Coronavirus infections continue to grow in the United Kingdom, where the peak of 45,140 daily cases was recorded yesterday. A trend that experts are watching carefully especially in light of the lifting of restrictions and anti-Covid measures in the UK. And we wonder what the future of Green pass and masks will be in Italy.
In the UK “there is a significant increase in” Covid “hospitalizations among the youngest (34% higher than in January), although the number of deaths remains low. In the coming weeks, following the United Kingdom, we will see better the impact of the free circulation of the virus on hospitalizations, deaths and especially on children’s health, “he says Antonella Viola, immunologist at the University of Padua, reporting “a graph of hospital admissions by age group” in the UK, “which shows how they are at maximum levels in the population 0-14 years, those who have not been vaccinated” against the Sars coronavirus -CoV-2.
Observing the English trend, explains the scientist on Facebook, will help answer “one of the most sensible questions we can ask ourselves these days”, and that “concerns the conditions that will lead to the end of the emergency and therefore the rules in place, Green pass included. When will we be able to get rid of the Green pass and masks? There are those who are starting again to launch numbers on the percentages of vaccinated, but I believe – Viola emphasizes – that we must consider an important aspect: at the moment all children under 12 are not vaccinable and it is up to the community to protect them “. And the warning comes precisely from “what is happening in the UK, where the restrictions have long since disappeared”.
“Italy has had a rigorous attitude towards the pandemic while the UK has done, and is doing, exactly the opposite, by circulating the virus and today we see the consequences. They have removed all kinds of security measures, they have started late to take the second dose. We instead proceeded more cautiously and carefully. Now, looking at the peak of cases recorded in the United Kingdom, there is a thought of concern. It is the signal that if you give up the virus is ready to restart and, if a bad variant arrives, we too are at risk “. He points this out to Adnkronos Salute Massimo Andreoni, head of Infectious Diseases at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome and scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit).
“So the containment measures, from the use of the mask indoors to the distancing, are still needed – he recommends – But given the numbers in the United Kingdom, perhaps it would be useful for Europe to make itself heard, perhaps even putting back the quarantine of a week for those who arrives in Italy “from across the Channel.
“The commitment to reduce the circulation of the coronavirus must be global – remarks Andreoni – Italy is doing well and the results can be seen, the country has restarted and the impact on the epidemic curve has been seen little. But it is necessary that all countries move to vaccinate their population with a double dose and that even more is done to immunize the poorest countries. The speech – concludes the infectious specialist – is always the same: if the virus circulates freely, there is a risk that more aggressive variant. We cannot afford it and everything must be done to avoid it “.
“The British have chosen a different philosophy from ours, they have lifted all the restriction measures for months. Since July they no longer use the mask, before reaching vaccination coverage similar to ours. We, on the other hand, with lead feet and small steps, at the end of December, between vaccinated and immune, we can reach 90% of the general population “he tells Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa, on the peak of Covid infections in the United Kingdom.
“From the beginning of 2022 we could therefore also say goodbye to other measures such as the Green pass and the mask indoors or outdoors – adds Bassetti – So on the peak of cases recorded in the United Kingdom I say: let’s look at our home. the strategy we have put in place to date “.
“On the English numbers – he explains – it is then necessary to pay attention: it is true that there has been a surge in infections, higher than in July; but then, if we see the hospitalizations and deaths, they are not proportionately so high. About 145 deaths , but it is a country that traveled with over 1,000 deaths a day “.
For the clinical immunologist and allergist Mauro Minelli, coordinator for Southern Italy of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine, the boom in Covid cases in the United Kingdom “must urge us to act quickly on the paths of the third dose” of vaccine, “outside the algebraic alchemy of those who, perhaps, try to get by by referring to the number of antibodies personally recovered after the two doses. We would do well from now on to avoid improbable reading of complex phenomena with the simplistic approach of those who know the tables. Immunology and its dynamics are very complicated , and do not lend themselves to cheap interpretations. Let us base ourselves on the evidence, and there are strong ones, which show that, 6 months after the second dose, the effective coverage against Sars-CoV-2 drops from 40 and up to beyond 90%, and that against the severe form of Covid from 65 to 90% “.
“In Italy the peak of vaccinations was reached in late spring – he remembers – so we could be close to a new resurgence of the Covid phenomenon, as it seems to be happening in the United Kingdom. With the third dose we have the possibility to maintain our primacy, since it is a particular year for Italy, in which we have repeatedly invited the British to ‘taste spaghetti’. Large-scale vaccination has led us to the top places in the world for Covid resistance ‘, if we want to say so “.
“Last year – Minelli recalls – we were astonished to see a dizzying escalation in the number of infections and hospitalizations, while now the trend appears completely reversed, with decreasing numbers. In mid-October 2020 the Government was discussing curfews or yellow zones and red; today we are discussing the more or less general reopening of all places, clubs and public structures. I said that it was a year of redemption for Italy, extraordinary things have happened in sport (the victory of the European football) and even unthinkable in athletics, with historical and unprecedented successes in speed disciplines. A rescue from the pandemic would not be bad. expert.
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