Matteo Bassetti returns to speak in an interview with Libero in which he asks for the establishment of a commission of inquiry into Covid relating to the number of deaths in 2022. But it also touches on another theme, that of a possible descent into politics, albeit not in the elections of 25 September. On the calculation of deaths in the pandemic, the infectious disease specialist of San Martino di Genova states that we are at a crossroads: either “we are counting with wrong parameters, which were fine in the first waves and which, now, do not take into account how much the virus has changed , or we got it all wrong and the responses put in place to stem the pandemic did not work “. “I believe that a correct estimate is around 20%”, explains Bassetti.
The fact is that “a positive swab is enough to categorize a death as ‘covid death’. This is not the case”, says the infectious disease specialist who sees, in this phenomenon, a “wrong message being given on the vaccine front”, because “a person can be led to think: ‘So what do I vaccinate for, you die anyway’. That’s not the case. We have to say it loud and clear “.
Then the direct question: “Would you be willing to be the Minister of Health?”. “We need a change of course. The Ministry of Health needs a technician, an expert. Two and a half years of emergency have explained it all too well: we cannot afford to have a person who takes six months to understand how the machine. We need someone who puts the keys in the panel and starts. Otherwise it will be a disaster “, is the premise of Bassetti who does not close the hypothesis. Then he explains: “I am a statesman. I work in a public university. I would be honored with such a position and I would carry it out with pride if they asked me. And I say this regardless of the party matters in which I do not want to enter because I am not my field “, says the infectious disease specialist. He then adds: “The name does not matter. Whether it is Matteo Bassetti or someone else, amen. The important thing is to find a capable and competent person. The Ministry of Health is now strategic, like that of the Economy”.
