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The vocabulary has its own importance, otherwise there is a risk of generating misunderstandings. And misunderstandings often lead to ignorance. Along with the health war to defeat Covid-19, a political clash is taking place. On the one hand, they say, are the “catastrophists“Those who see black, who see the confinement as the main solution to get out of any obstacle; on the other are the”deniers“Those who demand a different narrative of the pandemic, who read the numbers for what they are (that is, much less dramatic than advertised). The latter have the worst in newspapers and talk shows, they are (wrongly) equated with masked and accused of going around saying that the virus does not exist. Nothing more false. For the former, as the term “catastrophists” was not too flattering, an ad hoc, more conscientious category was forged: “penalizers”. But this too it’s a neatly designed media gimmick meant to influence the listener.
The (political) confrontation for the emergency
“I spent months asking to equip ourselves and, above all, telling people that this is an infection that can be controlled at home. It has not been done. People have been told that it is a devastating virus that causes complications. and that everyone is going to end up intubated and then, as soon as someone has a symptom, they run to the hospital to be treated. What has happened is that we leave people at home to die, but that is not true. “. Since the beginning of this epidemic, Professor Matteo bassetti He fought to have the coronavirus explained to Italians without dramatizing the situation. And for this he has been repeatedly accused of being a “denier.” “I have received personal attacks, against my person and my family – he said to Giornale.it – In the last week some press killed me. When this is all over, I’ll do my reflections … “. He is certainly not the only one who fights so that the information is not biased in favor of those who want to dramatize the epidemic. And they all ended up in the pillory. Just think about what the teacher had to go through Alberto Zangrillo after he pointed out this summer that the virus was “brain dead” because admissions could now be counted on the tip of one hand. In an interview with Giornale.it Maria Rita Gismondo explained that the vision of any aspect of life is “always filtered by our way of being”. “There are pessimists and optimists – he advised – we must try not to give in and be objective”. Ser, to avoid a confrontation that leads nowhere, let’s take a look at the numbers.
The (true) death data
Let’s start with the average age of deceased. If in March he was around 80 years old, the latest report from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità revises it slightly, raising it to 82 years. “As of October 4, 2020, there are 407, of the 36,008 (1.1%), deceased patients under 50 years of age with positive SARS-CoV-2”. An important fact that should have suggested from the beginning that it was necessary to focus on the protection of the most fragile subjects. Subjects that the National Health System had already been treated for other pathologies. “In general, read the ISS report, 3.6% of the sample had zero pathologies, 13.6% had one pathology, 19.9% had two pathologies and 62.9% had three or more pathologies “. It is on this segment of the population that the government must focus and do everything possible to put them in a “bubble” safe from contagion. In recent weeks, as he explained to Giornale.it the president of the Italian Society of Virology, Arnaldo CarusoWe are focusing on tracking the infected, many of whom are asymptomatic and therefore not hospitalized. A situation probably similar to what we would have encountered if we had started swabbing in January and February. “If we had done an investigation on the territory – Caruso explained to us – we would have found what there is today, which is a good percentage that tends to increase over time.”. In the coming days, he predicts, the exponential diffusion curve is bound to go up. “And from that moment on he will hit everyone, even the weakest”.
The (non) follow-up of positives
Unlike last winter, when the coronavirus took Italy and the entire world by surprise, the government would have had all the time necessary to be prepared to stop this new wave. “The strategy to counteract the second wave cannot be the same as the one adopted in spring, Italy is in a different situation than in March, although this situation is proving to be very critical”, explained the premier Giuseppe Conte illustrating to the Chamber the measures adopted in the last Dpcm. “The decisions taken so far – he continued – allow us to avoid generalized and generalized closures throughout the national territory”. The 250 academics who are part of Lettera150 do not think so. Among these there are also Andrea Crisanti, the microbiologist who faced, together with Governor Luca Zaia, the Covid emergency in Veneto. In late August, he presented a plan to the government that included the “Automatic monitoring of all members of the positive living environments” me “Widespread swabs, up to 400,000 per day if necessary, to extinguish root shoots”. It was still a dead letter, probably kept in a drawer.
The intensive care condition
“Now, almost three months later, new decrees of the Prime Minister, with the intention of impacting our quality of life and our work activities “Crisanti denounced, openly criticizing the executive. Once again we persist in the error of not asking ourselves how, once contagion is reduced with progressively restrictive measures, we can keep it at low levels. Not answering this question will condemn us to a back and forth of restrictive measures and a resumption of normality. disastrous effects on the economy, education and social life “. Once again the numbers help us ask ourselves some questions: why in August, when there were few infections to track and it was easier to track all close contacts, did we just do yes and no 50,000 tampons a day? It is true that in recent days we have had an explosion of new cases, but it is also true that we have more than tripled the number of tests. The day before yesterday, to be clear, we made 177 thousand. On March 27, when 6 thousand were infected and almost a thousand died, yes and no 33 thousand tampons. An abyss that does not allow us to compare the two situations. Even scaremongering about intensive care doesn’t seem justified. The vice minister Pierpaolo Sileri set a tipping point at 2,500 occupied beds. But how many beds are there in total? Before the pandemic, there were 5,179, but after the relaunch decree there was a push to increase them. The goal is to reach 8,732 in the next few months. For now, however, doctors can count on 6,628 places. “To date those already employed are around 15%”, we read in the weekly report of the extraordinary commissioner Domenico Arcuri. “This percentage falls to 11% – the report emphasizes – with the 1,660 additional beds that can be activated with fans already distributed to the Regions”.
An avoidable emergency?
If during the first phase of the pandemic we found ourselves unprepared also due to the delays of the Chinese government and the WHO, now the government Conte would have had all the credentials to try to stop the coup. This was not the case. For weeks we have witnessed a call to arms that takes us back to six months ago. We started with a curfew and we are already talking about confinement. The message that is transmitted is the following: prepare to spend a recluse Christmas. The feeling, as Crisanti documents, is that the prime minister has no other cards to play. Once again the restrictive measures will compensate for the impossibility of managing the emergency. An emergency that, it should be remembered constantly, was already written. Why, for example, do we not rush to hire doctors and nurses to deal with the second wave? Because she didn’t stock up on vaccinations flu shots to prevent seasonal illnesses from being mistaken for Covid? And again: why weren’t the positives taken out when it was even more useful to do so? Why hasn’t the home care protocol been implemented, as requested by many hospital doctors? It is almost suspected that some scaremongering is being used to cover up the ultimate shortcomings of an executive.
