Zangrillo: “Italy third for the lethality of Covid in the world? Serious distortion of reality”

“In the ‘Corriere della Sera’ Italy is indicated in a negative way, based on a database and not on an investigation structured according to scientific norms, as the third country in the world in terms of lethality by Covid”. Speaking with the Adnkronos is Alberto Zangrillo, vice-rector of the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan.

The subject of the specialist’s comment is data from the US Johns Hopkins University, which updates daily on confirmed infections, deaths, and those cured of Covid-19 surveyed by different countries. According to the American university center, Italy would be the third in the world in the ranking of the fatality index, or the indicator of the number of people who die from Covid every 100 cases discovered. The numbers from Johns Hopkins University have been taken from Corriere, in the November 18 article referred to by Professor Zangrillo and in which we read:

Mexico ranks first in the world with almost ten deaths out of every hundred that contracted the virus. Iran ranks second, just over five people unable to attend. Italy ranks third in the world ranking produced every day by the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, one of the most advanced medical centers internationally: our country has almost four deaths for every one hundred cases discovered since the start of the pandemic, for To be precise 3. 8, just above the United Kingdom which registers 3.7%.

On these data, Zangrillo continues: ″ It is surprising how a fact that constitutes our pride as Italians is not taken into account. The Belpaese has a main characteristic, I think positive: longevity. In Italy, the percentage of people over the age of 70 is 17%, compared to around 10% in the rest of Europe. And Sars-CoV-2 is known to particularly affect the elderly population in a lethal way. Second reason to consider a fake news that we are discussing: the index is calculated based on the relationship between deaths and number of positives, and everyone knows that during the first wave call the number of people tracked as positive up to Sars-CoV-2 in Italy, the first western country affected, was dramatically underestimated ”.

For Zangrillo, “these two significant data would be enough to indicate the serious distortion of reality. But it is good to add another: the mode of transmission of statistical data by the Regions to the Higher Institute of Health – he observes – is fraught with a physiological delay, which makes any conclusion in this regard completely inappropriate and inopportune ”.

All this, the professor concludes, “is evidently manifested in defense of our national health system, in the awareness of the grave moment we are living in, but in defense of the truth that is often trampled on to create a scandal. With the infamous and irresponsible consequence of irreparably ruining the lives of our elders, and not only ”.

As Corriere emphasizes, for Johns Hopkins University scholars, among the factors to consider, on the one hand, is the age of the population, which in Italy is among the highest in the world (the average age of deaths by Covid-19 in our country is equivalent to 82 years), on the other hand, the high fatality rate could be linked to the efficiency of the health system and the moment the patient takes charge, the speed of treatment. But not always, according to American scholars, this could provide an explanation for the numbers. The low fatality rate, therefore, would be affected by still unknown factors.

The Czech Republic, for example, is among the most affected territories in the world but where people die the least (fatality rate 1.4%). And also Sweden, which in recent months has not focused its containment strategy on lockdowns, has a lower fatality rate than ours, standing at 3.5%.

In recent months, Alberto Zangrillo has often expressed critical positions. A few weeks ago, during an intervention in Telelombardia, the professor spoke about swabs and positivity for the virus, which, he stressed, “does not mean disease.”

“Are we sure that this number of swabs performed responds to a justification? Do you think that the amount of tampons made and the result that we extract from them can help us in any way to better manage patients? Absolutely not, because the opportunity of intervention, the protection of the elderly, the adoption of correct measures are completely independent of positivity, of the new positives ”, were the words of the professor.

And about positivity he explained: “Even if there are some jokers, maybe even those who work close to me, who argue that the equivalence between positivity and illness is established, I assure you that it is not. The disease is a full-blown disease when it presents those characteristics that unfortunately many of us have known, both as patients and as doctors. And that is where we must operate correctly at the right time ”.

At the end of May, Zangrillo’s statements during his participation in Rai Tre’s Mezz’ora in più program had also generated debate. “The virus clinically no longer exists,” said San Raffaele’s chief physician.

And again: “Today is May 31 and about a month ago we heard epidemiologists fear at the end of the month and the beginning of June a new wave and who knows how many intensive care places to fill. In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists. This is what the Vita e Salute San Raffaele University says, according to a study carried out by the virologist director of the Institute of Virology, Professor Clementi, as well as by Professor Silvestri of Emory University in Atlanta ”.