Carla Vizzotti differentiated herself from CABA and recommended the use of the mask in school

The Minister of Health of the Nation, Carla Vizzotti, insisted on supporting the compulsory use of the mask in school and other enclosed spaces before the arrival of autumn and in the face of the increased circulation of respiratory viruses, such as influenza. The statements of the national official are given on the same day that the City of Buenos Aires decided to stop requiring the use of masks in educational establishments, both in primary as well as secondary school.

In CABA, the measure for the optional use of masks, which already applied to children from kindergarten to the third year of primary school, has since now been extended to pupils at the rest of the levels. Mendoza had already made the use of masks more flexible weeks ago, for students at the initial and primary level.

“On Friday we had a meeting with health ministers from all over the country where we reviewed the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 and all respiratory viruses,” the national official said in reference to the meeting of the Federal Health Council (Cofesa) on March 19.

“The circulation of SARS-CoV-2 has been decreasing steadily for 7 or 8 weeks, hospitalization and deaths from coronavirus are also declining. However, we have an unusual increase, which is very important in the number and advance of respiratory viruses, such as in this case influenza, which has the same transmission route and at the moment the most important impact is on pediatrics, since the influenza virus has not circulated for two years, and as boys and girls have not had contact with the virus, they are a very susceptible population,” said Vizzotti in dialogue with Radio 10.

“The concern of all health portfolios in the country is the increase in respiratory diseases in the school environment, which is an environment where children spend a long time, with permanent contact. Therefore, taking into account the full presence and the beginning of autumn, the unanimous recommendation is to maintain the use of a mask, to recommend it not only in school but also in closed places,” the official remarked.

Taking distance from the measure adopted by the City of Buenos Aires, Vizzotti stressed that “the mask is a tool that has been shown to cut the transmission of the virus” and explained that vaccines serve to prevent serious illness and death, but do not block circulation, so it is recommended to hold the use of a mask and hygiene measures, such as hand washing and alcohol use, that are useful in curbing the circulation of COVID-19.

In the City, it is no longer mandatory for students to wear a mask during classes, so it will be up to each of them and their respective families to use it or not. However, the mask will continue to be a requirement for teachers and other educational personnel.

In the Province of Buenos Aires, the use of masks will continue to be required in classrooms. “I'm not going to mess with the decisions of other jurisdictions. We follow the guidelines established by the Federal Health Council, COFESA, and our own Ministry of Health, which is the one who orders health issues in the province”, clarified the director general of Buenos Aires Culture and Education, Alberto Sileoni.

Days earlier, the provincial Minister of Health, Nicolás Kreplak, had denied that there will be any changes in this regard during these months, but he said that, if there is no new peak of cases of COVID-19 in the following weeks, in May it could propose at the national level that the removal of masks in classrooms be authorized for all schools.

The influenza vaccination campaign

Regarding the increase in influenza cases, and to take into account the magnitude of the increase, the Minister of Health said that “the last influenza season 4,000 cases were reported throughout the year and now in the first quarter we have 2,500 cases registered.”

“We received 1,500,000 doses on Friday, today they are being distributed, almost 10 million vaccines are being purchased. Distribution starts today and influenza vaccination will be launched throughout the country simultaneously on 25 March,” Vizzotti confirmed.

To explain the processes involved in the influenza vaccine, the official explained that “it is the only vaccine that is produced from scratch every year, in September the World Health Organization (WHO) defines the strains it will contain in the southern hemisphere and it starts to be manufactured, so no one in the southern hemisphere has it before March, including April”.

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