The negative effects of the lockdown and media terrorism are underestimated. Speak Dr. Samadi
Dr. David Samadi, an American who grew up in the Jewish-Persian community of Tehran before being forced to flee by the Islamic Revolution of 1979, is the head of Robotic Surgery at the Lenox Hill Hospital and is one of the voices that most distinguished himself for reasonableness and expertise in these months in which the crisis linked to the coronavirus pandemic has divided America and its politics like never before. Atlantico Quotidiano interviewed him.
DANIELE MELONI: In the past, when President Trump suggested that the coronavirus could be eliminated by UV rays, the media ridiculed his sentences and mocked him. We recently saw that this was not entirely out of the ordinary. Why are the experts changing their minds?
DAVID SAMADI: The use of ultraviolet to eliminate viruses and bacteria is a hundred years old stuff, it's nothing new in hospitals. It has been successful in fighting H1N1 flu and other coronaviruses such as SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, so there is now renewed interest in using them in places like schools, restaurants and offices, to reduce transmission of the virus. People want to go back to normal and abandon the post- Covid “new normal”. Research is taking place regarding the possibility of installing UVF units to decontaminate the air in public spaces and also the possibility of using another wave of rays called UVF-222 or Far-UVF which is believed to have less effect on human cells. I believe these devices have great potential for killing viruses such as Covid-19 and are our greatest hope for returning to our pre- Covid lives.
DM: Many people have only seen the positive aspects of the lockdown but the reality is that it has had a terrible effect on the economy and on people. Do you think the social and psychological aspects of the lockdown have been underestimated?
DS: Yes, of course. The pandemic has become both an epidemiological and a psychological crisis. At first the focus was on shutting everything down and quarantining as many people as possible with the intent of not crowding hospitals with coronavirus patients. The intentions were good but deleterious in the long run. In a free society, lockdown can only have negative effects on people's psyche. The media spread fear and negativity constantly, repeating the various precautionary measures (wear masks, wash your hands, distance yourself) with no mention of mental health aspects. And the data we have tells us of an increase in suicides, alcohol and drug use, harassment and crime. Living in isolation changes life and affects the well-being of each of us. Now we are also dealing with this but we should have been vigilant from the beginning, better calibrating the messages. Especially the media ones.
DM: How will we get out of the pandemic?
DS: Nobody can say for sure. Covid-19 is a new coronavirus , we don't know how and when it will go away. In the past, swine-related or H1N1-related pandemics lasted from 12 to 36 months. Although we are now much better prepared in curing Covid-19 than at the beginning of its spread, there is still a lot to learn about it. I believe that in 2021 there will be real progress in the fight against the virus. The easiest way out of the pandemic is with herd immunity. This is achieved in two ways: either by letting the virus circulate naturally in the majority of the population and by causing antibodies to develop which would lead to immunity. Unfortunately, this method risks a very high number of victims and our society is not prepared to tolerate it. Or you can get out of the pandemic by developing an effective vaccine against the virus. This would achieve herd immunity faster and with fewer victims. Once the vaccine is developed it would only be a question of calibrating its distribution and the ranking of people who should be vaccinated first.
DM: Do you think the coronavirus exposed the presence of an underlying American health problem? Did Obamacare do any good?
DS: Surely our health system has problems, but I want to point out that as a country, America has developed creative and cutting-edge solutions every time it has found itself faced with monumental problems, expanding its know-how in the system. sanitary. The outbreak of the pandemic took everyone by surprise, not just America. The problems encountered here related to the lack of gowns, gloves and masks for healthcare workers, that of ventilators in intensive care units and the dependence on China on drugs such as antibiotics and aspirin were evident. We must ensure that the production of these fundamental elements to fight Covid returns to American soil. Another problem is linked to telemedicine and the laws that are now out of date and regulate it. The Affordable Care Act – better known as Obamacare – has shown all its flaws. It is not a health insurance based on the European model that covers all people: for many health care remains off-limits or in any case too expensive. Especially for the working class , which should have benefited the most from Obamacare .
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/sottovalutati-gli-effetti-negativi-del-lockdown-e-il-terrorismo-mediatico-parla-il-dottor-samadi/ on Tue, 01 Sep 2020 04:10:00 +0000.