At this stage, the epidemic curve finally shows signs of decline. So we have gained a space to reopen something and the school. We continue like this to gain more spaces. Silvio Brusaferro president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanit, spokesperson for the Technical Scientific Committee (CTS), uses a formula soft which, translated, could be read like this. If we want to send the kids back to class we have to give up the rest.
What is the recent scientific evidence in favor of what you call an investment?
School has always been a priority not only in Italy. The World Health Organization has also set up a working table on this issue. In situations where the incidence is high, it is necessary to resort to distance learning, to make it possible for the children to return to the schools the main objective. An important element is age. In younger groups, the infection circulates less and there is a lower risk of transmission to adults. a topic of international debate. Studies tell us that preventive measures are important in face-to-face teaching and that to avoid the increase in incidence we also need a strict control over the activities that revolve around the school, before and after.
always standing the hypothesis of subjecting the pupils every week to new salivary tests, which are easy to perform and quick to respond?
Always new diagnostic tests are emerging but first they must be validated in the field and included in specific programs. Some regions have started with pilot studies. still early to decide, more evidence is needed to understand what the impact of these tools could be. a project to work on, we wait for the data.
Did the bans introduced in March bring the expected benefits?
I would say yes. The growth of the incidence has stopped, we are now at 247 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants compared to 270 per 100 thousand in the previous week. We see a slight decline in RT, from 1.16 to 1.08. We are still above the unit while to start to be calmer we should reach a value significantly below 1. Already next week we expect the curve to go down again. There is a big difference between regions. The goal is to arrive below the threshold of 50 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. At the moment in some territories it seems distant, instead reachable.
Why keep the current restrictions throughout April?
The numbers speak for themselves. The occupancy of beds in intensive care increased from 36 to 39%, as a consequence of the increase in cases. The threshold not to be exceeded is 30%.
Why abolish the yellow zones?
Blame the variants. The English one has greater transmissibility and therefore requires strengthened measures in order to be effectively countered
Better not to dream of the holidays?
We are moving towards the hot season where it will be easier to stay outdoors and this will favor the slowdown in transmission, always maintaining distance, mask and hand hygiene. We can think of holiday periods where we could indulge in some more freedom by treasuring the lesson learned last summer, lived a little too cheerfully.
In which direction are we going?
Thanks to an ever-increasing number of vaccinates, it will become important to carefully monitor variants of Sars-CoV-2 through a sequencing program. The third study on the new strains that are emerging will be released next week. a scenario to live with for a long time.
March 26, 2021 (change March 26, 2021 | 23:40)
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