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“If we give up on that, the battle is lost “. It is an authoritative source from the Ministry of Health to ensure that “the line does not change, swabs must be done and all positive, symptomatic and asymptomatic ones will be done”.
Despite the difficulties that the ASL prevention departments have to deal with every day in carrying out epidemiological investigations to identify the contagion risk contacts of those who tested positive, despite the fact that contact tracing has failed in many areas of the country, as yesterday they hinted – “with such significant numbers it is difficult to sustain” – the general director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Gianni Rezza and the president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Silvio Brusaferro. The latter, this morning, at a hearing in the Health Commissionat of the Senate, stressed the importance of “identifying the asymptomatic” becauseIt’s “Identifying people carrying the virus is the first frontier to stop the infection”. The goal, therefore, is “to continue tracing the positives, without letting go” and “if the number is in excess and you cannot più to do, measures are taken to reduce the number of positives below the threshold ”, added the president of the ISS, indirectly referring to any new restrictions that could be arranged to lower the contagion curve.
On Sunday the Regions, with a letter sent to the Minister for Health, Roberto Speranza, had ProposeI’m changing the rules on testing, allowing facilities that have difficulty tracing contacts due to too many positives not to swab, molecular or rapid antigenic, to the asymptomatic. At the moment, no official response has been received from Rome, but in recent days it seemed there might be an opening. Yesterday, Professor Luca Richeldi, pulmonologist of the Gemelli Polyclinic and member of the Scientific Technical Committee, commenting on the’alarm from a group of physicists from Sapienza who had defined a “trip” l’hypothesis of reforming contact tracing, he said: “It could be a necessary and temporary change of strategy”. Position “isolated in the CTS, which – underlines one of the components -” remains convinced of the need to swab all the positives, be they symptomatic or asymptomatic “.
Same line of the Ministry of Health which continues to work to strengthen the tracing system on the territories and local health networks.
The call published by the Civil Protection to strengthen contact tracing by hiring 2,000 people (1,500 medical and health personnel and 500 staff’attivitat administration to be used in the territories) replied 48.736 people and this morning Minister Speranza from his Facebook profile thanked the general practitioners and pediatricians of free choice who have signed the new national collective agreement. “The commitment to making rapid antigenic swabs, in studios or other suitable spaces and the use of new equipment for first-level diagnostics is very important,” wrote Speranza. Last night the announcement of the agreement with general practitioners and pediatricians to perform swabs had come from the front of the Regions. Which, however, saw their proposal to change the testing rules rejected. “There are tests and reagents – the CTS points out – the difficulties derive from organizational and management problems”. And this is the ground on which to work, the front to be strengthened also according to the Ministry of Health, even if in many areas contact tracing has failed. “In problem areas, targeted lockdowns could also be thought of to lower the curve – the source from the Ministry cuts short – but the contact tracing system must be strengthened. And not swabbing the asymptomatic is unthinkable ”.
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