Lanzarote already has 21 Covid-19 case trackers, as confirmed by the manager of Sanitary Services of the island, José Luis Aparicio, who has defended that "they are an example at the Canarian and national level", after criticism questioning their professionalism.
"We have been congratulated many times from outside here," added Aparicio, who explained that when tracking close contacts of people with symptoms, only "up to 48 hours" before is tracked because "that is the protocol". "Due to issues of viral loads, of infection risks, it is not done beyond that," specified the manager of Sanitary Services of Lanzarote, detailing that only "when they are asymptomatic" is it 72 hours "because it is more difficult to establish the viral loads".
"It is true that people, out of fear, would prefer that it be done to everyone, but it is not about acting based on fear, but on technical criteria," pointed out José Luis Aparicio, who responded in this way to the complaint of a father, who complained that "nobody" had contacted his daughter after a friend of hers had tested positive for coronavirus, four days after they had been together.
Likewise, the representative of the CEMSATSE union in the Molina Orosa Hospital, Antonio Becerra, also denounced the "lack of protection" of the healthcare workers of the center after two workers tested positive, criticizing that PCR was only done on colleagues who had been in close contact in the last 48 hours.
"It is necessary to recognize the professionalism of the trackers even if not everyone does, even if they do it with ignorance, without criteria, and with fear as well," added the Manager of Sanitary Services of Lanzarote, who wanted to highlight the "meticulous, detective-like and complicated" work they do. "They work very hard," he stated.
In this regard, José Luis Aparicio explained that initially there was only one tracker on the island, but that later it increased to six people, last week to 18 and since this Monday to 21, given the increase in Covid cases on the island. An increase that, although he pointed out that "it was foreseeable", he acknowledged that they did not expect "until October or November". "The second wave has been brought forward," he concluded.
