Covid, leap of the virus at school: one in four positive is under the age of 19

From a fifth to a quarter of the total cases. With the reopening of schools, the percentage of infections among students has increased. The data are from the Higher Institute of Health, which reports that in the last week the percentage of citizens between 0 and 19 years infected with the coronavirus has gone from 20 to 24% of new diagnoses “probably due to the reopening of schools and increased activity screening carried out within school structures “.

The Institute explained that “13% of school-age cases were diagnosed in children under the age of five, 38% in the 5-11 age group, 48% in the 12-19 age group”.

Yesterday there were 171,263 new cases and for the second consecutive day the number of ordinary beds occupied by patients affected by Covid fell: they were 43 fewer. Same trend also in resuscitation (-31 beds).

On the other hand, the number of deaths remains high: 333 people lost their lives to the virus in one day. The deaths since the beginning of January are almost 5,900, 2,100 in the current week alone. After taking away an entire generation of over 80s, Covid is now killing seventy-year-olds. Most of the victims in the last few days (never less than 300 every 24 hours) are due to the more aggressive Delta or Delta plus variant but also Omicron can be fatal, especially for people who are no longer young, at risk for other diseases and not vaccinated.

“It is very dangerous to let the message, also conveyed by some colleagues, that the Covid from Omicron is little more than a cold. Unfortunately in the ward we see something else,” he says. Massimo Andreoni, head of infectious disease at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome.

Also the Higher Institute of Health yesterday announced that the rate of admissions in intensive care for the over 12 is 31.3 cases per 100 thousand unvaccinated people, that is about 39 times higher than those vaccinated with the booster dose ( 0.8 per 100 thousand).

When hospitalizations in ordinary beds are taken into account, the unvaccinated end up about 12 times more in hospital than people who have received even the third dose.