COVID-19: Hungary's Operational Corps goes virtual reality

Tibor Lakatos,  head of the operative board at the Operational Corps, has expressed - explicitly and non-verbally - his frustration with journalists and their seeming unquenchable thirst for information on numerous occasions. (At one point he said they have better things to do than answering questions at the press conference. No kidding.)

The country's Chief Medical Officer, Cecília Müller, has also proved several times that sharing information with the public is not her strongest suit. 

Well, as of today, this problem is solved for both of them, as the Operational Corps switched to virtual press conferences, cherry-picking the questions journalists have to e-mail them hours before the event. And what a great solution this is. It prevents members of the press from infecting each other by passing the mic around, and the officials can feel a lot safer too. And there is no circling back to issues that were not discussed in sufficient detail or clarifying anything that might not be clear at first. 

So, here we are today. And here's what we don't know.

• How many questions did the Operational Corps receive?
• What was the methodology behind choosing which questions will be left unanswered?
• How many of these there were? Will they be answered later?
• What were the questions?
• While all EU countries publish a breakdown of the spread of COVID-19 (geographical data, sex and age of those infected), Hungary insists that ordinary citizens couldn't do anything with these data, but experts do have them, so chill out. When will there be a publicly available database with at least a territorial breakdown?

Here's what the Operational Corps did share with us today:

The number of those who tested positive for COVID-19 rose to 85 from 73. Three confirmed COVID-19 patients are dead, one died last Sunday (he was 75 years old), and the other two (68 and 74) died yesterday whom both had an underlying diseases, said Müller. 

She warned younger people who have any health issue to be extremely cautious because their symptoms could also be severe if they are infected. Müller noted that 80% of healthy young people remain asympomatic and recover from the infection. However, even they should also stay home for they can be extremely contagious. 

That's a great advice, but if one shows no symptoms and there's practically no way to get tested for COVID-19, how should anyone supposed to know if they are carriers or not? News portal index.hu reported today that while a 13-year-old girl was tested positive for COVID-19, neither her classmates, nor her teachers, nor their families have ever got tested. Another case it reported was a 72-year-old man whose test came back positive after his hospitalisation, but his family was not tested either. When his daughter asked the National Public Health Institute (ÁNTSZ) whether they will be tested too, she got the response: "Why should you be tested? If you show symptoms, contact your GP and he/she will take steps."

Müller said that anyone that is tested positive or had close contact with such a person must stay in home quarantine. (Again, how would anyone outside a hospital would know if they carry COVID-19?) 

Lakatos said those wanting to enter Hungary at Hegyeshalom and Rajka can expect to wait 100-180 minutes before crossing the border there. There is a 35-kilometre queue of cars at Csanádpalota due to the border control by Romanian authorities. Truck drivers waiting there in line get water and other assistance from the police. There are currently 42 people stranded at the Liszt Ferenc International Airport, waiting in the transit zone to continue their journey or to enter Hungary, he added.

There are 3,506 people in home quarantine ordered by the authorities. Their compliance with the stict restrictions were checked more than 13,000 times and authorities found 69 violations of the quarantine rules. Nine people were reported for infraction and the total number of legal procedures opened due to such infractions is up at 47. 

When asked about the shortage of masks, Müller replied that surgical masks provide some kind of protection, and FFP3 masks are necessary for health care workers who tend to confirmed COVID-19 patients. Production is continuous, the materials have arrived and will keep on arriving. Shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) appear to be widespread across the health service and include GP practices as well as hospitals. Surgical masks are no help for anyone with high risk of contacting COVID-19 positive patients, e.g. GPs. 

World Health Organisation (WHO) advice for the public on mask usage:

• If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.
• Wear a mask if you are coughing or sneezing.
• Masks are effective only when used in combination with frequent hand-cleaning with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.
• If you wear a mask, then you must know how to use it and dispose of it properly.

Do masks protect you?

A face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you will not be infected, but masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness). Masks are crucial for health and social care workers looking after patients, and if you're a carrier they can protect others from you infecting them. 

N95 respirators (United States) reduce the wearer’s exposure to airborne particles, from small particle aerosols to large droplets. N95 respirators are tight-fitting respirators that filter out at least 95% of particles in the air, including large and small particles.A surgical N95 (also referred as a medical respirator) is recommended only for use by healthcare personnel (HCP) who need protection from both airborne and fluid hazards (e.g., splashes, sprays). These respirators are not used or needed outside of healthcare settings. Infographic: Understanding the difference between surgical masks and N95 respirators.

In Europe, for caregivers, it is necessary to wear a respirator of at least class FFP2 or FFP3 for maximum filtration of particles and aerosols when caring for a patient who is infected or suspected of being so.

Cover photo: Getty Images