Of Laura Della Pasqua
1. First reports of the Kraken variant
2. Restrictions at airports didn’t work
3. Vaccinated and healed are the most protected
1. First reports of the Kraken variant
The Kraken variant arrives in Italy. They were 12 cases detected. Omicron continues to be prevalent while this sublineage accounts for 28% of cases in the United States. According to the European CDC (the Center for Disease Control and Prevention) there is a risk that it could also spread to Europein the medium term, considering that today it is present only at very low levels.
The pandemic in our country continues to regress. According to the latest survey by the Ministry of Health, the employment rate in intensive care by Covid patients is down to 2.3% compared to 3.1% on January 12 and the employment rate in medical areas nationwide drops to 7.9%. No region and autonomous province is classified as high risk due to the evolution of Covid cases and the impact on health facilities. There are 4 moderate risk ones: Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Bolzano and Puglia.
2. Restrictions at airports didn’t work
Despite the restrictions and the ban on accessing airports without having swabbed with negative results, Covid continued to circulate in the airports. Indeed the difference between before and after the date of March 18, 2022, when the restrictions were lifted, is very minimal.
This is what emerges from a study conducted by the University of Bangor (Wales) published in the journal Plos Global Public Health. The researchers found large traces of the virus in the sewage of all planes landed at three major British airports (Heathrow, Edinburgh and Bristol) and in the sewers of the arrival halls of the hubs, in the toughest period of the pandemic when the restrictions were in force. At that time those who were not vaccinated had to undergo a swab which had to be negative to have access to the terminals.
The virus is transmitted by air and can stagnate even for long periods in closed and poorly ventilated environments. Strict restrictions on the movement of passengers had been placed precisely to avoid this situation. Nevertheless research results show that this type of barrier had little effect. To the point that, as the researchers found, the difference in concentrations of Covid in wastewater before and after the ban legislation was irrelevant. Despite the swabs, vaccines and masks, the virus continued to circulate. One of the hypotheses is that the test in some cases did not detect that people were infected or that those who were sick had evaded the checks. In a survey of 2000 adults, 23% of respondents admitted to having previously boarded a flight back to the UK while feeling unwell.
There is also the fact that the swab was only required for the unvaccinated and now we know that vaccines do not prevent contracting the virus, even if in a less serious way. Therefore, people who were ill but asymptomatic could have entered the airports. According to the research there was “a failure of border control in terms of Covid surveillance”. However, wastewater analysis could be used to trace other infectious diseases that passengers carry on their journeys.
3. Vaccinated and healed are the most protected
Those who have been vaccinated, contracted the virus and recovered are better protected from future variants. A new study by the World Health Organization, published in the prestigious journal The Lancet Infectious Diseaseslooked at the level of “hybrid immunity” that millions of people have developed against Covid, underlining that the mix provides a more powerful shield against the virus. It would also lower the transmission capacity towards other people by 40% compared to the norm.
