Covid today Italy, Brusaferro: “Decrease in cases almost everywhere”

A generalized decline in Covid infections both at the level of regions and age groups. This is the picture described by the president of the Higher Institute of Health, Silvio Brusaferro, during the press conference on the analysis of the Coronavirus monitoring data in the control room. “In all regions there is a decline in cases, represented in all age groups, even in the youngest,” he says. “The average age of cases is stabilizing under 40 (around 38), regrowth has stopped and we are returning to previous values. In fact, during the summer we had a strong circulation in the youth population. hospitalization is around 60 years old (this week it is 62), for those entering intensive care it is 65 years, for deaths it is 80 years “. The data of the transmissibility index Rt “begins to stabilize around 0.8. The significant element is that it is below the epidemic threshold of 1, both in the precise assessment made on September 15 (0.84) and in the projected one. week ahead (‘augmented’, to 21 September, ed.) which remains at 0.81 and also the Rt compared to the hospitalized is at 0.80 “as of 21 September. “So all the main parameters by which we measure the transmissibility” of Covid “show that we are below the epidemic threshold and this leads to a reduction in the circulation of the virus”, continued the expert. “The European framework” of Covid-19, described from the maps of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Ecdc), “it is clearing up”, a sign that several areas in Italy and other parts of the EU are in the lowest risk range, even if there are parts of the Europe still characterized by a strong circulation “of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus.” Once again Italy is confirmed with one of the most contained curve in terms of incidence “at European level” and this explains the mix made by a strong investment in the vaccination campaign and at the same time by the adoption of attention and precautions to counteract the circulation of the virus through behavior “.
VACCINES “It is important to report that those over 80 are exceeding 95%” of vaccinated against Covid with at least one dose. But it is “also important to point out that vaccination of over 50s is progressing in any case. Action is also important on these groups of 50 and older, because it is true that 85% of” the 50-59 year-olds, “and the 89% are over 60, but it is also true that, being numerous bands “, these figures are significant. “And above all, we know that substantially it is the age groups where it is more likely that, if one contracts the infection, it can become complicated and require hospital-type assistance”. On the anti-Covid vaccination front “the 20-29 age range is still growing, as is the 12-19 age range which is rapidly approaching 70% with the first dose, and with the time required for the second dose in the next few years. weeks the gap will close “. “It should be noted how these age groups, although they started the vaccination campaign later, are now reaching other age groups for which the indication has been in force for many weeks, even months”, noted the The data of people who contract Sars-CoV-2 infection in Italy “are stabilizing under 40 years”, we are “at 38 years” as the median age at diagnosis. “What we can see”, moreover, “is that the decrease in the” Covid “incidence continues both in the age groups over 20 years, but also between 12 and 19 years. The one under 12 remains rather stable” . “This translates, in terms of incidence at 7 and 14 days in the different age groups, into a decrease in” Covid “above 12 years, in particular marked between 16 and 19 years – he stressed – and this has to do with also do with a vaccination campaign that is progressing “for these kids. “The age 3-5 years – continued Brusaferro – is perhaps the most unstable, in the sense that it has a decrease, but in the 14-day assessment” it also shows “a slight upward movement. But basically it is a stable situation”. SCHOOLS What is the time of quarantine for students? “It is a question of understanding, where the positivity” in Covid, “who is in close contact or not and then the measures to be taken according to this definition of close contact, it being understood that we have circulars that somehow define the measures to be adopted for close and positive contacts. In this sense, there is a reflection and work done together with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Regions and the Higher Institute of Health, which is trying to identify standards that can be applied homogeneously on the territory, having as an objective on the one hand the control of the circulation “of Sars-CoV-2 and” on the other hand the priority of keeping people in attendance as much as possible during the school phase “.” Let’s start from a prerequisite – the expert reiterated responding to a question on quarantine – the objective of our country, now declared at several levels, is to resume school activities by adopting all the ure necessary and appropriate to guarantee a school in the presence. This is the context in which we are moving and for 2-3 weeks we have been showing specific data for age groups, to highlight the attention “to the school” and monitor “. Now, Brusaferro clarified,” behaviors are more homogeneous throughout the country, with respect to the possibility that cases may occur. Eventuality that occurs, because as we have seen from the curves there are “in these school age groups” cases of positivity “.