Resilience to COVID: What is the reason for Chile’s success?

Chile may have clinched first place in Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Rankings, but that doesn’t mean it’s letting its guard down, especially as the contagious omicron variant spreads around the world.

The ranking is a monthly overview of where the virus is being handled most effectively and with the least social and economic disruption. It uses 12 indicators covering virus containment, quality of medical care, vaccination coverage, overall mortality, and travel.

The country’s Health Minister, Enrique Paris, told a panel of senators last week that the situation at the moment is “quite satisfactory”. Cases are down 25% on the 14-day moving average, test positivity is 2.6%, and available intensive care beds continue to rise, according to data released Monday. Only 32% of the occupied beds correspond to COVID cases.

The South American country has already experienced several waves of COVID, the first produced around May 2020, followed by a second, between March and June 2021, and a much smaller one around November.

So what is the reason for Chile’s success?

Paris told Bloomberg he attributed it to two factors: the country’s successful vaccination campaign and the fact that Chile is now in the summer, when there is less viral circulation.

The advance purchase of vaccines contributed. More than half the country has already received a booster dose, a rate that is among the highest in the world, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. And the government is evaluating a fourth dose starting in February. It is not that there are no anti-vaccine movements in the country. One of these groups tried to attack a television station to protest the coverage, but despite this, the rates remain high.

Jaime Cerda, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University and an expert in epidemiology, said that Chile’s resilience has several causes.

He pointed out that vaccination began at the right time at the mass level, and that many people have understood that it is necessary to maintain social distancing, wash hands and wear a mask. The Government has officially said that they must be used in public spaces and that they can only be removed at home or on restaurant tables.

It is difficult to predict whether the situation will remain under control, particularly with the spread of the omicron variant, says Cerda, adding that it is necessary to prepare for the worst and redouble preventive measures.