Besides setting the goal of containing and controlling the epidemic, it is necessary to determine that thie fight is still long and people will have to live with the epidemic for a long time. It cannot be controlled absolutely, so rational measures are essential to adapt to the situation.
What is “living with the epidemic” and how to be safe amid the pandemic?
The Delta variant has changed the game. Previously, with the thorough three-round tracing, functional forces could basically keep up with the speed of the virus and thereby control the epidemic completely. However, with the Delta variant, infection can be as early as two days before symptoms and virus elimination takes longer than before. In addition, people can be positive just 24 hours after being exposed and continue to infect others in the following 36 hours, so the tracking teams are unable to keep up with the spread of the virus. Widespread testing can detect an area of infection, but the more samples are tested, the higher the latency will be. As a result, the tracing process is slowed down and there is a possibility of missing positive cases.
People have taken radical medical isolation measures for a long time, not to mention economic development and social welfare measures associated with epidemic prevention and control. Therefore, it is crucial to make more suitable solutions as directed by Prime Minister. However, “living with the epidemic” does not mean allowing the infection to spread. Vietnam’s medical sector will not be able to cope as the number of cases and death rates continue to increase. In addition, people with other severe diseases are more likely to die because there is no room for their treatment in hospitals.
Many COVID-19 infections have no symptoms, especially those who have been vaccinated. Meanwhile, several people are immune to the disease after having fully recovered or being injected with two doses of the vaccine.
Therefore, when vaccination rates are low, strict control measures are necessary to protect high-risk populations. However, if they are fully vaccinated, blockade measures can be gradually loosened. This is the basis for countries with high vaccination rates adjusting their epidemic prevention and control strategies.
When the epidemic develops in a small scale and can be controlled well, the vaccination under the order of priority as stated in the Government's Resolution No.21 on the purchase and use of vaccines against COVID-19 is appropriate. However, when the epidemic spreads widely, the groups of the elderly and people with underlying medical conditions should be protected first to prevent a sharp increase in deaths. The sending of vaccines to major cities aims to protect densely populated and vulnerable areas first. If these areas are kept safe, others will also be safe.
In recent days, localities have drastically and strictly implemented social distancing measures, affirming the policy of taking communes and wards as fortresses and people as soldiers in epidemic prevention and control. The social distancing activities has achieved certain results as the number of people moving on the streets has decreased markedly. Notably, this strategy has been working effectively at commune and ward levels.
However, there is still dispersal of infections and even outbreaks in densely populated areas with poor sanitation. As a rule, if the outbreaks are “frozen” for a long enough time, exceeding the maximum incubation period (14 days) or twice, the epidemic will be over for sure. Unfortunately, the reality is not so simple. The outbreaks have still maintained indirect transmission and traditional transmission through people who move a lot, despite the efforts of the authorities and the medical sector.
While all efforts have been made to protect “green zones” through prevention measures, loopholes have appeared in “green zones” as drivers of vehicles travelling in the “green channel” did not follow directions after returning from epidemic-hit areas or a member in the community was accidentally infected while going to work and then transmitted the disease to surrounding others.
On the other hand, authorities have been conducting massive testing but missing the high-risk people, not to mention a lack of safety in the sampling and vaccination leading to infections despite not having left their localities.
So, what is living with the epidemic safely? Lessons learned from localities that are controlling the epidemic well show that good prevention from the outside through the joint participation of all citizens is very important. All those returning from outside provinces, especially epidemic-hit areas, can be at risk. It is crucial to control the epidemic based on risk, not just negative test certificates. In addition, it is necessary to tighten controls inside the locality. Accordingly, COVID community groups should operate effectively. In fact, localities where COVID community groups have worked well are still safe.
For green zones, it is essential to ensure safety in moving and 5K principles. However, monitoring of people’s moving between areas with different risks must take place Factories and enterprises can deploy the “3 on-site method” but now forever.
Thus, radical measures must be implemented while making efforts to enhance vaccine coverage. These strategies should be applied flexibly. The concretisation of strategies and the enhancement of supervision and support from authorities at all levels will help these strategies soon bring about the new normal situation in Vietnam.
Regarding the treatment of patients, in addition to the field hospital system, hospitals specialising in COVID-19 treatment should strengthen their remote support systems, as well as groups of doctors giving advice and supports for the treatment of patients at home. The results from this network showethat only a very small percentage (about 1%) of people who have received support have become seriously ill and need to be taken to the hospital. The perfecting of the network of counselors for patients and family doctors will contribute to providing timely treatment for patients.
Thousands of patients have recently received assistance through the hotline system 1022 (branch 4). In fact, the effectiveness of the drugs has reached only 30%. The more important measures are the care of underlying diseases, nutrition, exercise and especially psychological health. The model of health care from home, remote monitoring and family doctors should be prioritised across the country.
The overall strategy to respond to the epidemic needs the joint involvement of all provinces, cities, ministries and agencies as well as coordination in the digital transformation.
The development of information infrastructure should have the involvement of leaders to gather thousands of minds towards the creation of a solid foundation for monitoring.
