“No to the orange zone, there are no margins” – Corriere.it

VENICE – For the sixth day in a row, Veneto celebrates the sad Italian record of infections and victims of Covid-19, to the point of doubling the numbers of Lombardy. If on Tuesday the Region led by Luca Zaia (almost 77% of the preferences in the last elections) had registered the peak of 113 deaths, on Wednesday there were 90 deaths of the national total of 499 and in the last 24 hours saw the explosion sad number: 148 victims. (in total 4,551) and 4197 new cases. The pressure on hospitals is growing, with 2,865 admissions in infectious diseases and pulmonology (+38) and 357 (+1) in intensive care.

We have surpassed the peak of 2,865 hospitalized in non-critical areas and 356 in intensive care registered on March 29, at the height of the first wave of the pandemic – confirms Zaia -. But our data shows that the RT, the contagion rate, is down compared to 1.1 last week. (the highest in Italy, ed). And in fact the experts from the Ministry of Health tell us that there are no extremes to go to the orange risk zone. The yellow Veneto since November 4 and precisely because it has not suffered significant restrictions, such as the prohibition of moving between municipalities, probably pays for a high number of infections. Also due to the meetings: On Immaculate Conception weekend we saw absurd scenes, with queues of cars heading up the mountain despite the maximum risk of avalanches. If we all strictly observed the virus containment measures, that is, the use of the mask, the social distance and the constant hygiene of the hands, we would not be in this situation.

Yesterday for the president of Veneto signed a new ordinance, in force from midnight on December 11 and until the new Conte decree, which obliges to consume the table in bars from 11 a.m., stricter standards for markets for the barrier and for stores by the number of customers in relation to to the rebate surface. However, Zaia wishes to clarify two concepts: her region experienced the epidemic peak two weeks after Lombardy and Emilia Romagna and it was slow and gradual growth, not a sudden outbreak; and so: If we find so many positives for coronavirus, why are we going to look for them?, making a series of tampons that does not know the same. We arrived to 60 thousand tampons a day, against 2750 in March, but the rapids are not counted. And there are already 1,241,990, in addition to the 2,941,145 molecular ones. Virtuosity should not be punished and the absolute number of positives should not be compared with that of the other Regions, because the data are not comparable. We all filter, the contact tracing reaches 85.5% of cases suspicion against 60% of the national average, while there are Regions that only make molecular swabs, others even a little fast and in some only certain sectors of the population are subject to control.

The fact is that, according to the conclusions of the Ministry of Health, in the last week 29% of swabs in Veneto tested positive, compared to 27% in the previous days. And then this wake of the dead, which does not depend on tampons. The number of hospitalizations in intensive care is on the rise, as is the queue of those registered when the incidence was higher, and consequently deaths – explains Dr. Francesca Russo, head of Prevention for the Region. And anyway, what really matters is the new cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or the incidence of infection, dropped from 433 to 413 on December 3. It is one of the indicators to calculate the Rt, so in my opinion there are no margins for the passage in the orange area. Also because we noticed a slight decrease in the contagion curve.