“Virus in great withdrawal from Italy”

Posted on: 02/05/2020 09:21

“The great withdrawal of Sars-CoV-2 from Italy continues.” Virologist word Guido Silvestri, professor at Emory University in Atlanta (USA), who comments on social media about the latest Civil Protection data. Intensive care hospitalizations for Covid-19 are declining (another 116 units fell yesterday, from 1694 to 1578), but hospital admissions also decreased (another 580 units fell, from 18,149 to 17.569) and the number of Covid deaths also fell yesterday. -19 (285 units). Then sweep to starboard and to the end of the tunnel, “says Silvestri.

From Silvestri a ‘recipe’ from abroad for a safe reopening: “Looking at the regularity with which Covid-19 numbers in Italy continue to decline, the temptation is strong to say: ‘Let the virus go away without changing the winning formula.’ But I realize that economic and social suffering – The medical attention linked to the blockade is now exceeding that caused by the virus, “explains the virologist, listing his” 3 points “for reopening. With a clarification: “As you know, I am not part of any official advisory committee in Italy. And rightly so because Prime Minister Conte and Minister Speranza are surrounded by excellent technical-scientific advisers, while my institutional roles are in the United States and not in Italy. “

“But if someone in charge were to ask me for an opinion, I would tell them that our recipe is based on three simple principles: monitoring (both infection and immunity level, with serological and virological tests, and also with contact tracing), flexibility (both in reopening and, if necessary, in closure, also at the local-regional level), and coordination (at the national level, between regions, but also internationally, integrating with the strategies used in Europe, the United States, China, etc. ) “. Three points, therefore, combined with one last indication: “At least in the first weeks of opening, with the virus still circulating, it will be crucial, Silvestri stresses, to wear many masks, good social distancing and much personal hygiene.”

“Soon, dear friends, we will all return to normal, I am convinced. But we have to manage this transition well, not Carlona’s, because the risk of hitting another wall is not small at all, “says the virologist.

“When we say ‘this virus does not like heat’, Silvestri continues, it does not mean the temperature at which the virus deactivates the virus, but the temperatures that make the droplets of fomites unstable (saliva, sneezing, cough, etc.) that carry the virus into the environment. ” “This mechanism has been known to virologists for decades and explains why all respiratory viral infections are highly seasonal with a distinct predilection for winter,” adds Silvestri. Leaving the window of hope open on the effect of the hot season now upon us in the spread of Sars-Cov-2.