COVID-19 can be defeated, but...

The daily decrease of COVID-19 cases in Cuba lead many people to think that this lethal disease is "going downhill", but this almost logical reasoning can be reversed if we became too confident to the detriment of our risk perception.

The ups and downs in the infection rate during the last 19 months of epidemic in the archipelago warn that the battle is NOT won, as the virus could forcefully reappear anywhere and at any time.

Although the effects of the ongoing vaccination campaign in the country are undeniable, not everything is as easy as falling off a log. Several factors tamper with the upward trend of the improvement process.

Make no mistake: COVID-19 is still present and latent, especially after the so-called Delta strain greatly increased transmission, so much so that before this variant, four human beings would get the virus per each infected patient but, whereas the said rate had been around 8-12 infected per confirmed individual, according to some publications.

The Cuban health authorities have repeatedly warned that the vaccine prototypes contribute to reduce the risk of severity and, therefore, the death toll, but they do NOT make us totally immune. Consequently, the health protocols, repeated ad nauseam, are still the order of the day.

Experience has shown that carelessness has paved the way for an exponential increase of SARS CoV-2 infection, so it is essential that we stick to the face masks, social distancing in crowded places, hand hygiene, etc.

The figures produced by this dangerous and treacherous disease are too obvious; suffice it to say that more than 243,700,000 people have been infected worldwide, and around five million of them have died.

Official records have it that the number of infected in Cuba is close to one million, and more than 8,200 people have lost their lives.

It is not only about the irreparable loss of family members, friends or acquaintances, but also about the after-effects of SARS COV-2, which in some cases include life-long disabilities.

Now that the disease is declining, the health system and the rest of the institutions, together with the population (families and individuals) have the responsibility to comply with the health measures to avoid a new outbreak. It’s the only way to win this battle for life, and although we may have to coexist with the virus, its effects can be mitigated and reduced to NOT alarming figures.