Omicron 2, Gismondo: “Virus attenuated but until June indoor masks”

“Covid infections date back” in Italy thanks to the Omicron 2 variant and today they are again close to 100 thousand per day, because “we know that the Omicron 2 sub-variant is extremely contagious”, even though it appears to be “an attenuated virus” in terms of the severity of the associated symptoms. A super transmissibility in the face of which Maria Rita Gismondo, director of the Laboratory of clinical microbiology, virology and diagnostics of bioemergencies at the Sacco hospital in Milan, agrees on the theme of masks with Walter Ricciardi, consultant to the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza: “Indoors it is it is advisable to keep them “even after May 1st,” at least until the end of May-mid-June “, says the expert at Adnkronos Salute. But should the epidemiological situation worry us? “Contagions are rising again – observes Gismondo – and hospitalizations also begin to rise, but fortunately in the medical area and not in intensive care. This suggests” precisely that “it is an attenuated virus, even if unfortunately there are still fragile people who they contract it in a way that needs hospital medical care. ” What should we expect? “We will probably continue to see an increase in hospitalizations in the medical area, but certainly – specifies the microbiologist – it will not be a wave comparable to the previous ones”.