We will never know how many people fell ill with Covid-19 in our country for the simple reason that the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided to downplay the severity of the pandemic after it was declared by the World Health Organization on March 11. For this reason, the charlatans who control the Health sector determined that it was not worth investing the money, personnel and efforts necessary to carry out massive tests that would allow identifying the number of people infected by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
As of last Friday, 116.09 tests had been administered for every 1,000 Mexicans, according to official data compiled by Ourworldindata.org/coronavirus. The figure is minuscule when compared to those reported by most countries.
Among 182 of these countries, only 45 have administered fewer tests and most of them are extremely poor or in a situation of external or internal war: Algeria, Western Sahara, Eritrea, Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Syria, Niger , Yemen, Sudan, Chad, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Liberia, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Malawi, Mali, South Sudan, Vanuatu, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola, Benin, Guinea , Sierra Leone, Marshall Islands, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Gambia, Senegal, Kenya, Guinea-Bissau, Congo, Ghana, Curaçao, Bangladesh, Togo, Cameroon and Egypt.
Ourworldindataorg/coronavirus explains the importance of mass testing: “…they are our window into the pandemic and how it is spreading. Without testing, we have no way of understanding the pandemic.”
The lack of tests administered in Mexico does not allow us to know how many people fell ill with Covid. According to the 4T government, 5,740,080 people have become ill, which translates into 43,674 cases per million inhabitants. For the number of cases, our country is below 20 countries and for the number of cases per million inhabitants it is below 141.
It is more than evident that the number of cases cannot be known because very few tests have been administered.
Why is it important to know how many people have gotten sick?
Because studies carried out in countries where millions of tests were administered are determining that between 10% and 30% of those who became ill reported continuing to suffer from at least one symptom up to six months after the virus left their bodies.
These people suffer from what is called Long Covid and for some experts it may be the next chapter in the global health crisis, because millions of people will live with neurological and respiratory problems, cognitive difficulties and damage to various organs months after contracting the illness. Studies indicate that women are 33% more likely to have it.
How many Mexicans suffer and will suffer from Long Covid? We do not know and therefore we cannot calculate how this disease will harm the economy, the labor market and the poor health system.
The irresponsibility with which AMLO and his charlatans confronted Covid and the “covidcito” will continue to affect the country, the economy and the lives of millions of people.
Facebook: Eduardo J Ruiz-Healy
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Opinionist, columnist, lecturer, media trainer, 35 years of experience in the media, microentrepreneur.