How can we control the coronavirus pandemic? | Adam Kucharski

Translator: Claudia Álvarez González Reviewer: Serv. de Norm. Lingüística U. de Santiago de Compostela

[How can we control the coronavirus pandemic?]

[Como podemos controlar o coronavirus?]

[From infectious disease expert Adam Kucharski]

[Adam Kucharski, experto en enfermidades infecciosas]

[Question 1: What does containment mean when it comes to outbreaks?]

[Cuestión 1: Que é a contención cando falamos de brotes?]

Containment is this idea that you can focus your effort on control

A contención é a idea de que podemos enfocar os nosos esforzos en controlar

very much on the cases and their contacts.

moito os casos e os seus contactos.

So you're not causing disruption to the wider population,

Sen causarlle alteracións á poboación xeral,

you have a case that comes in, you isolate them,

se se atopa un caso que xorde, íllase,

you work out who they've come into contact with,

trabállase para buscar con quen tivo contacto,

who's potentially these opportunities for exposure

quen tivo a oportunidade potencial de estar exposto

and then you can follow up those people,

e fáiselle un seguimento a esas persoas,

maybe quarantine them, to make sure that no further transmission happens.

póñense en corentena, para asegurar que a transmisión non continúa.

So it's a very focused, targeted method,

É un método moi focalizado, cunha meta clara,

and for SARS, it worked remarkably well.

e funcionou moi ben co SARS.

But I think for this infection,

Pero eu creo que para esta infección,

because some cases are going to be missed, or undetected,

como algúns casos van pasar desapercibidos, sen detectar,

you've really got to be capturing a large chunk of people at risk.

vai haber que abranguer unha gran parte da poboación de risco.

If a few slip through the net,

Se uns poucos quedan fóra

potentially, you're going to get an outbreak.

podería producirse un brote.

[Question 2: If containment isn't enough, what comes next?]

[Cuestión 2: Se a contención non abonda, que facemos despois?]

In that respect,

Nese caso,

it would be about massive changes in our social interactions.

representaría cambios enormes nas nosas interaccións sociais.

And so that would require,

Iso implicaría que,

of the opportunities that could spread the virus

as situacións que puideran expandir o virus

so these kind of close contacts,

e calquera clase de contactos cercanos,

everybody in the population, on average,

toda a poboación, de calquera idade,

will be needing to reduce those interactions

debería reducilas

potentially by two-thirds to bring it under control.

en dous terzos para ter a situación baixo control.

That might be through working from home,

Poderíamos traballar desde a casa,

from changing lifestyle

cambiar o noso estilo de vida

and kind of where you go in crowded places and dinners.

e a forma en que acudimos a sitios cheos de xente e cear.

And of course, these measures, things like school closures,

E por suposto, medidas como o peche de escolas

and other things that just attempt to reduce

e outras diferentes, que tentan reducir

the social mixing of a population.

o contacto social da poboación.

[Question 3: What are the risks that we need people to think about?]

[Cuestión 3: En que riscos ten que pensar a poboación?]

It's not just whose hand you shake,

Non é só a quen lle damos a man,

it's whose hand that person goes on to shake.

senón quen lle deu a man a esa persoa.

And I think we need to think about these second-degree steps,

Temos que pensar neses pasos de segundo grao,

that you might think you have low risk

que che poden parecer de pouco risco

and you're in a younger group,

e que eres unha persoa nova,

but you're often going to be a very short step away

pero podes estar a un pequeno paso

from someone who is going to get hit very hard by this.

de alguén que pode sufrir graves consecuencias.

And I think we really need to be socially minded

Temos que ter conciencia social

and think this could be quite dramatic in terms of change of behavior,

e isto pode ser bastante drástico para o cambio de comportamento,

but it needs to be

pero temos que facelo

to reduce the impact that we're potentially facing.

para recudir o impacto que enfrontamos.

[Question 4: How far apart should people stay from each other?]

[Cuestión 4: A canta distancia temos que estar uns dos outros?]

I think it's hard to pin down exactly,

É difícil de precisar exactamente,

but I think one thing to bear in mind is that there's not so much evidence

pero algo que cómpre termos en mente é que non hai moitas probas

that this is a kind of aerosol and it goes really far --

de que isto sexa como un aerosol que vai moi lonxe:

it's reasonably short distances.

soen ser distancias curtas.

I don't think it's the case

Non creo que se dea o caso

that you're sitting a few meters away from someone

de que esteas sentado a uns poucos metros de alguén

and the virus is somehow going to get across.

e o virus vaia chegar dalgunha forma.

It's in closer interactions,

Nas interaccións próximas

and it's why we're seeing so many transmission events

é onde observamos máis posibilidades de transmisión,

occur in things like meals and really tight-knit groups.

por exemplo, en comidas ou grupos moi cercanos.

Because if you imagine

Porque, como poden imaxinar

that's where you can get a virus out and onto surfaces

aí é onde o virus pode expulsarse e quedar sobre superficies

and onto hands and onto faces,

ou sobre as mans e a cara.

and it's really situations like that we've got to think more about.

Temos que pensar sobre todo nesas situacións.

[Question 5: What kind of protective measures

[Cuestión 5: Que medidas de protección deberían implantar os países?]

should countries put in place?]

I think that's what people are trying to piece together,

Iso é o que a xente está intentado encaixar,

first in terms of what works.

primeiro en termos do que funciona.

It's only really in the last sort of few weeks

Realmente, só nestas últimas semanas

we've got a sense that this thing can be controllable

temos a impresión de que isto pode controlarse

with this extent of interventions,

con certas intervencións,

but of course, not all countries can do what China have done,

pero non todos os países poden facer o mesmo ca China.

some of these measures

Algunhas desas medidas

incur a huge social, economic, psychological burden

orixinan unha gran carga social, económica e psicolóxica

on populations.

sobre a poboación.

And of course, there's the time limit.

E por suposto, hai un límite no tempo.

In China, they've had them in for six weeks,

En China, as medidas duraron seis semanas,

it's tough to maintain that,

é difícil manter iso,

so we need to think of these tradeoffs

temos que pensar nas compensacións

of all the things we can ask people to do,

de todo o que lle pedimos á xente que faga,

what's going to have the most impact on actually reducing the burden.

que é o que vai ter un maior impacto á hora de reducir esa carga.

[To learn more, visit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]

[Máis info en: Centros para o Control e Prevención de Doenzas]

[World Health Organization]

[Organización Mundial da Saúde]