“December and January will be terrible”

Walter Ricciardi (Painting)

Published on: 07/12/2020 10:44 AM

The path to stopping the Covid epidemic is anything but downhill for Walter Ricciardi. “We are still in the middle of the second wave of Sars-CoV-2, December and January will be terrible for two reasons: because of the problems of access to services and because of the many regional differences.” This was stated by the counselor of the Ministry of Health and professor of Hygiene at the Catholic University of Rome, in his speech on the fifth ‘Day of Orphan Medicines-The impact of the pandemic on rare patients: destined to return to the shadows? promoted online by the Observatory of Rare Diseases (Omar).

ABRUZZO – “It is very important to continue respecting the regulations, both at an individual and institutional level, because if the measures are relaxed too soon, not only will the trend not be reversed, but there will be the risk of very difficult months, in those that Covid and the flu will run together. Because the coronavirus still circulates in an important way, and does not respect regional borders, “Ricciardi tells Adnkronos Salute after the Abruzzo announcement that it has become ‘orange’ in advance and by independent choice .

VACCINE – Do not vaccinate the infected and cured Italians? For Ricciardi it is more a matter of organization: “At first, the vaccine doses will be limited – he tells Adnkronos Health – therefore they will be reserved first for the subjects most exposed by risk or age. Thus, health workers and essentials, as well as the most fragile subjects, that is, the elderly hospitalized in structures and those at home ”.

CHRISTMAS – Goodbye to the maxifamilies for the end of the year celebrations. If the Scientific Technical Committee renews the invitation to avoid gatherings and limit social contacts as much as possible, Ricciardi joins the chorus of experts: “We were also used to family gatherings with 15-20 people, but this year we can’t. I’m going to celebrate with my wife and my daughters “..