COVID-19 in the third wave scenario

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Ms. Maria L. C. Meurer, a 4^th year medical student of UNINGÁ and a member of IFMSA Brazil. She is affiliated with the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writers and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

The COVID-19 pandemic is still part of the world scene, changes in the way of life, emotions such as anguish, fear and anxiety participated daily in the lives of a large portion of people. Because of this, some lessons were learned after more than a year of the pandemic, such as wearing a mask, hand hygiene and social distance. However, we must analyze country-by-country, since more underdeveloped countries / regions have shown difficulty in applying these health methods, because of administrative or political incapacity or even because of the population itself underestimating the virus and its repercussions. All of this corroborated for a greater contamination / death in these places.

Lockdowns at specific times, closing borders, mass testing and tracking contacts of infected people were crucial for Australia to present extremely low numbers of deaths. These measures have been shown to be effective when there is good management by the government in relation to facing the pandemic together with the collaboration of the population.

However, it became evident that vaccination is the only method for a more in-depth control of the pandemic to occur. Israel, for example, is a country that has one of the highest vaccination rates worldwide. This country has been achieving herd immunity and, slowly, the return of “normal” life with the immunization associated with proper health care. It was also possible to observe prophylactic or early treatment with drugs recommended only in cases of worsening of the disease. Unfortunately, it is still too early and complicated to say that the pandemic is over, however, it is possible to start to think that it is the beginning of the end and that with mass vaccination together with the necessary sanitary measures, we hope that the third wave will be the last. For now doctors and other health professionals are still in the battle, as William Osler (1849-1919) quoted: “To wrest from nature the secrets which have perplexed philosophers in all ages, to track to their sources the causes of disease, to correlate the vast stores of knowledge, that they may be quickly available for the prevention and cure of disease – these are our ambitions”.

Bibliography

• VIEIRA, L. Sem mortes por Covid-19, Austrália já realiza eventos com milhares de pessoas. O POVO. 27 mar. 2021. Available from: <https://www.opovo.com.br/noticias/mundo/2021/03/27/sem-mortes-por-covid–australia-ja-realiza-eventos-com-aglomeracao.html&gt;. Acess on: 24 abr. 2021.

•Stone, M.J. (2003), William Osler’s Legacy and his Contribution to Haematology. British Journal of Haematology, 123: 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2141.2003.04615.x

About the author

Maria L. C. Meurer is a 4^th year medical student of UNINGÁ and a member of IFMSA Brazil. She is interested in human rights and medicine and her hobbies include reading and participating in extension activities from her university. Natan Q. A. da Silva is a 5^th year medical student from Brazil; he is a participant in the Academic Leagues of Cardiology, Orthopedics, Human Reproduction and Traumatology.

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