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Red areas in Chiusi (Siena), in three municipalities of Abruzzo, in the middle of Umbria; alarm in Bologna, due to the outbreak with ten positives in the Gastroenterology department of Sant’Orsola, and in Marche, in the schools of Tolentino, Pollenza and Castelfidardo: there are only five examples that have a common element, the presence of the English variants (mostly) and Brazilian.
They are alarm bells that in Italy raise the level of attention because it has now been shown that the transmission speed is extremely higher than the original version of Sars-CoV-2. Not only that: yesterday the governor of Molise, Donato Toma, established a red zone in 27 municipalities, including Termoli, due to an anomalous increase in new cases. It is not known if it depends on the presence of the variants, but this is also an important piece.
Traps
Faced with this constantly expanding scenario, the Higher Institute of Health has invited everyone to take a supplement of caution; however, in a week, if there are no changes, Italians will be able to move from one Region to another, as long as they are “yellow”. “We cannot afford it”, is the thesis of the Scientific Technical Committee. Reopening the borders of the Regions is a stumbling block, because the characteristic of the diffusion of variants, which we have now understood by observing the trend of the epidemic in other European countries, is that they often begin to circulate under the radar, and then exploit the number of infections and sudden hospitalizations.
It happened in the United Kingdom, probably also in Portugal, which today is the European nation in greatest difficulty. It has been seen, fortunately in much smaller numbers, in Umbria. Allowing Italians to move freely from one part of the country to another, while remaining in the yellow regions, runs the risk of giving highways to variants. For this reason, the Scientific Technical Committee had requested two measures. The first: extend the cap to travel.
The second: introduce another element that triggers stricter containment measures because, sometimes, the “yellow band” is not enough. The idea: to provide a higher band when the incidence of new cases per week is greater than 250 per 100,000 inhabitants. The governors, however, objected and thus this additional parachute was abandoned.
The crux of the movements between Regions remains. The decree expires on Monday, February 15. But only the new government, which is being formed by President-designate Mario Draghi, can pass a decree. We’ll arrive on time? Theoretically yes, because the new executive is expected to take the oath by the weekend. But then it will be necessary to understand if there will be a will to do it.
Couldn’t the outgoing government intervene? The Minister for Regional Affairs, Francesco Boccia, has already spoken out on the matter and in recent days explained in a note sent to the Conference of Governors: “On February 15, the prohibition of mobility between Regions expires. It will be the responsibility of the new government to make an assessment, based on the epidemiological framework, of the mobility between Regions in the different bands and in particular in the yellow band, also because the restrictive measures require a specific decree ”. In the absence of a new provision, movements between regions could start again next week. However, the recent report from the control room (Ministry of Health and Higher Institute of Health) called, on the contrary, to maintain a very high level of care. And he appealed to citizens asking them to “stay home as long as possible.”
THE NUMBERS
Never like in this phase of the epidemic has there been a discrepancy between what the numbers say (relatively low, given that most of the Regions are in the yellow band) and what is feared that may happen due to variations. The data on the new positives also seem to go in this direction: yesterday 11,641 infected, 270 deaths, 21,272 hospitalized by Covid (minus 145), a positive rate in total tampons of 5.6 percent. However, there are some indications to evaluate: the daily average of new intensive care admissions is increasing (+ 7 percent), while compared to the Sunday of the previous week the new positives have increased by almost 400 units. Among the Regions, there are two cases that must be monitored for opposite reasons: the collapse of new infected continues in Veneto (yesterday only 496); There is concern about the increase in infected people in Campania, yesterday was the Region with the most new positives, 1,741.
Last updated: 02:37
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