Dr. Franco Dent: «We are walking on a tightrope» no one wants a third lockdown

«We are walking on a tightrope.» says Dr. Franco Denti, President of the Order of Doctors of the Canton of Ticino (OMCT). He calls for caution today as the first phase of reopening starts. The strategy released by Bern proposes a gradual and cautious recovery from March 1. Phase two is scheduled for March 22 and could also involve bars and restaurants. To assess its feasibility, Bern will rely on a series of indicators:

Positivity rate, which must remain below 5%; Occupancy of beds in intensive care units with COVID-19 patients, which should not exceed 25%. Furthermore, according to Denti «we must take into considertaion the epidemiological evolution of Italy, in particular the neighboring provinces, where we often see provinces or regions move back into the red zone every day.

The virus will circulate more

«I agree with this strategy because it sets very specific stakes and, in practice, it meets the needs of populations to regain a bit of normality », observes Denti. Today the shops will be able to reopen after 5 weeks and in this regard the Dr calls for caution: «The new positive cases are stable precisely because we are closed. With reopenings, the virus will circulate more and it is up to us to prevent it from spreading too quickly. We must be careful not to undergo a third wave; for this I appeal to the responsibility of citizens. I understand that there is a great desire for normality, but a compromise is needed».

The variant lurking

Those who should pay particular attention are the department stores, scientifically recognized as «great spreaders» of the virus, notes Denti. «I hope they will put in place all the necessary mitigation measures. In the past I was able to personally ascertain that after a good start, marked by the diligent application of the containment rules to the spread of the virus, the guard was regularly lowered, without anyone intervening and this must no longer happen». «In Ticino with the measures imposed at the federal level on January 13, the contagion curve dropped suddenly, but it has stalled for weeks and has never dropped to zero. In Ticino as in Switzerland we are witnessing a decrease in the infections of COVID-19 originating from Wuhan, but at the same time there is an increase in the number of positive cases of the various more contagious and, up to now, no less lethal variants. In Ticino, 50% of new cases are linked to the English mutation, which in Switzerland already represents 60% and if it gets out of hand, we risk a third wave, with the painful consequences that we have all learned to know».