If there is a need for harsher interventions, we will do so without hesitation, warns Minister of Health
New cases are rising in Italy and there has been a “substantial” decrease in testing. For the first time since early April, there has been an increase in intensive care admissions.
According to data released by the Italian Ministry of Health, there was a 46% increase in new cases, between August 4th and 11th: 2.818 positives compared to 1.931 in the week of July 29th to August 4th.
There was also an increase in the number of hospitalized patients with symptoms (801 versus 761) and also those in intensive care (49 versus 41). These are the data that emerge from the latest monitoring of the Gimbe Foundation, referring to the period from August 4th to 11th.
It is the comparison with the previous week that reveals a worrying trend in the epidemic.
Nino Cartabellotta, president of the foundation, speaks of a “growing trend of new cases”. And he warns: if the course is not reversed, “the risk of new lockdowns approaches the beginning of the school year”, which (in principle) begins in the second week of September.
Fewer tests
A major concern is the “net growth” of new cases compared to what Gimbe defines as a “significant decrease in diagnosed tests”: 174.671 those carried out between August 4 and 11, compared to 187.316 the previous week.
“If in the first three weeks of July new cases were stable (around 1.400 per week), in the last two they progressively increased from: 1.736 in the week of July 22-28 to 1.931 in the week of July 29-4 of August and 2.818 in the week of August 5-11, comments Cartabellotta.
In short, “the progressive increase in new cases is evident, whether native, imported (foreign) or returning from Italians who went on vacation abroad”.
Cartabellotta Warning
The president of the Foundation comments on the data from this latest monitoring, expressing concern.
And he points out a contradiction: “If on the one hand the government and the regions try to implement new actions to contain the increase in infections, public communication continues to be influenced by messages that minimize the risks, totally ignoring the dynamics and the timing that condition the increase in the epidemiological curve and counting on the scientific illiteracy of a part of the population”.
To this end, Gimbé invites Italians to “not let their guard down” and to “maintain a great sense of individual and collective responsibility”, continuing to respect the rules of social distancing and hygienic care, from frequent hand washing to the use of masks.
It then “invites health authorities to strengthen epidemiological surveillance, both to identify and limit outbreaks, and to promptly identify cases imported from abroad”.
Finally, it addresses “all experts”, asking them to “provide balanced and objective public data and, in uncertainty, follow the precautionary principle”. “Otherwise,” is Cartabellotta’s latest warning, “the specter of new lockdowns hangs over the start of the school year.”
The official word
Words that make you shudder throughout Italy, but which are not surprising, especially when looking at the epidemiological trend, which is not particularly critical, but which runs the risk of becoming so in the coming weeks and months.
"Os Italians in recent months have been extraordinary, behaved very correctly: we must continue on this path. If we see that there is a need for even tougher interventions in some areas, we will do so without hesitation. Schools are a fundamental point, Now we have to reopen them safely ", said the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, this Thursday (14).
With information Courier
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