This is the keystone of the plan of the regional government and of the Department led by Razza to increase the capacity to accommodate seriously ill patients in the coronavirus wards, without opening new Covid hospitals: “At the moment only Partinico is planned and freeing uselessly occupied places we will still hold “, they say from piazza Ottavio Ziino. The distribution of 1.5 million doses of the flu vaccine has begun to the Asps of the whole island, to immediately start vaccinations that should help slow the advance of the virus. Which yesterday recorded stable numbers: 7,151 swabs and 233 new infections. Palermo still in the lead with 85 cases, Catania 77. Two more hospitalizations in intensive care, 4 deaths and 24 recovered. The Rt contagion index grows from 1.19 to 1.22 and Sicily is second after Campania.
Via the non-serious positives
The circular signed by Di Liberti and La Rocca invites patients to be discharged from the wards: “We reiterate the need to promote patient turnover – reads the note – in order to make hospital beds available”. “We cannot keep, as happened at the Brain, 60 places occupied even by those who no longer have symptoms but are not yet completely negative”, said the councilor. And therefore the circular invites the non-seriously ill patients to be placed in home isolation or to transfer to Covid-hotel. But with some rules: “For home isolation it is necessary to have an isolated room and a bathroom accessible separately – the circular continues – otherwise the patient must be housed in a low intensity center”. The so-called Covid hospitals, which the Region is creating, are not in hotel structures, such as the San Paolo in Palermo, but also transforming various assisted health residences affiliated with the councilorship. The goal is to guarantee hospital beds only to those who need them, thus avoiding stressing the system, already in difficulty in large hospitals such as Cervello in Palermo or San Marco in Catania. After this circular from the Region, they reiterate that they have no plans for other Covid hospital openings after Partinico, which will have a total availability of about 60 places.
Off to the flu shot
The second leg of the Race plan is the one on flu vaccines. The vaccination campaign can now start after 1.5 million doses have been delivered to the Asp since yesterday, almost double compared to last year: in 2019 the Region purchased 900,000 doses. Protected groups will have priority: children up to six years including parents, adults over the age of 60, as well as people with diabetes, heart patients and pregnant women. In Palermo the ASP already yesterday communicated the delivery of the doses to the family doctors and started the call in the vaccination centers of the health company.
Mini lockdown and non-stop admissions
Yesterday the commissioner Razza, also in light of these measures, said he was confident: “The situation of hospitals in Sicily is under control, we made the conscious choice to avoid any lockdown. We cannot afford a closure of the health system – says Razza – in recent months the number of tampons was very low and that of hospitalizations ten times the current ones, so the strategy implemented by the Region is bearing fruit. We are evaluating a measure that will not see the lockdown if not selective in some areas. The choice of the Region will be to do as much as possible diagnostic tests to detect the positives “.- .
