Grandparents and grandchildren should avoid seeing each other well after stay-at-home measures have been lifted in order to protect the vulnerable elderly, according to an epidemiologist at the National Autonomous University (UNAM).

Dr. Guadalupe Miranda Novales said that children may still be able to transmit the coronavirus even without showing symptoms of Covid-19. Therefore, the threat of contagion will still exist even after the government says it’s time to move on to “the new normal.”

“At some point we’ll return to our daily lives and lose the controls provided by the quarantine, so those with diabetes, hypertension, asthma, compromised immune systems, chronic respiratory conditions or advanced age won’t be able to care for children,” said Novales.

“Unfortunately, this includes grandparents. … We know that the elderly are among those hardest hit by the virus and this puts us in a sad situation, [in which] grandparents won’t be able to visit their grandchildren and vice versa.”

Some, however, will not be able to avoid the risk. According to the 2017 National Employment and Social Security Survey by the federal statistics institute Inegi, 65.5% of children aged 6 and under live with their grandparents primarily due to work-related reasons.

Novales added that physical distancing is the only way to keep grandparents safe from Covid-19.

“We must maintain [quarantine] measures over the long term in order to avoid infecting the elderly,” she said.

Source: Milenio (sp)