Due to the risk of high transmissibility associated with the new strain, Gabbardo said that the Scientific Committee of São Paulo had its first meeting yesterday, and is studying the available data to possibly reassess the decision of the state government to make the use of masks more flexible from 11 February December. “We will only take this measure [de reavaliar flexibilização] in case there is actually a need”, he declared.
“In relation to the risk of vaccines not being effective against this variant, this risk always happens when a variant with high dissemination appears, as was Delta, Gama. This is a risk that we still have to study better, and monitor to see what level of protection the vaccines will provide”, added Gabbardo.
He highlighted that the main measure that should be adopted at the moment is the requirement of a health passport for foreigners arriving in the country, so that they have to prove their vaccination against Covid-19. In addition, Gabbardo also highlights the need to carry out testing at Brazilian airports or before boarding, to prevent asymptomatic individuals from spreading the virus.
“It’s very difficult to do this. The number of people, the number of airports with international flights is very large. It is not easy to take this measure, but it would be appropriate”, he stated.
Remember how the “Virada da Vacina” was in São Paulo:
Reference: CNN Brasil
