TREVISO – Another three weeks under the blows of the seasonal flu. The infections continue to multiply. Only in the last week have they been more than 9,000 people from Treviso found themselves in bed with fever, cough and sore throat. Among these, nearly 1,100 children under the age of four. According to the projections of the Local Health Authority, the most critical phase will still last about twenty days. “We expect the peak of the flu can end by 20 January», confirms the general manager Francesco Benazzi. Meanwhile, the Covid alarm is turned on again. With the annexed hypothesis of returning to using masks indoors. In the Treviso area today there are more than 5,300 people in isolation because they are positive for the coronavirus. An account made by default, given that there has been no longer the race for the official swab for some time now. But now it is the reopening of China that is frightening. It is feared that new sub-variants of Covid may have developed in the Asian country, different from those already present in Italy, potentially able to circumvent the partial immunity guaranteed by infections and vaccinations.
Covid point at the airport and mandatory swabs
For this reason the Region has ordered the resumption of the activity of the Covid point also in the Canova airport of Treviso: il swab is mandatory for people from China, even if they have made a stopover elsewhere. “We are able to identify them because we have the lists with the names,” clarified the governor Luca Zaia. The swabs taken at the airport will be processed and sequenced by the Microbiology center of the Treviso hospital, in collaboration with the Venetian experimental zooprophylactic institute. Furthermore, the Local Health Authority of the Marca has undergone the Covid hotel has been reactivated within the former Guicciardini complex in Valdobbiadene (10 beds, for now, ready to go up to 30). Tourists who test positive will be welcomed here for the quarantine period. A circumstance that alarmed the citizens of Valdobbiadene, who turned directly to the mayor Luciano Fregonese, who however assures: “We are not afraid of contagions”. Calm is preached. The fact is that it was the Ministry of Health directly who warned everyone through the latest circular: if the epidemiological picture worsens, it is the substance, the masks will be able to return indoors, the reduction of gatherings and smart working.
Pressure on hospitals
In all of this, the Treviso hospital emergency room remains under pressure more than ever. More than 300 citizens access the emergency area every day. «10% more than the average for the period», underlines Benazzi. The effects of the flu are felt especially among the elderly. Treviso hospitals have already counted the hospitalization of over 50 people at the same time precisely because of the virus. The occupation of beds in the medical and geriatric departments is 100%: it means that every seat that becomes available is occupied on the same day. And there have been at least 4 deaths already reported to the Region’s surveillance system. Finally, as regards Covid, there are almost 110 positive patients hospitalized in Treviso hospitals (including 3 in intensive care). Only a small proportion, however, have respiratory problems. The rest is made up of people (defined as Covid by chance) who went to the hospital for other health reasons and who, once the swab was performed, discovered that they were also positive for the coronavirus. This confirms that the epidemic is becoming endemic.