Queues in pharmacies all over Italy for an antigenic swab. And long lines also at the ASL drive in for a molecular swab in Milan, Palermo and Bergamo, with hundreds of cars lined up. It is the photograph of these last festive days. With a race to the buffer linked to the desire on the part of Italians to spend their family holidays in peace, especially where there are elderly and frail people. A race, however, considered excessive by many professionals.
In the days leading up to Christmas, 700,000 people a day booked the quick swab at the pharmacy to find out if they were positive for the SarS-Covid2 virus. This was announced by Federfarma on the basis of data provided by the over 14 thousand pharmacies participating in the campaign throughout the country. “This is 20% more than in the pre-holiday period”, explains Marco Cossolo, president of Federfarma,
Sileri: buffers to be made with logic to avoid false securities
“I’ve seen monstrous files. The swab must be done with logic and on the advice of the doctor, the swabs, made in this way, by chance, give false safety. And then we cannot take a tampon away from those who really need it “remarked the Undersecretary of Health Pierpaolo Sileri. A position shared by Andrea Mandelli, president of the Federation of the Orders of Italian Pharmacists (Fofi), for whom the use of a tampon “should be limited to strictly necessary cases, after consulting with your doctor”. “It is important – he added – that the use of the swab does not become a sort of” pass “for unsafe situations, because the swab only photographs the present moment, that of the test, and does not protect against infection”.
Where can tampons be made?
According to the rules in force, close contacts in a confirmed Covid-19 case “must alert their doctor, who will notify or provide all the information to contact the Prevention Department of the ASL or Ats competent for the area that will arrange quarantine and surveillance” . In general, they can return to the community “after a quarantine period of at least 7 or 10 days (depending on the vaccination status) from the last exposure to the case, at the end of which an antigen or molecular test is performed with a negative result “.
The rules to follow
After all, those who have been identified as a “close contact” of a confirmed Covid case are obliged to quarantine but are not required to swab. Anyone who decides to do it anyway and receives a negative result cannot avoid or finish the quarantine first. It is no coincidence that the protocol on price-controlled tampons in pharmacies theoretically requires that the user has not had close contact with people with Covid in the last 7/10 days, does not have a fever higher than 37.5 ° C, and is not present. respiratory symptoms. However, reality is often different. With a rush to swabs that often turns into an “assault” without particular checks in pharmacies.