Covid, when will we say goodbye to quarantine for the positives? While the new rules on indoor masksat work and on public transport, to the virologist Massimo Clementi, director of the Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University of Milan, important words arrive on this topic. According to Clementi ithe next step towards normality in Italy could in fact be the farewell to quarantine even of Sars-CoV-2 positives.
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“In many countries they no longer isolate. And I am also very doubtful about the usefulness of this », says Clementi to the agency beraking latest news Salute. «The next real step towards normality, in my opinion, is the vaccination campaign in autumn, given the failure of this fourth dose» in spring «which has had very low adhesions. And in my opinion, people did well to give themselves this chance for September-October. Otherwise they would have had to revaccinate immediately again, only to be called back again at Christmas, next spring and on like this ». As for the quarantine of positivesClementi asks himself: «What effect does it have on us? The tracing no longer exists and the virus circulates above all among the non-symptomatic ”.
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“Masks in the office, just wear them again”
“It seems that from 1 May we will take a step forward” towards the end of the Covid measures, “with caution for the last few weeks, but certainly there are choices that will also help tourism to recover a little. I agree »with the line adopted on masks,« to maintain the precaution »of the obligation in some contexts, from public transport to hospitals, as in cinemas and theaters,« until late June. I would also take the same precaution in autumn ». And «in the office», where it will only be recommended from May, «I would continue to use the mask anyway, in open spaces or in the presence of other people. As a form of respect. I’m not saying to wear it when you are alone in your room in front of the PC. But doing it in the presence of others, especially now that we also have a time horizon, is a small sacrifice “.
Clementi urges people to consider masks as ‘friends’, not ‘enemies’ to be eliminated. «Then everyone is free to do what he wants – he points out – but I hope that people have now been informed about the usefulness of the mask at certain times. They should not see them as a negative thing, but as something to be used when needed, as an accessory of everyday life, like sunglasses, as a defense that defends. I am in the office using it and will use it. I’m not saying to get to the absurdity of keeping it while driving alone in the car, that has always been useless », she smiles. As for the loosening on the Green pass that takes effect on May 1st, «I would have done it even before, the most difficult thing to understand remained – concludes the virologist – The role of inviting to vaccination had already been played in the first weeks of application. Right now it’s just a non-useful measure. It is right not to be bound to show it any more ».
“Covid today is a different disease, no to extraordinary measures”
«Today with Covid we are seeing a different disease, a disease that is characterized by many asymptomatic or slightly symptomatic infections of the upper airways, and which is no longer the one we knew in the first year of the pandemic. So I would be surprised that extraordinary measures were taken for an epidemic of this type»as for example happens in China where there are currently dozens of cities, with millions and millions of people in lockdown, adds Clementi.
Precisely for this reason, the expert welcomes the easing of the latest measures. «It’s okay to keep swabbing because» the progress of this epidemic «we have to keep it under control, and the fact of having a diagnostic feedback is important, but in a while it will no longer be like this». «We will have to continue to do so until the autumn, because that will be the time when we will have to decide who to vaccinate, whether to vaccinate high-risk people again, we will have to understand how much the virus will be present at that time and how much it will affect hospitals.»lists the virologist.
But he also wants to specify: «There is no surprise» in the way the virus is evolving, with the flood of subvariants and recombinants of Omicron. His «is a perfectly expected evolution, which does not derail the virus outside of Omicron, rather it underlines how the evolution of Omicron was an evolution that somehow adapted the virus to the new host, to man, and clearly some advantage the virus had to receive in return and received greater ease of transmission. But it was a virus that, if you like, immunized people with the vaccine».
Those who fear the arrival of a Covid variant that will go back to its more ‘bad’ versions as a risk that will continue for a long time into the future «he should say when he saw such an event – Clementi objects – A new virus that reaches man the worst of himself gives it when it arrives. Then over time it adapts. There has never been a reverse of the virus and I think we will not see it, due to the adaptation to the new host. I’m worried about other viruses, for example bird flu, what might happen next. There have been very important outbreaks in recent times, passed almost in silence, which instead should be monitored very well because we must prevent new ‘spillovers’ from happening.»jumps of species, «from nature to man in the future».
Last updated: Friday 29 April 2022, 16:52
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