​04/24/2020

Press Release No 192, 2020

- Johns Hopkins University Professor Antonio Trujillo explained the stages that will occur in order to emerge from the current pandemic.

Bogotá DC, April 24, 2020. From Baltimore, MD, Dr. Antonio Trujillo, professor at Johns Hopkins University, explained the four phases to get out of current Covid-19 pandemic, on the Prevention and Action program of the Presidency of the Republic: i) public health measures to slow down the spread of the virus, ii) gradually reopen the economy and contain the speed of spread, iii) return to normal and iv) strengthen the ability to act against other pandemic risks.

The first is already being experienced in Colombia and the country is about to emerge from it thanks to the fact that it has learned from other experiences in the world. "The public health measures of isolation, handwashing and all the others to control the activity of citizens have worked," commended the expert, adding that the country has learned to organize the capacity of laboratories to increase the daily number of tests. Additionally, another important element is the coordination between the National Government and the provinces, and with the support of the mayors.

Another learning at the moment is that it is known that the virus not only affects the elderly, as originally thought, but also adults with chronic diseases and obesity. "We have learned that protecting workers is essential in all this mechanism of slowing down and, as President Duque said so well, health is essential to regain the economic and social issues," added Trujillo.

For the second phase, which our country is approaching by reopening its economy progressively, the professor asked all not to let their guard down, continue monitoring the virus, control its speed, continue strengthening the health sector and start rapid testing to have massive diagnoses, as the National Government has considered. In addition, the use of masks and social distancing will continue to be important.

To conclude, Trujillo, who is also director of the Master's Degree in Health at said university, was optimistic about the future. "I think we will come out stronger from this virus, the world will learn, we will better understand medical treatments and we will have a vaccine in 12 to 18 months with the private and public effort worldwide," he said.

At the same time, at the closing of his remarks, he called on citizens to improve their health, reduce obesity, exercise more, eat healthily and sleep better.