[ad_1]
A comprehensive population monitoring in South Tyrol has begun to find positive for the coronavirus and isolate them. It is the first campaign of its kind in Italy. The autonomous province of Bolzano has financed this campaign with 3.5 million euros with the aim of blocking the transmission of the virus. 350,000 antigenic swabs were purchased for testing in people over 5 years of age. In total, the inhabitants of the autonomous province of Bolzano are 530 thousand and can participate in the monitoring for free. The antigen test does not detect the genetic material of the coronavirus or the antibodies, but rather the typical antigens of the virus, that is, the substances that provoke an immune response to their presence in the body.
– Read also: The many tests to know if you have the coronavirus
The test result is available in 15 minutes and is sent to people by email. In case of positivity, home isolation for ten days is mandatory. If you don’t have symptoms, you can stop the isolation after ten days without undergoing a new tampon. If the test is negative, however, the guidelines published by the province of Bolzano recommend continuing to observe preventive measures such as nasal and mouth protection, spacing of at least one meter, and hand disinfection. People are warned because the sensitivity of the antigen test purchased for this campaign is 70 percent. This means that three out of ten positives can be “false negatives.”
Already in the early hours of Friday, thousands of people were queuing. The stations organized in all the municipalities of Alto Adige are 184. In total, the buffer points are 646. There are almost three thousand operators involved in the complex organization: 800 health workers, so many administrators and more than a thousand volunteers among civil protection , firefighters, cruz bianca and other associations.
Registration and testing are short-lived, about five minutes, but there is some queuing problem at some buffer points. “The large turnout on the first day of screening caused delays in some centers, especially in the provincial capital,” explains the Alto Adige health company in a note.
An operator receives a woman at a buffer point (Photo from the Province of Bolzano)
The health company and the province of Bolzano publish the results of all the municipalities on this page where it is possible to see the results at three times of the day: at 10, at 16 and at 20. According to the first update on Friday at 16 , 82,970 people have already been evaluated. The positives are 1,256, that is, 1.5 percent of the total.
Markus Falk, a biostatistician who has been analyzing all the coronavirus data in South Tyrol since March, explained that with a 70% share there would be a reduction in the R index.t until 0.5 before December 7. With a participation of 50 percent of the population, the reduction would arrive on January 11.
Bolzano is among the Italian provinces that have had the highest incidence of second wave infections. The latest data released by the health company say that on Friday, November 20, 736 new positive cases were registered. The swabs performed are 3,286, therefore with a positivity rate of 22.40 percent. There are 10,239 people in home isolation. 8 people died between Thursday and Friday. 151 people have died since October 20. For three weeks now, hospitals have struggled to accommodate Covid-19 patients due to the large number of patients in critical condition. In the Bolzano hospital there are 38 patients admitted to intensive care. 329 people are hospitalized in other wards.
– Read also: The data of the week on the coronavirus in Italy
[ad_2]
