Green pass and exempt shops, who risks the orange zone: what happens in Italy

The signature of Prime Minister Mario Draghi at the Dpcm has been postponed to today with the list of shops where it will not be mandatory to have the basic green pass from 1 February. The postponement, sources from Palazzo Chigi explained yesterday, is due to some filings to be made to the text. There is also expectation for new ISS monitoring data on the Covid situation in Italy which could lead to the transition from the yellow zone to the orange zone in some Regions from Monday. Among these, Piedmont, “but the definitive and official evaluation by the ministerial control room is awaited”, the Region said. To weigh the impact of the Omicron variant in the country and hospitalizations in the medical area and intensive care. Yesterday in Italy there were 188,797 new coronavirus infections and another 385 deaths. Read also “Despite an overall picture that shows a situation in constant improvement both in the spread of the virus and in the number of new hospitalizations, Piedmont has exceeded in a very small percentage (0.3%) one of the parameters for the transition to orange and on this the hospitalization of unvaccinated people, who continue to occupy 2/3 of our intensive care units and more than half of the ordinary beds, has evidently affected, placing Piedmont as well as other regions in Italy above the alert threshold – explained the president of the Region Alberto Cirio and the councilor for Health Luigi Icardi – it is however good to specify that the entry into the orange zone for vaccinated people will not bring any deprivation and further restrictions in their daily activities and in their sociality “. Meanwhile, the debate on the issue continues. color system, with the Regions asking to completely overcome this mechanism or limit oneself to just maintaining the area red. “Today, with the extension of the green pass, we substantially overcome what was once a color division that introduced generalized restrictions for all citizens. This process has begun with the Regions and I am confident that in the coming weeks we can reach a sharing. the red zone, for the other zones, I believe that the green pass system is more punctual “said the Undersecretary of Health Andrea Costa, guest of ‘Radio Anch’io’ on Rai Radio 1. In Valle d’Aosta, for a week in the orange zone, “this week’s data would place the Region in the yellow zone and remove the danger of ending up in the red zone. The passage in orange, linked to a few cases, has caused serious damage to the image of the Region: a crucial season for us and for the entire winter tourism sector, which has put in place a great deal of preparation and great attention. This fluctuation of situations, linked to the small numbers of our Region, it is a sign of how it is necessary to review the system of rules as a whole and move towards overcoming the risk zones as understood so far, ” Erik Lavevaz, president of Valle d’Aosta told Adnkronos. “We are moving towards a coexistence with the virus, which we can face with the experience accumulated up to now and with the essential tool of vaccination”, Lavevaz underlined. “a stabilization of new cases at 1.2 million and an increase in hospitalizations (+2.381) of patients in the medical area and in intensive care (+38). Therefore, the increase in cases is slowing down (+ 3%), but deaths increase by 49.7% in 7 days “. This is what the independent monitoring of the Gimbe Foundation reveals.” A national slowdown of the curve that is affected by very regional situations different “, comments Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Gimbe Foundation. In detail of the increase in deaths, the report shows that they are” 2,266 in the last 7 days (of which 158 referring to previous periods), with an average of 324 per day compared to 216 of the previous week “.” The pressure on hospitals remains high – says Renata Gili, Head of Research on Health Services of the Gimbe Foundation – in which the beds occupied by Covid patients continue to increase, albeit more slowly: compared to the previous week + 14% in the medical area and + 2.3% in intensive care “. As of January 18,” the national employment rate by Covid patients is 29.8% in the medical area and 17.8% in the critical area. With the exception of Molise and Sardinia, all Regions exceed the 15% threshold in the medical area, with Valle d’Aosta reaching 57.1% – the report highlights – with the exception of Basilicata and Molise, all exceed the threshold of 10% in the critical area “.” Daily admissions to intensive care are slightly down – points out Marco Mosti, operational director of the Gimbe Foundation – whose 7-day moving average drops to 141 admissions per day compared to 146 the previous week “. THERAPIES INTENSIVE – From the weekly report of the High School of Economics and Management of Health Systems (Altems) of the Catholic University, timid positive signs emerge on the control of this new pandemic wave led by the Omicron variant in Italy: this week the admissions of Covid patients are decreasing in intensive care. In the last seven days they recorded a slight improvement, rising to 1.67 per 100 thousand inhabitants, against a national average of 1.73 per 100 thousand regis drawn last week. The regions that have shown more intensive care admissions during the last seven days are Val d’Aosta (3.23 per 100 thousand inhabitants), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (2.75 per 100 thousand) and Veneto (2.58 per 100 thousand). The incidence of infections at a national level also recorded a decrease, which in the last five weeks traveled at an average speed of + 130% (which means more than the doubling of cases from week to week), while in the past week there is an increase limited, by 20%, rising from 1,719 to 1,767 per 100 thousand residents. “After five weeks of strong growth trend in new ICU admissions, which has led to more than double the weekly national value, going from 0.83 per 100,000 inhabitants to 1.73 per 100,000 inhabitants, it finally seems to fade in the last week this sprint of Covid, registering a slight decrease in the figure which stabilizes at 1.67 per 100 thousand inhabitants “, says Americo Cicchetti, director of Altems.” This data is a sign of a slowdown in the pressure of Covid-19 on health systems – continues Cicchetti – although there is a very important regional variability: in fact, in the last week, the Aosta Valley has seen an increase in the saturation rate of + 11.1% (recording the highest value among the regions / Pa), followed by from the Marche Region which marks a + 3.2%, on the contrary the Pa Trento marks the lower reduction of the saturation rate with a variation of -9% compared to last week, followed by the Veneto Region which marks a -2.7% of the saturation rate of intensive care beds “.” These data, however – he warns – are still preliminary and we must wait at least another 2-3 weeks to be able to say with certainty that the peak has been reached of this fourth wave “.