Covid in Italy, to date “the end of the state of emergency cannot be confused with the end of the pandemic, which instead follows the trend of the virus. And the virus does not obey the laws, it goes about its own business. “This was explained to time.news Salute by Filippo Anelli, president of the National Federation of Medical Orders (Fnomceo), who comments on the trend of Covid-19 in Italy photographed by latest monitoring by the Ministry of Health and the Higher Institute of Health. “The situation is not good, it raises many concerns in us. The departments are still full and there is no decrease that we would have liked. Of course, we expected a recovery. But in such a consistent way and without there being a real descent “of the curves” a little worries us “.
“The end of the state of emergency – he reasons – is a provision of an administrative and technical nature, which implies not using some tools that the Government had in derogation of certain legal provisions, and which allowed a somewhat faster management. of this activity today passes to the Regions and the Government will have to use ordinary tools also for the management of the pandemic. But the pandemic, no, that is not over “.
Is there a danger of a return to dark times? “The anti-Covid vaccinations have worked and are working – notes Anelli – and for this reason, despite the infections being so high, the number of hospitalizations and especially of deaths is not comparable to that of the first waves. From this it follows that it is appropriate to carry out a strong campaign to entice citizens to take the third dose if they have not done so and not vaccinated to get vaccinated. Because the risk of getting pneumonia, or experiencing major complications, is high. We must therefore push further on vaccinations “.
COUNTING – “It must be said that the data of Covid infections today are underestimated. They are the data that come out of monitoring, from a contact tracing that we know to be totally skipped. There is the ‘do it yourself’ on the tests and with the do-it-yourself everyone decides what they want to do, whether or not to communicate the positivity to the virus, whether to quit or isolate themselves. Which is why we assume that the figures are much higher “.
There is a lot of submerged contagion at the moment, in his opinion. A phenomenon on which the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global warning in recent days. “This – explains Anelli – also reverberates on the number of hospitalizations that have increased in the medical area and on the number of intensive care hospitalizations that do not go down. And obviously also on the number of deaths. Since February 24, since Ukraine was invaded, Italy has also paid 6 thousand deaths: they are those of Covid “.
APPEAL TO LIABILITY – What could be decisive to ensure that the phase following the end of the Covid state of emergency is successful? “We are left with the citizens’ sense of responsibility”, Filippo Anelli told time.news Salute. “Because I believe that the State and the Regions have made their choices and launched a season in which the economy and social aspects have a prevalence over anything else. As doctors we can only appeal to the sense of responsibility of the Italians. Let’s be careful, “he warns.
Would it have been better to postpone the last easing of measures adopted? “Perhaps waiting another month would have been appropriate, considering that we could have taken advantage of the arrival of the summer that tries to free us from the virus – concludes Anelli – Maybe we were a little too optimistic? But we cannot say this with hindsight. “
FOURTH DOSE – There is an international push on the fourth dose of Covid vaccine. And the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, does well to coordinate with his European peers to decide on a common strategy. It makes no sense to run to whoever is better, who arrives first. There is an interest on the part of several nations in making the fourth dose especially in the most fragile, the over eighty and over seventy year olds. And I believe that, if the “Covid” numbers continue to be so high, this campaign must be launched now “, not in the fall.
“The fourth dose will have to be decided and it seems that it will be done next week. We in Italy – he remembers – have started it for immunosuppressed people in the reference centers where they are followed. The only concern of the doctors was only to understand whether to postpone the treatment. campaign in early autumn, possibly with a vaccine also updated to the Omicron and Omicron 2 variants, would have helped – reasons Anelli – The invitation I can make to citizens is to follow the instructions of the white coats which, as we have seen so far, have worked . We do what will be decided, because the decisions are not far-fetched, but are the result of a long study and a long reflection. There are a series of resistances, but beliefs not supported by scientific data must be debunked “.
“A booster dose – he specifies – simply means raising the number of antibodies: it is as if one came into contact with the virus without taking the disease, but strongly developing an antibody reaction. The fourth dose would have this meaning: it is a booster which further stimulates the organism. It is not unnatural nor does it cause great reactions. It would be useful in this respect “.