Cuban health authorities insist on importance of protecting children in times of pandemic

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 1 (ACN) Protecting children and adolescents has been a call reiterated by Cuban health authorities since the COVID-19 pandemic outbroke into the country in March 2020, however, on this International Children's Day the claim acquires greater relevance in view of the increase of cases in pediatric ages.

For months, the idea was maintained in the population that children did not get sick with COVID-19 and if they did, they did not become seriously ill, a myth that is destroyed with the sustained increase of infected children in this population group who, in turn, require intensive care.

Dr. Lissette del Rosario Lopez Gonzalez, head of the national pediatric group of the Cuban ministry of public health, warned that during the first outbreak some 200 minors contracted SARS-CoV-2, in the second wave there were around 600 and in this third wave there are more than 18,000 patients.

The higher the rate of transmission, the higher the risk of getting sick, said the expert, hence the recurrent message to the family is not to expose them outside the home and to maintain adequate standards of conduct and biosecurity, because the highest percentage of those diagnosed are contacts of confirmed cases.

Young children are the most infected, and it is very worrying that at only a few months of age they are in ICUs, subjected to treatment and exposed to complications due to their young age.

Lopez Gonzalez said that although the protocol is strong and effective, the most important thing is prevention.

She mentioned that special care must be taken with vulnerable pediatric patients, including those with heart disease, ventilated, underweight, diabetic, obese or with renal, hematologic, oncologic, chronic pulmonary, genetic and metabolic diseases, among others.

Although SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory virus, children and adolescents can manifest diarrhea, vomiting and skin lesions; and the infection in some cases gives rise to severe pneumonia and cardiovascular affectations, which could worsen and even cause death, the doctor insisted.

Likewise, she stressed that once negative, the danger of the associated complications is not left behind, in addition to the psychological damage; many times the family takes care of what is visible, that is to say, the organs, and the psychological effects also have repercussions on the quality of life, she warned.

On the occasion of the International Children's Day, this June 1st, Lopez Gonzalez called for a responsible approach to the protection of children; something more can always be done in this endeavor and parents should not get tired, because now, more than ever, they have to protect their children, she said.

The head of the national pediatrics group pointed out that the new code of life implies loving each other from a distance and maintaining hygienic and sanitary measures in the face of the high level of contagion.

Cuban minister of public health, Jose Angel Portal Miranda, urged Tuesday on social media to comply with all sanitary measures for the protection of children in the face of the increase in cases of COVID-19, while reaffirming the commitment to work to preserve Cuban children.