Chile returns to the mandatory use of masks in schools due to a sudden viral outbreak

A sudden outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Chile, which to date has claimed the lives of seven infants, has unleashed a hospital management crisis due to the lack of pediatric critical beds, whose occupancy is at 92%, and led to the Government of the leftist Gabriel Boric to replace the use of masks in schools.

According to the Institute of Public Health, so far in 2023 there have been 18,728 positive cases of respiratory viruses, the highest number since it is known that it began to escalate rapidly in early June, when the Minister of Health, Ximena Aguileradescribed the magnitude of the health situation as “one of the largest outbreaks seen in previous years”.

The alerts were lit with a death that mourned the port of Saint Anthonyon the central coast of the country, 120 kilometers from Santiago: a two-month-old baby diagnosed with RSV died on June 6 after not finding a bed to be hospitalized.

Then it was reported that the only space available was in the city of Aricain the extreme north of the country, more than 2,000 kilometers away, but it was later learned that a private establishment, part of the integrated system of critical beds of the care network, had free beds in Santiago.

To date, it is still being investigated whether the authorities followed the transfer protocols, although the fact already meant the resignation of the former Undersecretary of Assistance Networks, Fernando Araos.

“Responsibilities have to be asserted”, affirmed the president, Gabriel Boric, who appointed Osvaldo Salgado, former undersecretary during the government of former Social Democratic President Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006).

“At times like these, the most important thing is people and, as a country, we need nothing to distract us from the higher objective, which is to guarantee the health of all Chileans.”, he emphasized.

The management crisis raised harsh criticism from the opposition, which insistently called for Araos’s resignation, to the point that the far-right announced a political trial (constitutional accusation) against Minister Aguilera if she did not resign or remove him from office. When that happened, they withdrew the accusation.

Even former President Sebastián Piñera (2010-2014 and 2018-2022) questioned the management of the crisis on several occasions. The last one this Wednesday, in which he described as “late” the reaction of the authorities.

More applauded was the decision of the Ministries of Health and Education to apply the use of masks in schools, as during the COVID-19 pandemic, for all those over the age of five, until the end of the health alert due to the circulation of respiratory virus, which for now is August 31.

The decision seeks to protect, especially, children under one year of age, for whom the syncytial can be fatal, but the right-wing parties called for other measures to combat the health emergency, such as the advancement of the southern winter holidays.

As in times of pandemic, the Government is also working on a risk communication strategy, in which recommendations for the use of masks in crowded spaces have already slipped, especially in public transport, which collapses during the hours point of start and end of the working day.

Source: EFE