Coronavirus, no lockdowns, red zones and buffers: what can we expect

During the summer in the time of the coronavirus, Italy prepares to face the month of September, the one of the return to the workplace and the reopening of schools. Although this last knot seems the most difficult to untie, the curve of the contagion has started to climb again, making the September reboot even more uncertain. But what can we expect? Will there be a new blockade? What will it be like to live with the seasonal flu? From the performance of the Immuni application to the increase in swabs, there are many problems that characterize this phase of the epidemic.

Coronavirus, new blockade or red zones?

The Undersecretary of Health expressed the possibility of a new total closure Sandra Paw who, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, avoided this “nightmare”: “It won’t be there. No country can afford it now. There will be red zones, in neighborhoods, towns or cities.”

Regarding the increase in infections and the slow increase in hospitalizations in intensive care, as well as the hypothesis of a weakening of the virus, Zampa explains: “The virus is the same as in March. But it affects the youngest and our system has meanwhile been equipped. The places in therapies have increased by 110%. We intervene earlier and better. Even abroad we recognize the effectiveness of the reaction. Stefano Bonaga called me a while ago to congratulate us, having traveled to Europe. “A new stage awaits us. We must try to return to life as before, without fear, but with great attention”.

Speaking of travel and a hypothetical return to the previous “life”, Sandra Zampa explains: “We are closing a collaboration agreement with Minister Roberto Speranza so that there is reciprocity with all European countries, starting with France and Germany. Who leaves and whoever arrives will have to do a swab. It is a way to travel again, but for sure. We must look with confidence at the days that separate us from the vaccine. “

Another topic that returns “hot” in September is that ofseasonal flu, which this year will have to live with Covid, with various problems that concern initiates. However, according to the Deputy Minister of Health, Pierpaolo Sileri, “the flu will run less this year than last year. This is because the same precautions that we are using for the coronavirus are also helpful in avoiding normal flu. This way it will circulate less ”.

“Some regions: Sileri added during ‘Summer Agora’ in Rai3 – they have made it mandatory for at risk populations I think it is a good idea, but for these populations. I think we should invest a lot more in ‘unscrupulous’ tampon use. It means increasing the number so that, when there are flu and parainfluenza syndromes, we have greater diagnostic power. And I am not referring to today, but to the months of October to November, when we will begin to have thousands of positive cases of the flu every week until reaching the peak that is usually between January and February ”.

Regarding the timing of the vaccine, he adds: “Scientists set the possible target between the end of 2020 and 2021.” Immediately after, when asked if in the meantime we need burst tampons as proposed by Crisanti, the Undersecretary of Health responds: “Yes, in the meantime we have to increase tampons a lot. The problem of scarcity is largely overcome and times are also have been reduced to 15 minutes. ” Not everywhere, it is pointed out, given that Malpensa took days to get swabs at the airport, in San Giovanni in Rome there are lines of hours and days of waiting for the results: “Let’s say that all the Regions should make an effort – answers Zampa – some are already well organized, like Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. “

Coronavirus, the Immune app and a failure?

Does the Immuni app work? Will it still be active? According to the latest dataAfter an encouraging start, the app tracking app didn’t achieve the desired results, stopping at 5 million downloads. A failure in that second Sandra Paw, who spoke to ‘Radio Anch’io’ on Radio1, depends on its security features: “The reason why Immuni does not perform is linked to the fact that we have been asked to have the maximum privacy possible. privacy is total, there is a numeric code behind the user. Obviously you cannot perform. We need to make a change if necessary. ”

When we started talking about Immuni they felt criticism of the type “they will know where you are, the spy eye of the state. Unfortunately we are in a country that believes that there is the spy eye of the state,” added Zampa. however, it remains “the most important thing once a person is determined to be infected”. It is clear that, if we isolate the possible infected, obviously we put the virus out of service ”.

Despite initial difficulties, Immuni will continue and be operational. A small confirmation also comes from the words of the Vice Minister of Health, Pierpaolo Sileri, issued to The Print: “The Immuni App” is still an important resource and should be downloaded. Unfortunately, it was a failure among young people, who are more familiar with the applications. It could have helped contain the wave of infections this summer, but c “It was a lot of bias. Now it would be useful to include it in operational protocols, such as the one for going back to school, also because other systems, such as sheets of paper where you can record your data, do not always work ”.

