Omicron 5, Crisanti: “It’s not a joke, wrong to say it’s lighter”

Summer is advancing and despite the heat Covid infections, hospitalizations and intensive care are growing. “Omicron 5, this new variant, is no joke. It is no lighter” than the other sub-variants of the family “and it must not pass this message. You do it like a flu if you are vaccinated. Then as it passes the time after vaccination, the symptoms can become more and more serious “. This is the warning launched by the virologist Andrea Crisanti who returns to point the finger at the spread of self-tests. “The Covid-19 data? They are no longer credible. I really think that a measure to be taken urgently should be to abolish rapid tampons at home. Do-it-yourself tests must be abolished because they blind the health system, they are not sensitive, and very often people do not report themselves or report themselves late, putting their health at risk. It has become a ‘far west’ “, says Crisanti. Is this also what is driving the virus rush? “Of course – analyzes the director of the Department of Molecular Medicine of the University of Padua – First of all, rapid swabs are not sensitive, very often they are negative, the extra people do not report each other, they do not do quarantines and so it has become a far cry. west “. For Crisanti “rapid tampons should not have been authorized at home. When does a civilized country entrust its citizens with the management of public health? It does not exist”, says the expert to Adnkronos Salute. “I would have kept a serious system of identifying the positives. Then, however, as far as tracing is concerned, the question is more complex”. Meanwhile, today a problem has also been created on the numbers, observes the virologist, and it is also difficult to understand well the impact of the current sub-variants such as Omicron 5: “We are talking about an increase in positives, but how many are these positives really? How many people are there? that at home they swab and it’s positive and they don’t say it? How many people don’t go to quarantine and they should? We are in the far west of public health. ‘epidemic – explains the director of the Department of Molecular Medicine of the University of Padua to Adnkronos Salute – “it is not that after two years we are again unprepared. The dynamics of the epidemic depends on two factors: the transmission rate of the virus , therefore the R0, and the level of protection of the population. We are facing an evolution of the virus that develops variants capable of infecting vaccinated people. And, on the other hand, most of the population is div becoming more susceptible because it temporally moves away from the date of vaccination “. The burden of reinfections has also grown. The scenario that awaits us? It will not be characterized by the maxi dramatic waves of the past, Crisanti specifies. “We must expect big fluctuations – he points out – because fortunately not all the population is susceptible” to the virus. “It should be borne in mind that in the meantime, from January to now, and also at the end of June, about 20 million people in Italy will be infected with Omicron. And these people are certainly more protected than those vaccinated”.