Masks have been fundamental in recent years, but the new epidemiological situation and immunization achieved with vaccinations and natural immunity present new scenarios. They remain a recommended tool for fragile subjects especially in hospitals and in nursing homes. This is the opinion of scientific societies in view of a relaxation of the mandatory use of masks in health facilities, expiring on April 30, announced by the Minister of Health Schillaci. “It is necessary to distinguish the situations – comments Claudio Cricelli, President of the Italian Society of General Medicine and Primary Care (Simg) – on the one hand there are sensitive and critical places where a high risk of contagion of Covid still lurks, in particular for elderly and vulnerable people; on the other hand, there are places where this prohibition no longer makes sense, because the world around these environments is totally devoid of any protection with masks. It is advisable to still maintain restrictions in places where they concentrate people at the highest risk, including some specific sectors of hospital facilities and some residential places such as nursing homes where external entry can carry contagion from visitors”.
“Currently the serious complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection are fortunately rare, thanks to the large-scale vaccination campaign carried out in our country – says Lorenzo Palleschi, President of the Italian Society of Geriatrics, Hospital and Territory (Sigot) – however , the so-called fragile patients, who have a reduced ability to respond and react to disturbing agents, both external and internal, i.e. immunodeficient patients, oncohaematological patients, patients suffering from severe organ failure such as renal or respiratory failure, patients in general suffering from several chronic pathologies at the same time and patients of very advanced age – for these categories it would be desirable to maintain a high level of vigilance”.
According to Marco Falcone, Secretary of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases “today the epidemiological situation is different for numerous reasons: there is an almost total immunization of the population between vaccines and natural immunity; the circulation of the virus remains limited; variants continue to prevail that do not cause serious illness. Therefore, there is no need for the mandatory use of masks, which have a more limited role than in the past”.
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