“We must prepare for a sober Christmas” Fabretti, the third wave is just around the corner

Lombardy is now in the orange zone: the Scientific Technical Committee has seen constant signs of improvement in the pandemic curve and the RT is progressively decreasing. But it doesn’t have to be “all free”.

“Not at all, for us who have been fighting to save lives from the Sars-Cov2 attack since March, this is an extremely delicate moment. If there are encouraging signs, the message that we are out of danger should not pass – says Fabrizio Fabretti, director of Unit 3 of Anesthesia and Intensive Care of Asst Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo -. The fact that hospitalizations are decreasing and that the entire Bergamo hospital is in a calmer situation does not mean that we can relax. In fact, I would like to invite everyone: the people of Bergamo help us to continue working as well as we have been working in recent weeks: we must prepare for a sober Christmas. If the stores reopen, we must not go crazy in gatherings, crowds, gatherings between relatives, visits to relatives and friends. Being in the orange zone means you have to keep your guard up. And ensure that Papa Giovanni Hospital doctors, nurses and health workers can continue to treat with greater peace of mind. Everyone has to do their part. The risk, without hiding behind twists of words, is that of a third wave: if the reins are “released”, after Christmas the contagion curve could rise again.

“A third wave is expected, it is true,” Fabretti continues. The hypotheses of a gradual relaxation of restrictions, of the reopening of schools, the transport hub still unsolved, suggest. And much will depend on how the population behaves. The people of Bergamo have been very good, they are very good: they are probably also helped by a kind of immunity acquired during the tragic days last spring, when the virus struck here violently. We still need consistency. And patience. This is the lesson that the numbers that are falling now are giving us: the lockdown, although eased, is working. And right now we must not give up. It is necessary to avoid movements, useless meetings and also limit interpersonal contacts to the essentials. Sobriety, therefore, must be the imperative from now until the Christmas holidays. “Also later. And I would also say the imperative of distance, even within the parental circle: we have seen too many family groups, we cannot afford to make mistakes: we know how the spread of the virus works, it is not like last spring. that a sober Christmas, and with the appropriate distance between people, will guarantee us a much easier approach to the anti-Covid vaccine. ”A path that at the moment does not seem entirely downhill, despite the fact that there are already at least three products in the final race: when will it arrive, we can make predictions? “Reasonably for January there could be the first doses, but it will be an initial step – remarked Fabretti -. It will take months to reach a percentage of coverage that can make us sure, and then the duration of the vaccination will have to be verified. Let’s say that it is not strange to think that perhaps at the end of the summer we can reach a much calmer situation.

So, in addition to preparing for a sober Christmas, you have to convince yourself that you will have to live with the mask for a long time. «The only solution against Covid is the vaccine. We have much more knowledge about this virus, we have also understood that we can and must extend home treatments: the protocol recently indicated by Giuseppe Remuzzi and Ferdy Suter is adequate. Keeping people isolated at home, as far as possible, assisted with precise medications and followed at home makes the risk of contagion circulate less and reduces overcrowding in hospitals – concludes Fabretti -. In this second wave, Pope John XXIII has held good, thanks to the commitment of the company management and all the doctors who have done everything possible to expand the spaces available for hospitalization and intensive care beds. We have given a substantial response to the needs of other Lombard areas in extreme difficulty. Now we are in a situation that is calming down, we can heal without the discomfort that can be had in a hospital at the limit of capacity, dedicating all the time and the necessary calm to each patient. But to continue in this fight, and therefore to end the new infections, everyone’s help is needed. The population must respect the distance and hygiene, and always keep the mask. If this is not the case, the fear of the third wave, which could also increase the spikes of flu, will become a certainty. Let’s not waste the sacrifices made so far.

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