COVID-19 Situation in Argentina
Ami Watanabe
Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry.
Juan Agustín Maza University.
Mendoza, Argentina.
Argentina has had one of the longest quarantine period in the world. The fact that the quarantine was implement early in the face of the first cases of death for COVID-19 was a good decision to prevent the massive increase of new cases and to avoid the collapse of health system, such an extensive and strict mandatory isolation (from March 20, 2020 to November 9, 2020), has caused COVID-19 to become not only a health problem, but also a social and economic one. Increasing poverty, depression and anxiety are some of the consequences of the quarantine. Despite the main objective was to prevent the huge increase in the new cases and deaths, unfortunately they could not be prevented.
Today, August 27, 2021, Argentina has 5807 new cases, 153 new deaths, adding to a total of 5167733 confirmed cases and 111270 total deaths.
After the end of the quarantine, little by little, work activities have been returned with preventive measures such as the use of masks and minimum entry of people in closed places. Initially, sports and cultural activities were suspended, but in other cases, virtual classes were implemented as in the case of choir classes. Later, outdoor classes began to be implemented as in the case of sport activities. Currently, these activities can be done in closed places with protocols and social distance. The social meetings are also allowed, with a minimum of people where the meeting place is in houses or apartments and in case of being in public spaces or outdoors, there is no restriction in the number of people.
Outdoor activities in San Martin General Park, Mendoza, Argentina.
Regarding education, in many schools or universities continues the distance education but the face to face classes gradually returned, first in groups with a minimum number of students, separation of desks, in ventilated classrooms and vaccinated teachers.
The severe cases and complications of COVID-19 have decreased due to vaccination. Several types of vaccines are currently being administered to the population for free: Sputnik V, Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Moderna. We have a total of 27703975 (61% of the total population) people vaccinated with 1 dose and about 13704714 (30% of the total population) of people vaccinated with 2 doses. Currently, anyone over 18 years old and over 12 years old with risk factors (diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular, respiratory or chronic kidney disease, among others) can be vaccinated.
The most prevalent SARS-CoV-2 variant in Argentina we can mention are: the Gamma variant (P.1, Manaus), the Lambda variant (C.37, Peru) and the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7, United Kingdom). The Delta variant (B.1.617.2, India) has recently entered our country, but it is not the predominant variant yet.
In Argentina, COVID-19 diagnosis methods are RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests. In the case of people who have been vaccinated or have had COVID-19 and want to know their level of generated antibodies, we have SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgG test or SARS-CoV-2 spike protein IgG antibody test.
My laboratory partner preparing material for rapid antigen test.
Finally, despite the exposure and accentuation of the socioeconomic and health problems that we already had in our country, as well as the demotivation and uncertainty of the population due to the quarantine and the pandemic, thanks to the efforts of each citizen, today we are living a new reality, changing habits, adapting and in other cases reinventing our lifestyle and being much more aware not only of preventive measures, but also of the impact that a pandemic of such magnitude can produce. I hope this experience helps us to face future pandemics with greater determination and focusing on the best for all sectors of the population, not only treating the pandemic as a health problem, but also as a social and economic problem.