Coronavirus, cases increase and the average age of positives goes back: “Infections in the family from young to old”

Coronavirus infections in Italy continue to rise for the seventh week in a row. The average age of positives is also increasing, a sign that transmission between families, and in particular from the very young to the elderly, is increasingly widespread. What, underlines the head of the prevention department of the Ministry of Health, Gianni Rezza, “explains a certain slow but gradual increase in hospitalizations.”

Instead, the contagion index falls back below 1 (it is 0.92) which, however, is calculated only in symptomatic cases and, therefore, could underestimate the actual spread of the virus. This is what the Ministry of Health and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità find in the weekly report to monitor the progress of the epidemic, which observe a “slow and progressive worsening of the SARS-Cov-2 epidemic, although with a tendency more contained than that observed in other European countries “.

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edited by ELENA de STABILE and PIERA MATTEUCCI

Most of the cases (81.9%) continue to be hired in the national territory, with a decrease in those imported from abroad (10.8%). The percentage of imported cases from another Region has also decreased for two weeks (5.5%). A trend that indicates how the trail of infections caused by the return of summer holidays is running out.

The virus now travels in the family and, in particular, from the youngest to the oldest. The mean age of diagnosed cases has been increasing for three weeks (41 years in the follow-up week) and 35% of the new cases diagnosed in the follow-up week are over 50 years old.

The number of hospitalizations is also increasing. At the national level, the occupancy rate in the medical area increased from 2% to 4%, while the occupancy rate in intensive care went from 1% to 2%, with values ​​higher than 5% for some Regions. “Although no signs of overload of health services have yet been identified – warns the document – the observed trend could be reflected in a greater commitment. In addition, the important and growing commitment of local services (Departments of Prevention) so that current outbreaks are identified and investigated quickly. “

In the week of follow-up, 2397 active outbreaks with at least two cases of contagion connected to each other, of which 698 new. For ISS and the ministry “many times they are associated with recreational activities that involve gatherings and violations of the rules of physical distancing” and “this entails an increasing commitment of local services in the search for contacts that until now have managed to contain the local transmission of the virus “. “Broadcast and ministry write.