COVID-19 will gradually be included in the normalized respiratory diseases.
Zhang Wenhong said in the article that people are increasingly aware that COVID-19's symptoms are similar to other common respiratory virus diseases, such as influenza and colds. COVID-19's disease will gradually be included in the normalized respiratory diseases, and will enter the seasonal or endemic infectious diseases sequence from emerging infectious diseases.
"Our team recently followed up more than half a year on more than 10000 infected people in this year's Omicron epidemic in Shanghai, and also followed up non-COVID-19 infected people as a healthy control group. Compared with the healthy control group, the current Omicron strain has not caused specific long-term damage to human organs, but it still presents the characteristics of common respiratory viral diseases, which we humans can cope with and accept. " He wrote, "The world has entered the stage where the COVID-19 epidemic has turned into a local epidemic or seasonal epidemic, which is very close to the 2009H 1N 1. Maybe one night we will wake up and find that we have struggled through the epidemic. "
Zhang Wenhong believes that China is the last country in COVID-19 at the end of the world epidemic to withdraw from strict control, and it is also the country with the lowest number of severe cases and deaths. Opening to the outside world during the Omicron epidemic has left us with a "preparation opportunity" to protect the elderly and vulnerable groups. But when we quit, we still have to face the challenge of a wave of large-scale infections, such as large-scale social infections. Can the medical delivery system handle it?
"This is a time-limited extreme war with the virus. We believe that China's resource reserves can finally be handled. " Zhang Wenhong said, "As the number of infected people increases, there will be a run on general medical resources. At this time, it is very important for government departments to lay out and intervene in advance to stabilize this demand. "
For large-scale nucleic acid detection, Zhang Wenhong's point of view is: "As far as people with normal immune function are concerned, who has a cold and fever will look for nucleic acid kiosks all over the world? Nothing more than finding some antipyretics, sleeping, drinking more water and taking vitamin C. "
In view of the fact that many people in the north feel that the symptoms after infection are not as mild as expected, and there are not so many asymptomatic symptoms, Zhang Wenhong said: "Because we have not done the whole nucleic acid test, we don't know whether there are asymptomatic symptoms. When the infection base is huge, a high proportion of asymptomatic symptoms may be ignored, and we will intuitively feel as if everyone infected has very uncomfortable symptoms. "
He also said that with the winter in the north, the cold is also COVID-19's "helper", and in the period of high incidence of influenza, the challenge of "stabilizing the epidemic situation" will be greater than that in the south.
The elderly should try to avoid the first wave of infection.
Zhang Wenhong pays special attention to how to protect his family, especially the old people at home. He believes that in the next period of time, "we have or will face a wave of epidemic peaks." Combined with foreign experience, the first wave of Omicron strain infected more people, and the second and third wave of epidemic rebound in the later period will be significantly weaker than the first wave of epidemic peak.
Zhang Wenhong believes that in order to protect vulnerable people, we should try our best to help them avoid being infected at the peak of the first wave of epidemic. "The core principle here is to do everything possible to delay the infection time of the elderly population and minimize the number of elderly infected people at the peak of the first wave of epidemic." He said.
He explained that at the peak of the first wave of the epidemic, a large number of infected people and even a large number of medical staff were infected. At this time, the shortage of medical resources is inevitable. If a large number of elderly people are infected at the same time, it may be difficult to get adequate medical care as usual. In addition, when the infection rate of the whole society is high and gradually enters the stage of group immunization, the risk of exposure of susceptible people to the outside world will be greatly reduced.
"If the overall infection time curve of the elderly population can be delayed, even if it is only delayed by 1-2 months, the vaccine immune barrier of the whole society will be stronger, the medical resources will be more adequate and calm after the first wave of epidemic, and the treatment resources for the elderly population in nursing homes will be more abundant." Zhang Wenhong said.
In order to provide more adequate protection for the elderly and vulnerable groups, Zhang Wenhong once again emphasized the importance of mass vaccination. He called on the elderly who are not vaccinated at present, as long as they meet the vaccination conditions, they should seize the time and vaccinate as soon as possible before the first wave of epidemic peaks. "From the inoculation amount, the protective power of 3 needles is better than that of 2 needles, and the protective power of 2 needles is better than that of 1 needle. Every vaccine vaccinated will provide some protection to the human body. " He said.
He also suggested that once the elderly are infected, they need to be closely monitored by their families and seek medical treatment in time if necessary. Hospitals should give priority to medical resources and help these elderly patients with all their efforts.
He called on every young person in the family to be an "umbrella" for the elderly. At the peak of the epidemic, people living with the elderly should also be vaccinated, strengthen prevention, consciously reduce unnecessary going out and gathering, and protect themselves when going out to avoid infection. If young people have suspected symptoms of infection, they should isolate themselves to reduce contact with the elderly at home and reduce the risk of infection among the elderly.
"After three years in the long epidemic prevention tunnel, we are about to get out of the tunnel. Air, sunshine and freedom are waiting for us. But in the last journey, we need the mobilization of the whole society. " Zhang Wenhong finally wrote, "The most important thing is that after three years, we got rid of the epidemic and returned to normal life, with a very low mortality rate. This is the final victory that our country is proud of. "