Less than a month after Christmas, with the risk of the yellow zone due to the increase in infections in more than one region and with the specter of the Omicron variant, holidays conditioned by Covid are still ahead, with rules, measures and restrictions. Some experts still advise against long tables, kisses and hugs for this year, keeping children at a distance from grandparents. Others advise caution, but remember the importance of vaccination and the third dose.
LOPALCO: “REDUCED RISK FROM CONTACTS WITH GRANDCHILDREN FOR VACCINATED GRANDPARENTS”
“During the Christmas holidays if the grandparents are vaccinated, the risk compared to contact with the grandchildren is greatly reduced. If dad and mom are vaccinated, even more. If the grandchildren were also vaccinated it would be the best, but still the vaccine for the little ones are not available. This year, however, the family Christmas dinner can be more peaceful than last year, “he told Adnkronos Salute. Pier Luigi Lopalco, epidemiologist and former health councilor of Puglia.
BASSETTI: “WE RUN WITH GRANDPARENTS WITH THIRD DOSES”
On the same line Matteo Bassetti. “It is clear that we must push the third doses to the grandparents and recover with the first doses. But Christmas must be what we have always known, with hugs and spending it with loved ones – points out dnkronos Salute – Maybe we avoid dinners with dozens and dozens of people, but our grandparents have suffered too much “. While for Christmas shopping, Bassetti is against the obligation of outdoor masks, a measure that many cities are adopting. “If we want to make city centers safe, we do not go back with the obligation of the mask on the outside, but we decide – he suggests – for shopping only with the Green pass”.
GISMONDO: “VERY SERIOUS EVERY HUG A GRANDFATHER MISSED AT CHRISTMAS”
“I think that a missed hug to a grandfather, a relative, at Christmas time is very very serious from a social and psychological point of view”. Maria Rita Gismondo, director of the Laboratory of clinical microbiology, virology and diagnostics of bioemergencies at the Sacco hospital in Milan. “I believe that we have vaccinated ourselves to gain some serenity – observes Gismondo at Adnkronos Salute – If it is true that we can get infected” although immunized against Sars-CoV-2, “it is also true that this vaccine has promised us to save us from death and the severe form of “sickness,” as it is doing quite well. So “yes the mask – he recommends – yes the distancing, but let’s not exaggerate. Let’s not divide what society has built over the centuries”.
ANDREONI: “FOR CHRISTMAS SEPARATE TABLES GRANDPARENTS AND GRANDCHILDREN”
More drastic Massimo Andreoni, head of infectious disease at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome and scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit), for which “we must not be pessimistic, you can also go with your loved ones, but respecting some rules that are the ones we know. The fact of meeting among vaccinated people reduces the risk of infection even if it does not exclude it. The first piece of advice I can give is to create a safety ‘cordon’ for the elderly and the frail, for example for lunches and dinners think of separate tables between grandchildren and grandparents “. “It is better then to wear a mask and, when possible, always keep a certain distance, especially in moments of maximum celebration. If we are cautious and careful this Christmas we will be able to celebrate it with the family”, concludes Andreoni.
MINELLI: “CHRISTMAS WITH THE FAMILY ONLY IF ALL WITH AT LEAST DOUBLE DOSE”
“To repeat sic et simpliciter the same scenario as last year would be an error, especially in terms of communication. For the Christmas lunch, net of more or less justifiable quarantines, we must reconsider the family environment on the basis of experience. experience for us, all, vaccines must be. If we have elderly or frail people they will be able to come into contact with others only when vaccinated, better in an environment where everyone has been immunized with a double dose, even the very young, and even better if over 60 received the third dose “, the immunologist stresses to Adnkronos Health Mauro Minelli, responsible for Southern Italy of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine. “In the event that there are under 12 not vaccinated or not yet, it would be advisable, for prudential reasons, to avoid close or direct contacts and above all for a long time – warns Minelli -. None of us imagine the concerns of a year ago, but protective measures must be adopted. Indoor mask, well-ventilated rooms and a limited number of guests at the table would be common sense signals that can still help us, waiting for universal vaccination to show the benefits of its course “.
Finally, Minelli is aimed at those who still have doubts about vaccines. “For all those who say ‘then what do you get vaccinated if you take Covid the same way’: the vaccine does not produce buffer barriers against which the virus breaks down and disintegrates. The vaccine avoids symptomatic disease, its complications and death – he remarks – The question would, if anything, be of another kind: why allow the virus to continue to circulate and therefore to mutate, especially in environments frequented by guests who are not all homogeneously garnished with adequate immune defenses, given that there is a possibility of blocking its run really?”.
RICCIARDI: “WITH GRANDCHILDREN AT CHRISTMAS LUNCH BEWARE OF GRANDPARENTS WITHOUT THIRD DOSE”
Is Christmas separated between grandparents and grandchildren who have not yet been vaccinated? “It is not necessary but it will have to be a ‘careful’ Christmas. Because the elderly who have not taken the third dose, or are particularly fragile, run the risk of becoming infected. some precautions, we can indulge in peaceful parties “, says Adnkronos Salute Walter Ricciardi, consultant to the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza and teacher of Hygiene.
Ricciardi reiterates the importance of prudence. “It is clear that children who cannot be vaccinated at the moment, with the circulation speed of the Delta variant – and probably Omicron, hoping it will not spread so much – are at risk of infections because the contagiousness is such that if they are not respected safety distances in classrooms (and it is very difficult to do so) infection is possible. This means that when children come into contact with unprotected relatives there is danger “.
CAUDA (GEMINI): “GUESTS MAKE TAMPONE”
“The caution in the elderly must not fail, even beyond Christmas lunch. Being vaccinated must not exempt us from using all possible precautions, masks and spacing”. It is the warning of Roberto Cauda, director of infectious diseases of the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome. “It is then clear” that these attentions “must be declined in individual situations. We cannot prevent the Christmas lunch – affirms the infectious disease specialist at Adnkronos Salute – but evidently the larger the audience, the higher theoretically the risk is . Vaccination works – underlines Cauda – but it works the more one is vaccinated with the third dose, that is, even those who have completed the vaccination but completed it for a few months, especially if elderly, have a greater risk of having some harm from some virus transmission “.
However, “there is no absolute rule on what you can do or not do. Of course – says the expert – a little kiss to the grandfather, even if it is to thank the gift received, perhaps it could be avoided. a little further away bearing in mind – he highlights – that there is a proportion of young people over 12 and all those under 12 who are not yet vaccinated and among whom, according to the Higher Institute of Health, the virus circulates a lot. even a couple of tampons, especially for people who may have a cold, to avoid risks “.
#Christmas #Covid #rules #experts