Coronavirus, increased tampons

To prevent a further increase in new infections, a large swab campaign is underway. This was announced by Sileri himself on RaiTre: ” The piano developed by virologist Andrea Chrysanthemums “It arrived at the end of last week, I read it on Saturday and today I gave it to the Scientific Technical Committee.” Crisanti had sent the plan – explains Sileri – to Federico D’Incà, Minister of Relations with the Government Parliament. Later I had heard from D’Incà and, later, Crisanti called me. I asked him to send me the document that arrived at the end of last week. “But are the swabs made enough?” We are working at a good pace, but an increase will be necessary – answered Sileri – The important thing is not to do them randomly, to follow a specific detection criterion and to keep new outbreaks under control. We should not be impressed if the contagion curve grows: the fundamental parameter now is the number of hospitalizations, which is under control ”.

The Undersecretary of Health, Sandra Zampa, also spoke about the new tampon campaign: “These elements,” Zampa added, “today we have to cross them with another piece of news that the professor gave. Maximum Galli, or rather that the possibility of the salivary test is being refined, whose result comes in 15-20 minutes ”. Regarding the resources to carry out all the proposed swabs, “we have no problems at the moment -assured Zampa- after the“ Europe has made enormous resources available to Italy. It’s about workshops. But we have come across realities that carry out a lot of swabs. There are regions where the number of tampons is large and fast ”.

Coronavirus and back to school

The most urgent problem to be solved remains that of school. While the directors propose a self-certification, The Government and the Regions continue their fight for the guidelines. Sandra Zampa, who spoke with RaiNews24, addressed the issue of going back to school: “We ask teachers to voluntarily join the serological test. These days many were still on vacation. That is why we hope that the teachers will respond in the next few hours. Italian teachers will surely give a positive response to this request: protect them, protect their work, protect their classes. ”

“We must make sure that children are also safe – continued Zampa – and that therefore there are the necessary distances. We have really been working for many months. The Scientific Technical Committee has done an extraordinary job ”. The school problem, the undersecretary recalled, is not only Italian, but “worries all European countries. We all deal with the same problem and with the difficulty of handling young children and adolescents.” As for our country, “we ask everyone to strive to respect the rules. The few rules. Soon we will also have them translated into other languages. And they need to be well illustrated to the families. “Each one, Zampa concluded, will have to do their part: parents” will have the task of measuring their children’s fever. “And it is necessary that” the Regions make a great effort to transport school, it is necessary to work with imagination, but also using important resources. I am sure that we will give a good test, since we have been able to give a good test in the months that remain. “On the emergency linked to the growth of Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus cases in France” there is already an interview initiated by the minister of health, Robert hope. The issue of reciprocity is being evaluated not only with the France, we are also imagining it with the Spain, that is the possibility of the control panel in input and output. I think this may be an option that protects, ”he said.

What happens if the start of classes, scheduled for September 14, is postponed? According to the infectious disease specialist Maximum Galli it would not be such an out of place hypothesis: “I would not have been scandalized and I would not have considered it a failure if the schools had not opened until October 1, in a situation in which everything had been arranged correctly. Day after day various difficulties and then in the middle there are elections. If you have to open the schools, and then close them for the elections, finally you have to clean them and then reopen them … Anyway, it was worth the wait “.

“That said, adds the head of infectious diseases at the Sacco hospital in Milan in an interview with Delivery courier – I am worried that it is very difficult to get distance at school. Alternative systems should be evaluated, perhaps in rotation to remotely teach one-third of the students in a class. Finally, we would need more tests and medical assistance in schools. The measurement of fever at home leaves me perplexed “, he reiterates.” And we will have problems when all the other respiratory tract infections begin to exist: it is not clear to me what will happen in the different regions due to the influenza vaccine aimed at children and young people ” .

Regarding the possibility of taking more swabs for the students, Galli responds: “We are studying a system that speeds up the times: collection of saliva by groups, by classes, to speed up the tests. If traces of coronavirus appear in a class, then they sample individual students in that class. It’s called clustering, we’re working on that. ”