“The virus will remain during 2021” – Corriere.it

“We will have to deal with this pandemic at least throughout 2021. The measures implemented are the only weapons we have to contain it. But you have to apply them well and you need everyone’s collaboration ”, is specific and direct Giuseppe Ippolito, scientific director of the“ Spallanzani ”in Rome, as well as a member of the scientific-technical committee (CTS).

New restrictive measures, what are the expected effects?
“The objective is simple, to reduce the circulation of the virus with its consequences on people’s health and to make the health system able to withstand the pressure of income and respond to the need for beds in intensive care. If the trend of infections cannot be stabilized, any effort will be futile. All countries are moving in this way, securing medical care to ensure care not only for Covid patients. ”

Could the effects be decisive?
“Any provision can be decisive or useless, it depends on how it is applied. The most restrictive provisions can be enacted, but if each of us is not diligent in respecting them, they will not do much good. ‘

Was it appropriate to proceed step by step?
“We have always tried to make adequate, proportionate and sustainable decisions from an economic and social point of view. Could more have been done in hindsight? Possible. In summer, should we have been more cautious and not go to the disco or the square for an aperitif? Possible. But the current situation is not only in Italy, it is a common scenario. All of Europe is a red zone.

What else could have been done in light of the new knowledge about the virus?
“This virus has an advantage over us. In the first days of the infection it acts completely uncontrollably because it is contagious for 2-3 days before the onset of symptoms and often remains asymptomatic but can still infect other people. Testing, tracing, isolation are the only countermeasures, but if the number of cases exceeds a certain level, the tracing system kicks in and then aggressive mitigation and containment actions like the ones we have implemented are needed.

The Spagnola, the first great pandemic of the century, lasted two years. Besides that, we will have treatments and vaccines. When will we get rid of Covid?
“Anthony Fauci, the American virologist, has already said that we will have to deal with this pandemic for at least all of 2021 trying to keep it under control. I agree. The first vaccines and more effective treatments than the current ones, especially monoclonal antibodies, could be available between the end of this year and the beginning of next. Then it will be necessary to distribute them and make them accessible to the entire world population. An organizational and logistical task that cannot be done in a few weeks.

Once “redefined”, could the virus disappear forever after creating herd immunity?
“We still know little about Sars-CoV-2. We have seen that it tends not to mutate and this could be positive from a vaccine perspective, but 10 months is too short to rule out that significant mutations may take hold in the future. The same goes for immunity. To date, there are few cases of reinfection, but we cannot rule out that the immunity acquired after infection will be exhausted in a few months.