As the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues to spread across the globe, it has so far had a large negative economic impact with further disruptions to come unless it is brought completely under control.
This was stated by director of the Pan American Health Organisation, Dr Carissa Etienne, during a virtual press conference on Tuesday. The director stated that the disruptions caused by COVID-19 have so far “shaken our economies to the core,” as she noted that the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimates that the region will contract by 5.3% in 2020 which she said is the biggest drop in over 100 years.
With the spread of COVID-19, Dr Etienne said that tourism has been greatly affected while the value of exports is expected to fall by some 15% which will have a major impact on the economies of Caribbean and Latin American countries. She added that with the extreme rise in unemployment, a number of families across the region have been pushed into poverty. “It is forecasted that 29 million more people will find themselves below the poverty line, the majority of which will be women,” Dr Etienne said as she pointed out that heads of states and ministers of finance as well as health are facing the dilemma of figuring out how to keep citizens safe while still protecting the livelihoods of families.
“This pandemic has forced us to address three emergencies at the same time: health, social, and economic emergencies and to be successful we need a joint approach,” Dr. Etienne declared while adding that countries across the region of the Americas must support their economies while at the same time build strong social protection networks and also embrace evidence-based public health measures. “Only when countries have controlled transmission will they be in a position to implement a well-planned, cautious transition period,” the director explained adding that at this time countries should focus on the health sector by strengthening and monitoring health systems while also responding to any resurgence of the virus. While speaking on the continued spread of COVID-19 in the Americas, Dr Etienne stated that PAHO remains concerned about the rapid expansion of the pandemic as she informed, “It took our region three months to reach one million cases, but less than three weeks to nearly double that number.” The director said that transmission is high in areas that function as regional hubs and as such neighbouring areas are then rapidly affected. Additionally it was pointed out that in large urban centres in South America like Lima, Peru and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, health systems are speedily becoming overwhelmed. The PAHO director further noted, “Several nations, including some in our region, have shown that the caseload can be contained with strong surveillance and detection, coordinated public health and preventive action, contact tracing and surge of the health system capacity.” Added to that she iterated that PAHO will continue to coordinate the response across countries but urged national and local authorities to work even more closely together to contain the spread of the virus.
During the virtual press conference, Director of Health Emergencies, Dr Ciro Ugarte emphasised that it is important to recognise that persons of all ages can be impacted by the COVID-19 and more so persons with hypertension and diabetes remain the most vulnerable to having the severe forms of the virus. Added to that, Incident Manager Dr Sylvain Aldighieri stated that PAHO does not have any way to predict when community transmission in countries in the Americas will end.
When asked about the use of plasma from recovered patients as treatment for COVID patients, he replied that it is currently being investigated in different countries at the moment and at this moment PAHO has no recommendations for or against the use of the treatment. “This needs much more investigation at this moment,” Dr Aldighieri cautioned.
