Mask at work, still mandatory in the private sector (until 30 June) and recommended in the public sector. What do the experts think?
To find it “absolutely inconceivable” is Maria Rita Gismondo, director of the Laboratory of clinical microbiology, virology and bio-emergency diagnostics at the Sacco hospital in Milan. “The risk of the virus – she tells Adnkronos Health – is there or is not there, regardless of whether a person works at a public counter or in a private office”. “As always, we are faced with choices of a political-trade union type” and not of a scientific nature, observes the expert. “Evidently – she adds – the bureaucracy, employment contracts, prevent the acceptance of a transversal measure” such as the fall of the obligation of the protective device.
According to Matteo Bassetti this “is the umpteenth demonstration that the measures concerning the health sector, today, in Italy, are not taken by experts and doctors, but by politics. At this rate, to overcome the limitations that covid has imposed on us, we it will take ten years. Other than returning to normal “, said the virologist, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic at the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa, in an interview with the newspaper ‘Libero’ explaining that” our system has gone haywire, it’s like a crazy pinball machine. So we don’t get out. ” “Nothing is achieved now, in May 2022, by continuing with the obligation of masks in private workplaces,” he added.
“Knowing that there are versions of the” coronavirus “Sars-CoV-2 in circulation that can infect even those who have recovered for a few weeks”, such as Omicron 4 and 5 (BA.4 and BA.5) and BA.2.12 .1, “must encourage us to be cautious in giving up the mask. Let’s use it even where it is not mandatory, for ourselves and for others”, recommends Antonella Violaimmunologist at the University of Padua and scientific director of the pediatric research institute Città della Speranza.
“I am thinking, for example, of shops and supermarkets”, explains the expert on Facebook: “We stay in them for a maximum of half an hour and therefore the mask is not a sacrifice for us, but cashiers and shop assistants spend the day there, contact with hundreds of customers – he underlines – and we can all help them and make them feel safer in their workplace. It doesn’t take much “.
The differences in the use of masks on indoor workplaces in the public and private “are incomprehensible because it is not that in the first there is no risk of getting infected and in the second yes”. So at Adnkronos Salute 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), speaks on the case of indoor masks. What worries the infectious disease specialist is “the confusion generated in Italians with these messages, so they have the feeling that the device is no longer needed”.
“The epidemiological situation is quite under control, certainly a greater commitment on the vaccination campaign for third and fourth doses would be needed, but dwelling on a single measure such as that of the obligation of masks seems absurd to me. Above all it seems absurd to differentiate between public and private, I believe that today the obligation should be only in the hospital and in the RSA. Always remembering that we must be cautious so if you work in a crowded environment or with fragile colleagues I would recommend the mask. This regardless of whether you work in the public or in the private “, underlines the virologist to Adnkronos Salute Mauro PistelloDirector of the Virology Unit of the University Hospital of Pisa and Vice President of the Italian Society of Microbiology, speaking on the case of indoor masks and the differences between the public and private sectors.
“All indicators are substantially in a plateau phase with a slight downward trend. However, regardless of the regulatory watershed of May 1st, the circulation of the virus remains very high, as well as widely underestimated: more than 56 thousand new cases on average per day, rate of positivity of the antigenic swabs at 16% and almost 1.2 million positives “. The warning comes from the president of the Gimbe Foundation, Nino Cartabellotta, in the commentary on the Foundation’s weekly report. “This is why, regardless of obligations and recommendations, keeping the mask indoors, especially if crowded or poorly ventilated, remains an indispensable strategy to reduce viral circulation and protect yourself from contagion”, remarks Cartabellotta.
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