And so the hospital specializing in infectious diseases, recognized as excellence in the fight against Covid-19, seriously risked going haywire due to vacationers in Bermuda shorts and suitcases who returned from Greece, Croatia, Spain and all the foreign countries to which the Region has imposed mandatory quarantine at least until they do the swab and have a response that avoids the infection.
Even people without masks showed up, men, women and children, who caused a crowd and forced the security guards to ask for the help of the carabinieri. The ASL staff also arrived to help Cotugno to carry out the screening and relieve the hospital from the task.
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The general manager of the Colli healthcare company, Maurizio Di Mauro, is visibly disappointed with what has happened. Now he fears that the unexpected gathering could nullify the work of months. “The ordinance of the Region is very clear, says Di Mauro – the person who returns from abroad must go to his home and contact the local ASL which, through the Usca, goes to the houses to swab and issue the certificate”. But the times? Two or three days could pass for Di Mauro, not so for those who stormed the emergency room worried about being forced to a two-week quarantine, with the risk of not being able to return to work.
“The territory is working well – the director insists there are two or three days of waiting at the most. We do not understand an ordinance which is very precise. This morning (yesterday for the reader, ed) many people crowded the emergency room of the Cotugno creating a considerable discomfort, we even had to distribute the boys. We are a hospital that must assist patients who have overt and actual diseases from Covid or have symptoms such as high fever. We have seen citizens with trolleys and suitcases that, just got off the plane, they showed up here demanding an immediate examination. We are used to not chasing anyone, as a public structure we have to give assistance to everyone, so we called ASL Napoli 1 which sent staff from the district and they are doing the tampons at Cotugno. Fortunately, the director Ciro Verdoliva intervened immediately otherwise it would have been a disaster for us. But the correct procedure is this: who arrives from abroad he must go home, call the local health authority that will intervene. This – adds Di Mauro – I say it as an infectious disease specialist, also serves for traceability and from an epidemiological point of view, because in this way we are able to know where the subject comes from, what manifestations he had, what contacts have occurred. If any of the citizens here are positive, they may have passed on the infection to others for not respecting the rule of staying in their own home. It is a very delicate moment. These weeks will be crucial to contain the infections “.
Covid Campania, ASL Na1: here’s how to make swabs after returning from abroad
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And the data are not encouraging: in Cotugno there are again two patients over 80 in intensive care, seven patients in sub-intensive care and the same number in ordinary hospitalization. “Unfortunately we risk going back to the previous months – concludes Di Mauro – and it’s a shame because we frustrate all the work done. We have to use masks, keep the distance and respect the rules”. But there are also the testimonies of the people in line, many of whom after a long wait have given up taking the exam. Stefano, returned from Ibiza, shows the screenshot of a phone call to the ASL and the 27-minute wait for an answer that never arrived: “They don’t answer”.
Francesco’s voice is added: “From Mykonos I arrive in Naples after a trickle of different ordinances every 24 hours. I believe that my holiday was protected by the egregious Greek organization. No gatherings were allowed and the spaces were respected much better than in Italy. Arrival in Capodichino: no control but a thermoscanner. Immediately I take a taxi to Cotugno to undergo a swab. Outside the emergency room there is chaos and the information is confused. Only at 1.30 pm it is possible to organize the screening ” . Valentina and Pasquale say they are not resident in Campania, but in Milan. He has family members in Naples and from there they left for Mykonos. Yesterday they returned with a flight to Capodichino: “As we are not resident here, we cannot ask the ASL for a swab, so we came to the hospital”.
Antonio raises another problem: “But why aren’t tampons organized in airports and ports in order to avoid this dripping? In Greece they did them in medical tents”. Claudia accuses: “Why didn’t they immediately establish that upon returning we would have to undergo isolation? Maybe we would have avoided leaving. The Region is constantly changing the rules.” Furthermore, the difficulties in carrying out swabs in Campania privately remain: “We would avoid flooding the public garrisons”, says Raffaella. In all yesterday there were 2,341 reports (including phone calls and emails) to the local health authorities of Campania of people who have returned from abroad. 131 swabs and 25 serological tests performed. There were 38 positive returns from abroad before the first of August 12th.
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