Last Thursday, February 6th, the conference “Epidemiological Dangers of Coronavirus in Venezuela” was held in the Radegundis Payares Auditorium of the El Ávila Clinic in Caracas. This initiative was organized by the “Santiago Salcedo Bastardo” Medical Association, the Venezuelan Society of Infectology, and Proyecto Once Trece The program was coordinated by Dr. José Ramón Gómez Mancebo and the presentations were given by Dr. Mario Comegna and Dr. Patricia Valenzuela.
This event was aimed at the community, as part of a series of similar conferences that have been held in different health centers, as an initiative to inform the public about the reality of the Coronavirus amid the misinformation that exists today.
The topic addressed during the session was framed within the current Venezuelan context, in which viewers learned about the virus's transmission, diagnostic methods, and preventative measures. Similarly, real-time epidemiological charts and the probability of virus circulation within Venezuelan territory were presented.
It was emphasized that, even though Venezuela currently has a very low probability of having a case of Coronavirus, it was important to maintain preventive measures such as frequent hand washing, sneezing and/or coughing covering the nose and mouth with the crook of the elbow, not consuming raw animal products and other various ways to avoid the replication of other viruses that do circulate in the country, such as Influenza, which is the cause of illness in at least 10% of the world's population each year.
The public was urged not to panic or fall prey to speculation, while emphasis was placed on not acting xenophobically by stigmatizing the Chinese community living in the country.
