Lopalco on Sky TG24: “The situation is critical, behave as if we were locked up”

This was stated by the epidemiologist and health counselor of the Puglia region, speaking in the course of “Progreso”. “At the moment, intensive care is not a problem, now the problem is the availability of ordinary beds,” he added.

“The situation with respect to March is completely different, because in March we suffered a pandemic wave without warning and without doing anything because we did not know that this series of infections was brewing. Now we see the infections, we are registering them and we try to control them ”. These are the words, during an interview with “Progress”, on Sky TG24, of the epidemiologist and Health Councilor of the Puglia Region, Pierluigi Lopalco, about the health emergency linked to the spread of the coronavirus in our country. “Now we know very well that we have to control infections but only the Health cannot do it because it is not possible, we must take so-called non-medical measures, such as social distancing, masks and confinement,” the expert stressed. “Before even waiting for the government’s decision, all Italians must realize that the situation is critical and must limit personal contacts to a minimum. We must behave individually and spontaneously as if we were locked up ”, he added.

A passage from Pierluigi Lopalco’s speech to “Progreso”

Act immediately

deepening

Then, Lopalco invited to act immediately, avoiding similar situations, for example, those that are affecting countries like France. “At this time we must try to anticipate the epidemiological situation, which is evident in neighboring countries. We must immediately intervene with important measures because otherwise the direction of the infections is that, I don’t see why what is happening in France should not happen in Italy ”, said the epidemiologist. “In France it happened earlier because they moved late and because the resumption of indoor activities, such as schools and offices, after the summer holidays, started earlier. I hope that from now on we can observe a slowdown in infections after the first measures taken, ”he reiterated.

The critical issues of the moment

The epidemiologist then made a picture of the situation, explaining from his point of view what the current criticalities are. “At the moment, intensive care is not a problem, now the problem is the availability of normal beds. The other problem is the tracking in the territory, in Puglia for example at the moment we are holding on but if the numbers were to increase, the tracking should be relaxed because there are no men, “he explained. “It is useless to talk about what went wrong, if there are no men we cannot train them in two months, it takes ten years to train a specialist. In Italy we have been short of staff for years and years, ”he said again.

The situation in schools

“Right now there are very few cases of outbreaks in schools. In reality it seems that the infections are not occurring in school structures, but what is feared is what happens outside the school, at the entrance, at the exit and in the transport ”, added Lopalco. “There is no doubt that in recent weeks there has been an increase in infections in the school age group, which however probably occurred outside the classroom. Inside the classrooms there is control and distancing, so there is no greater risk of contagion ”, concluded the expert.