The emergency is over Covid says theOms. Will we forever archive all the measures against the pandemic still active in Italy? The process will be gradual, but the return to normality on which the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, has been working since he took office will be completed. The use of agile work (from home) for the frail does not depend on him: it expires on June 30, the extension seems unlikely, at least if connected to Covid. Different speech for health measures. An example for all, perhaps the most important: the mandatory five days of isolation for those who are positive, even if asymptomatic. Will this provision be removed? If I have the flu, I stay at home because I’m not well, because I’m careful, because I don’t want to infect other people, but no law requires me not to leave the house. Why can’t this also apply to Covid? In fact, there will be a change in the rules, but not immediately. Not right away. Assessments are being calibrated, because the simple declaration of the end of the pandemic emergency does not eliminate the disease and the dangers that a fragile subject runs if infected.
Covid, from the Wuhan outbreak to the patients at Spallanzani in Rome and the coffins in Bergamo: the stages
RULES
What does the current circular say? It dates back to December 31, it was signed by the director general of health prevention of the Ministry, Gianni Rezza. Recite: those who test positive if they are asymptomatic can come out of isolation after 5 days even without a test; if he is symptomatic he must wait for the symptoms to cease for two days, and then be free after another five. For close contacts, the use of Ffp2 masks is sufficient, but there is no obligation to stay at home. These rules have consequences on the daily life of each of us and on the economy, given that an asymptomatic person will be absent from the workplace for five days. There will be changes, but not immediately, also in light of the numbers released yesterday by the Ministry of Health for the week between April 28 and May 24: 20,822 new positive cases (-10 percent compared to the previous week); the deceased were 166 (+6.4 percent). Well, but if the emergency is over, will we say goodbye to the masks in hospitals or in the RSA? The new rules are written in a recent order from the Ministry of Health, valid for the whole of 2023: the imposition of protective devices in the ward is reduced. But be careful: reduced does not mean eliminated. In various contexts they are still required and there is currently no intention to modify the ordinance despite the WHO decision.
Covid, the WHO declares the end of the pandemic: «The emergency is over. In three years 20 million deaths in the world»
LANE
In summary: if you have to go to a hospital or doctor’s office, bring a mask. The ordinance says: workers, users and visitors to health facilities must wear it “in the wards that house frail, elderly or immunosuppressed patients, especially if with a high intensity of care, identified by the health management”. Clear? The medical director decides and in a hospital, in any department, the chances that there is a frail or elderly patient are very high. In medical practices, the imposition of mask it is at the discretion of the doctors themselves. The ordinance leaves the discretion on the obligation to swab for those who access emergency rooms to health directors and regions. The Ministry’s orientation is to maintain these rules (which protect against all respiratory diseases, not just from Covid) until the ordinance expires (December 31, 2023). on smart working (the extension for the frail and for those with children under 14 expires on June 30) there is no decision, but the end of the emergency will lead to a reflection. What changes immediately, and Rezza decided in a circular yesterday, is the collection of data on Covid: after three years, we will finally limit ourselves to only the essential ones (dissemination of the virus, hospitalizations, deaths, but also sequencing to monitor variants) but all assessments on the various risk factors in the regions end (hopefully forever).
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