Covid, Lornie: ‘Too many unvaccinated patients in intensive care, either by choice or by marginalization’

Bergamo. Covid patients, at Papa Giovanni Hospital, have been back for a while. On July 13, the day intensive care was first declared “Covid-free” in 2021, already seems so far off, that a new arrival was already registered in mid-August.

Luca Laurini says: “In the last month and a half, we have treated about 30 patientsDirector of the Emergency and Critical Area Department at Bergamo Hospital. Quite a lot, and almost all of them are not immune to their choice. The rest are people on the margins of societywho, for various reasons, were unable to access the vaccination campaign.” But compared to not being cleansed, they are still a minority.

“We discriminate – notes Laurini -. There are those who are afraid of the vaccine, they allow themselves to be overwhelmed by doubts but do not a priori oppose it. On the other hand, he deliberately chooses not to do so out of conviction. There, Of people like this I have seen many who arrive at the hospital and then in abundance, and of late – he asserts – repent.. They tell me “how stupid I was”, or “how I believed in certain things”…”.

On Wednesday, September 22 at Pope John, there were 39 Covid patients: 31 in hospital and 8 in intensive care. The age of patients and their clinical characteristics did not change. The severity of the disease is always the same and mainly affects people aged 45 to 80 years. The vast majority – Lorini’s statements – have not been vaccinated. Almost all of them are telling the truth.”

Pope John’s doctor doesn’t feel like predicting fall and winter. “My hope – he’s just commenting – is that if people keep getting vaccinated and the third doses move at a good pace, Winter can close with 150-200 beds for Covid patients in Lombard hospitals. In the first wave we reached 1450, and in the second wave we reached 950. If we close at 200 the result will be good.”

The third dose and the flu shot may be given together this year. “Maybe the third dose and the masks will suffice – Loreni abbreviates -. Last winter, no one saw the flu.”

But the light at the end of the tunnel, how close is it? “The point is, you have to stop looking at your house. The impact of the virus is not limited to Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy and Europe – he concludes -. This is a battle the world can win or lose together. If rich countries are vaccinated, but people continue to have relationships with India or Africa or other countries in which they are not vaccinated, it is difficult to say when it will end.”