The Mayor of Salto, Dr. Andrés Lima, spoke at the closing table of the Covid 19 Interdisciplinary Space Conference of the University of the Republic, together with the local university headquarters. The main theme of the final table was the relations between science and politics in times of COVID-19.
decisions
What has been approved?
Lima expressed that, “Since the pandemic and the declaration of a health emergency, the national government, and every provincial government, has faced a practically unprecedented situation and had to rely on science to make very important decisions. In Salto’s case, some of those decisions were closing customer service offices, re-establishing Structuring services for citizens, restricting public transportation to reduce mobility, closing thermal centers, closing neighborhood fairs, but also measures to support vulnerable sectors most vulnerable to the health emergency.
coordinated actions
and together
The mayor emphasized that collaborative work has been created between the county government and the department’s reference institutions, and a very strong synergy with the academic sector, strengthening relations with the University of the Republic. In turn, he valued “supporting the work of the Virology Laboratory at the Salto Headquarters at the University of the Republic, which has begun processing diagnostic tests for Covid-19. Coordination between Intendancy and Asse, with Cecoed as a hinge tool between all departmental level reference institutions to contain the spread of infection. The important task that was undertaken was health monitoring at the border crossing and at the center located at the northern tip of the Dayman Bridge.
lessons learned
The mayor stressed “the joint work between the public and private sectors to establish a scientifically based protocol approved by the Ministry of Public Health that allowed the reopening of the thermal centers on July 15, 2020. Installation of vaccination and mobile clinics. Vaccination indoors, with logistical support provided by Intendancy, in order Accelerate the vaccination campaign.” “From our role as a constituency government we have some lessons learned, of course, the importance of teamwork, synergies, the results we can achieve if we work together. Therefore, a healthy two-way relationship between science and policy is fundamental. We must add then , that if we ask science and academia to be in the country’s most difficult moments and give answers, then we cannot withdraw resources.He concluded that the University of the Republic must be decisively supported and the resources allocated to the public research system should be improved.
