The National Epidemiological Surveillance Network places the Canary Islands at the forefront in contact detection, with an average of 6 cases with between 3 and 27 contacts per positive, while the national average is one contact with a range of between 0 and 3; however, the average today is already 8 cases.
According to the Ministry of Health, the early detection of the coronavirus and the close monitoring of cases remains the key bet in the Canary Islands for the control of outbreaks after entering the 'new normal'. In fact, the applied model stands out for its tracking capacity.
The contact study began on January 29 with the first case in Spain in La Gomera and currently about 200 suspected cases are detected daily in the Canary Islands, which are PCR tested with a negative result in 97 percent of the cases.
Behind these results is the coordinated action of the hundred professionals of the COVID teams in each of the islands or health areas, coordinated by the 22 doctors and nurses of the General Directorate of Public Health, and the involvement of the more than 5,000 doctors and nurses of Primary Care.
The latter is one of the strengths of the monitoring carried out in the Canary Islands: a model very close to the ground, reinforced by the close knowledge of the patient and their environment provided by family medicine professionals, the Ministry of Health highlights.
More complex cases
The team of the General Directorate of Public Health carries out the verification of all cases and the monitoring of the most complex ones, such as those involving people with travel from abroad or between islands, in addition to the management and general coordination of the information obtained for the adoption of measures.
Upon confirmation of a positive case, in addition to performing the PCR test on the cohabiting family nucleus, the location of close contacts is initiated, that is, those people with whom the patient details having shared space in the previous days for a time longer than 15 minutes and/or without having observed health measures, such as interpersonal distance or the use of a mask.
These are contacted by telephone and summoned to undergo a PCR test within 24 hours, which will determine if they have been infected. Positive cases will go into quarantine and the corresponding tracing and monitoring of their close contacts will begin.
Both the agility and the effective location of the largest number of close contacts are key to stopping possible outbreaks and the data from the report of the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network reflect the effectiveness of the system in the Canary Islands, where this tracking network has allowed suspected positive people to be isolated in less than 24 hours and test results to be provided in a maximum of 48 hours.
Importance of professionals
The head of the Epidemiology and Prevention Service of the General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Islands Health Service, Amós García, has highlighted the commitment to case monitoring that has been made in the Canary Islands since the beginning of the pandemic, assuming the importance of professionals to have an effective tracking network that allows locating positive cases, to avoid outbreaks and secondary cases.
"Until the vaccine arrives, it is impossible to aspire to end the pandemic and the goal is to minimize infections," explained Amós García. In this sense, the head of the Epidemiology and Prevention Service of the General Directorate of Public Health stressed that in achieving that goal, in addition to having a good case monitoring network, it is essential to demand the responsibility of citizens in complying with health measures to avoid infections.
On this last aspect, it is worth remembering the advertising campaign 'The Last Gift' launched by the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands to raise awareness among citizens about the health risks of non-compliance with hygiene and safety recommendations to avoid coronavirus infections in family gatherings and parties or with friends.
The Ministry insists on the importance of maintaining security measures such as proper hand hygiene, maintaining an interpersonal distance of 1.5 meters and the use of masks in closed and open environments when it is not possible to maintain this distance.
