The appeal of pediatricians waiting for school “Quick swabs at the clinic for suspected cases” – EcoDiBergamo.it

The countdown began: minus two weeks until the school year resumes. And as principals solve the classroom and transportation puzzle, and families try to understand how to survive the news, there is a very specific category of professionals who scream. “We need quick swabs to quickly find coronavirus cases among children.”

The appeal, addressed to the Lombardy Region, comes from the pediatricians of Bergamo: pediatricians who, before the reopening of schools, feel without enough weapons to diagnose the infection, who are known to present symptoms very similar to those of the flu . . Ezio Finazzi, pediatrician from Villa d’Almè, provincial and regional secretary of the Simpef family pediatrician union explains: “Without quick tampons, we already know how it will end. A few weeks after the reopening of schools, we will already have many sick children, even from a simple flu, with symptoms very similar to those of the coronavirus. As we do not have tools capable of diagnosing Covid infection to date, we will have to consider them as suspicious cases. And, according to protocol, we will have to request a swab for everyone: pending the result, however, even family members, as suspicious contacts, will have to be placed in fiduciary isolation. A well-tested script, for crying out loud, but the timing of which is unknown. There is a risk of general blockage ».