Covid Italia, Cts: “Today 90% infections are asymptomatic”

Today “for 90%” Covid infections “are asymptomatic and everywhere the severe disease is significantly decreasing. There was no underestimation”. This is explained by Donato Greco, epidemiologist of the Scientific Technical Committee (Cts), in an interview with ‘Corriere della Sera’. According to the expert, the rise in cases observed in recent days may perhaps also be linked to the “sub-variants of Omicron which, however, have the effect of a fourth dose for vaccinated people. They give an infection without symptoms and strengthen immunity. that the trend is bizarre, there was no forecast of growth in positives, while the decline in patients with severe forms was expected, as is still observed. The advent of new variants that systematically replace the previous ones favors new infections, but does not slow down the decrease of the seriously ill between frail and unvaccinated “, highlights. And to those who speak of the fifth wave, he points out that “no”, there was not too much haste in lifting the restrictions. “A large part of Western countries has based the containment measures on the incidence of severe disease (hospitalizations, intensive care, deaths) and not on the simple positive test: throughout Europe the severe disease is constantly decreasing while there is a slight constant increase in positives, over 90% asymptomatic. Also in Italy vaccination has avoided and continues to avoid deaths and hospitalizations. ‘never vaccinated’: they are the ones who support not only hospitalizations and deaths, but also new infections “. For the vaccinated “the three doses of mRna vaccines maintain a very high protection against severe disease (91.7% as of 11 March), while reducing the risk of becoming infected by 61%, which therefore remains. For this reason, a minimum must be kept. baggage of precautions, see mask and caution in crowded closed places “, recalls the expert. As for hospitalizations, “a substantial increase is not expected, but we know that even a mild infection can send fragile subjects with other pathologies to hospital: therefore it is possible that in the next few weeks we will see a greater number of hospitalized”. What lies ahead now? “The mitigation measures, in addition to vaccination, have been shown to be moderately effective in reducing the infection: the readjustment of these measures according to the epidemiological evolution is always useful taking into account their cost-benefit ratio”, says Greco. While with respect to the hypothesis of a new booster of the anti-Covid vaccine “I do not consider the fourth dose necessary, without excluding the need for future periodic boosters adapted to the variants of the moment as happens with the flu”.