The curve of hospitalizations of Covid patients in Italy begins to drop rapidly, more in the North than in the South, while the hospitalizations of children drop less than those of adult patients. This is what emerges from the Fiaso survey in sentinel hospitals on February 15. In one week, the number of hospitalized patients decreased by 17%, the report points out. In the ordinary wards the decrease in patients, compared to February 8, stands at 16% while in the intensive care units the decrease is more consistent and reaches 26%. The reduction in patients, however, proceeds at different rates – highlights Fiaso – based on geographical areas. In hospitals in the North, the decline in hospitalizations, both in ordinary wards and in intensive care units, was 29%. In the structures of the Center hospitalizations fell by 11% while in the South and in the islands the number of patients decreased by 8%. In the ordinary wards, the hospitalized ‘for Covid’, i.e. those who have developed respiratory and pulmonary syndromes, make up 60% and are mostly elderly with other serious pathologies. The percentage of patients ‘with Covid’, on the other hand, is 40%: they are in hospital for internal diseases or to undergo surgery, even if positive for the virus. In intensive care, however, only 23% are hospitalized ‘with Covid’. About 72% of patients who end up in hospital with Covid pneumonia do not have vaccination coverage at all or do not have it complete because they have been vaccinated for over 4 months and have not taken the booster dose. Therefore, more than two thirds of patients who do not enjoy adequate vaccination coverage develop respiratory and pulmonary syndromes typical of Covid disease and need hospitalization. The admissions of pediatric patients decline more slowly than in adults. The percentage of hospitalizations of children “fell by 0.9% in one week”, notes the report on the data monitored in the 4 pediatric hospitals and in the pediatric wards of the sentinel hospitals that adhere to the Fiaso network. “69% are between 0 and 4 years old, 14% between 5 and 11 years, 17% between 12 and 18 years. In particular, infants, from 0 to 6 months, make up 27% of the total and among them only 45% have both parents vaccinated. There remains a significant percentage of cases, 21%, of hospitalized infants in which both parents are not vaccinated. In the remaining cases, 34% only have their father vaccinated “, the report continues. . “Virtually 55% of hospitalized infants live in families that do not have full vaccination coverage because the father or mother or both are not vaccinated, yet the virus is still circulating. The reduced numbers of pediatric vaccinations in the last few days, moreover, cause concern: the risk is that in the face of decreasing tension, less adherence to the vaccination campaign may follow. Children over 5 years of age must continue to be vaccinated in order to spend the next few months peacefully “, underlined Giovanni Migliore, president of Fiaso. “Today we record the first sharp decline in hospitalizations in three months. In the North, where the epidemic has had the greatest impact and where the growth had been more rapid, the reduction in hospitalizations is more decisive. Today’s figure is without a doubt. the result of the containment measures adopted is another: I think that the introduction of the Green Pass and the vaccination obligation for over 50s, even in the workplace, has worked and can continue to be useful. It is not the time to eliminate it “, the comment of the president of Fiaso. “It is not yet time to relax attention, in particular on the vaccination campaign, because we still have 70% of the inpatients who have not completed the vaccination cycle regularly or have not even taken a dose . The drop in hospitalizations cannot justify not administering the booster dose because the virus has not yet disappeared “, concludes Migliore.