According to Alexandre Bleibtreu, infectious disease doctor at the Pitié-Salpêtrière infectious diseases department in Paris, the Italian authorities have not clearly identified the potential carriers of the virus.
After the death of a patient with the Covid-19 coronavirus in Italy, the country decided to close public places in a dozen small towns. According to Doctor Alexandre Bleibtreu, infectious disease doctor at the Pitié-Salpêtrière infectious diseases department in Paris, these closings are “an over-reaction”. According to the doctor interviewed on Franceinfo Saturday, February 22, these measures show “especially since the index case, the one that returned from China, passed between the meshes of a first screening (virus detection phase, editor’s note)”.
Even if France “reacted extremely well” facing the virus, our country “is not immune, as in Italy, from infected patients who would not feel symptoms, who would not declare themselves and who would cause local chains of transmission”, continued the doctor Alexandre Bleibtreu.
The measures taken in Italy are “an over-reaction to an unexpected contamination case diagnosed too late”, develops Alexandre Bleibtreu. According to the doctor, the detection of potential carriers of the virus has not worked well enough in the Peninsula. Otherwise, “closing public places has limited effectiveness when the measure is taken too late and there are already local transmission channels”, He says.
Doctor Bleibtreu finally wishes “put things in context” concerning the danger of the coronavirus: “This epidemic of coronavirus, it is certainly spreading, but it is of moderate gravity since we have a relatively low mortality rate of 2% and mainly in elderly people or those who have chronic or underlying pathologies.”
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