TREVISO – The flu adds up to Covid. And the results are all in the numbers. About sixty patients, mostly elderly, hospitalized in the hospitals of the Marca per flu syndrome. The director general of Usl 2 Francesco Benazzi summarizes the figures of a seasonal disease that has not yet reached its peak. “Several elderly people, about sixty, with other pathologies are hospitalized in our hospitals only for flu” the general manager articulates. Surely the two years of the pandemic played into all of this, the forced isolation and the use of the mask which have weakened the immune system. The is added highly aggressive virus. In fact, the seasonal flu brought its effects forward by two weeks, forcing many people from Treviso to bed with a fever of up to 39, cough and respiratory problems.
FEW VACCINATIONS
What weighs in this scenario are the few vaccinations administered. DG Benazzi says it clearly: «People believed that getting vaccinated in November was too early. My advice now is clearly to get vaccinated quickly because the flu peak has yet to be recorded. And it will be in early January.’
But there’s another problem. It’s about the kids. Because the flu virus in this phase mainly affects children as evidenced by access to the pediatric emergency room in Treviso with 20-25% more minors accessing the first aid facility. The symptoms are the classic ones of the Covid infection. I mean, major breathing problems. This is why, hand in hand with hospitalizations due to the flu, the swabs processed in the Marca Usl are also increasing. There is talk of 1500 swabs examined every day. These are important numbers that have not been recorded since the end of the second wave of Covid.
THE PROTOCOL
Benazzi explains the protocol that is used in first aid health facilities: «We supply kits where we can immediately take the flu test. Thus it is possible to give an immediate answer to those who arrive in the emergency room if theirs is a flu syndrome or if it is Covid ». In the fight against Covid and the flu, timing is important because it means acting immediately with the most effective therapy to eradicate the virus. But, in the meantime, Covid won’t let go. “There are two people hospitalized in intensive care, one in Treviso and one in Conegliano, but above all we have eight people in pulmonology, therefore certainly, with symptoms related to Covid”.