With the Delta variant in circulation in Italy, “the backlash will come. Hopefully, if we are lucky, serious cases will not increase in proportion to the contagion”. Fabrizio Pregliasco he says he is convinced, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, of the upcoming surge in Covid cases for the Delta and Delta Plus variant also in our country. The virologist at the State University of Milan and medical director of the Galeazzi Institute in Milan underlines that “the variants identified are now 700, some have minimal differences, but the worrying ones are 4. Others are under observation. And the Indian variant, the Delta, which mixed with the South African one has also become Delta plus, is more contagious and a little nastier ”.
“In England – she explains – which was the first to open everything and leave the virus free, the variant is causing 15,000 cases a day. But the deaths are between 10 and 20. Not the average of 300 a day as in the past. Symptoms are more or less the same, but there is no longer the loss of smell and severe cases are more frequent. Some vaccinated people are also infected. But those who have already taken the two doses rarely have serious effects For this reason the invitation, even more intense, is to get vaccinated ”.
As for the use of masks, whether it is necessary to remove them or not, Pregliasco gives the example of Israel, “where the Delta variant is increasing infections and which is already afraid of putting them back on. There is no manual. However, it is difficult to manage the masks outdoors. At least let’s keep them indoors. The more mobility there is, the more contacts there are, the more contagion there is. In the disco you can dance, talk loudly, because there is loud music. The conditions for new outbreaks are there. We have already seen some of them in gyms. Whether to reopen them will depend on the political choice. I fear it will come to the opening. We hope that at least the green pass becomes mandatory. But done right. With a real check, not like last year: the boys gave fake phone numbers. And then the contagion started again ”.
The children, the virologist specifies, “together with the children they proved to be the main vector. Those that had serious consequences were 1% of the total. The deaths up to the age of 18 were 26. The goal is always the same: to avoid illness, hospitalization and long Covid, the consequences that 20% of patients carry with them for a long time. In addition to breathing difficulties, there are also worrying psychological aspects. A lower heat tolerance was even noted. They are consequences of problems in the thermoregulation center at the level of the brain. We must avoid that the children are transformed into greasers for fragile people. And the recommendation is to convince even those who have not yet been vaccinated. The hubs made big numbers. Now we have to work hard ”.