Omicron variant in Puglia and Italy. Pier Luigi Lopalco reaffirms his convictions on infections and also makes a forecast for the next few months: “I think we have reached the peak of the pandemic after the Befana, we are getting out of it, I really think so. Like that next month there will be no more ”, he commented to the microphones of ‘A sheep’s day’ on Rai Radio 1.
The former regional health councilor then added: “I do not want to make too optimistic forecasts but I believe that in the spring we will be able to deal with a new situation, with the population largely vaccinated or in contact with the virus”. A position quite close to that of the director of Infectious Diseases at the San Martino hospital in Genoa, Matteo Bassetti, according to whom in early spring Italy will have achieved herd immunity.
According to Lopalco, at that point, there would also be margins for a limitation in the use of protective devices: “Take off the masks too? As a trend, yes, but we always have to wait for the data “.
Just today, Puglia recorded the highest number of daily infections (over 12400), even if the recount in progress for a few days of the antigenic swabs carried out since 1 January makes it difficult to understand if in recent days the daily data have produced even higher numbers. However, Lopalco is convinced that the maximum point of the curve has been reached: “We must continue to consolidate the data until the end of the month, but the peak, intended as the maximum point of the epidemic curve, I believe has been reached,” he said yesterday at the ‘beraking latest news health.
At the same news agency, the epidemiologist also had his say on the quarantine protocols and control swabs: “‘tweaks’ are not enough. I am convinced that we must review all the rules, both of quarantine and isolation related to Covid. The scenario has profoundly changed, we cannot use the same indications. Today we are dealing with a different virus. By now Omicron is the variant that is circulating in our country. And we have a population of 90% vaccinated. We cannot ignore these two. elements and apply the same rules, just modified, that we applied when the Alpha or Delta variant circulated, in a much less vaccinated population “.
“By doing only ‘tweaks’ – he added – we risk creating more damage, with the rules, than benefits for public health. For example: can we finally avoid swabbing out of quarantine? This indication overloads the molecular testing system. And for the unsanitary, if we make them, we are aware that they are of little use. The public health authority tells us that with two or three doses of the vaccine, continuing to have trivial rules of precaution, such as not going to visit immunosuppressed people if you have had contact or symptoms, you can be free to live . You are not a prisoner at home waiting for a certificate. “
According to Lopalco, the endemic phase is now upon us, so there is a need for a change of management: “We must absolutely move towards an endemic management of the virus. This is because: number one, the citizen is made responsible and, number two, the ‘entire health care is de-bureaucratized. At the moment our local health authorities are dying of bureaucracy on quarantines, isolations, reservations, returns. This was a management that could have been fine when outbreaks had to be stemmed, today it is no longer good. The virus is endemic. “.
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