Rome, April 5, 2022 – “The legal emergency is over, but not the health one”. He says it, or rather he writes it on Twitter, Walter Ricciardi. Via social networks the professor of Hygiene at the Catholic University and advisor to the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza for the pandemic Covid, issues a warning: “We are tired of the virus but he is not tired of us”. To understand what could happen in Italy with the end of the restrictions, Ricciardi looks to Great Britain, where “many health workers are thinking of quitting their jobs exasperated by an obtuse politics that unloads on them the weight of the fake freedom illusory given to their citizens”. The words are commented on a post by the colleague, Jon Restell, exponent of a union of the health management, which speaks of the difficulties of the health system. “Covid is not endemic, it has not turned into something milder”.
Ricciardi also cites the epidemiologist and health economist, Eric Feigl-Ding, head of a large American research institute. He is also dealing with the English case. On Twitter he writes about the current trend of hospitalizations for Covid in England. “Hospitalizations from Omicron 2 they passed the peak of the old Omicron, which was only three weeks ago. Really a lot for a strategy based onimmunity of herd“, writes attaching a graph. The epidemiologist also shows the trend of deaths from Covid, which is growing.” Not to alarm, the weekly hospitalizations among the over 85 exceed the peak of the first wave, that of 2020 “. And this is due to the “contagiousness of Omicron 2”.
As an economist, Feigl-Ding also cites the economic consequences of a policy without any kind of restrictions. An example for all to see is what happened a few hours ago at theairport Of Heathrow, when “hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed due to the many absences of airline staff for Covid”. In the tweet the images of the chaos at the airport. “Free all – he asks – is it really good for the economy?”.
The case of Heathrow is taken up by Ricciardi: “The freedom guaranteed by ignoring the danger of a very contagious virus sooner or later you will pay dearly both from a health and economic point of view”.
Covid hospitalizations: data in Italy
The warning of the councilor of Speranza follows the last ones data on hospitalizations in Italy. According to the latest monitoring Agents the employment rate of patients Covid in the ordinary departments, + 1% compared to the day before. In seven regions it is already over 20%. Umbria is the region with the highest employment, at 40%, followed by Calabria (34%), Sicily (27%), Basilicata (26%), Marche (24%), Puglia (23%) and Abruzzo ( 22%). The lowest employment rate is recorded in Veneto and Piedmont, at 9%. On the other hand, intensive care employment remained stable at 5%, with Sardinia having the highest rate (12%), followed by Lazio, Tuscany and Puglia (8%). However, the gap remains enormous with last year, when in the same period the ordinary wards were occupied at 43%, and the intensive care at 41%.