As in other European countries, cases of coronavirus positivity are starting to rise again in Italy and Emilia Romagna. In the province of Forlì-Cesena people travel at the rate of over 500 infections a day. The perpetrators, the scientific authorities agree, are the new variants of the virus, such as Omicron 5 (BA.5), which is continuing to gain ground on other forms of Covid-19. The prevailing symptoms are fever, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, severe colds and sore throats. But there are also those who are struggling with gastrointestinal disorders and some form of pneumonia. The new wave of infections, explains the director of Infectious Diseases, Francesco Cristiniis attributable “to the very high contagiousness of the new variant which is progressively gaining ground”.
Doctor Cristini, what is the situation in terms of hospitalizations?
On Monday 20 June, 131 patients with positive swabs for Sars-Cov-2 hospitalized in Romagna were a significant leap forward compared to 98 seven days earlier, which was the lowest number in recent months. On Friday the cases of hospitalized patients rose to 159, 23 in the hospital of Forlì. The scenario of patients admitted with positive swabs has not changed significantly in terms of patient types, they are simply increasing.
What clinical picture do the patients present?
I am talking about patients with positive swab for Sars-Cov-2, and not Covid-19 for good reason, because the vast majority of patients are hospitalized for other health reasons and are found to be positive for screening swabs that are done at the entrance . If the cases of infection, not necessarily of disease, increase significantly in the community, it is clear that even in the emergency room the findings increase, and therefore increase infected patients in hospital.
Omicron 5 is indeed very contagious, but it does not seem to lead to serious consequences. Is this observation correct?
Observation responds to the reality of things. The more this virus changes, the more contagious it becomes and the more the immunity of people who have already contracted the infection and who have been vaccinated, evades. Omicron 5 seems to behave like this, but it is also true that in the face of a truly substantial increase in infections we are witnessing, clinical severity is increasingly a rare event, and the number of serious cases in relation to total cases is more low than ever. It should also be considered that for some months patients can be treated at home with effective drugs, if taken early for the mild-moderate form of Covid-19, and which can also be prescribed by the family doctor.
Is it possible to re-infect oneself after a few weeks with this new variant?
Certainly, we are observing it without great doubts. As anticipated, the latest variant infects those who have been vaccinated, those who have become infected and also those who have re-infected with different variants than the one that is taking hold now. In a nutshell, this latest variant is spreading in a population that is now largely immunized, with vaccines or naturally, but it finds in this widespread immunity a powerful barrier to severe forms of disease.
Is the vaccine proving effective?
It is precisely this marked reduction in the clinical impact of the virus, in terms of the severity of the disease, the main result of the vaccination campaign, but also of the continuous immune “boosters” given by infections and re-infections. is rapidly spreading now in the population is ultimately encountering an increasingly immune-protected population, which is therefore able to protect itself from severe forms of disease.
In light of this scenario, what advice can you give to citizens?
In this summer in which all the precautions against contagion have now fallen and in which the population has an uncontrollable desire for normality, it is really very difficult to make further recommendations of prudence and limitations of freedoms. But in the face of a real and substantial increase in cases, at least protecting the most fragile people, for example in one’s family or work unit, must be the last recommendation to fall.