The coronavirus arrived in Italy, causing the first victims and above all expanding patchily, with the toll of the infected increasing - inexorably - by the hour. For now, the most affected part of Italy is the North, in particular Lombardy where the first official case occurred, in Codogno in the Lodi area. Government, hospital and civil protection have the situation under control: caution in these situations is never too much, but the invitation is not to panic and, in areas at risk, to stay at home and not to show up at the emergency room help in case of symptoms (which, let's remember, are those of a normal flu, with pneumonia), but rather call 112 or 1500. Here is a useful handbook on things to know and how to behave:
- The contagion it happens like that of a classic flu, or through the droplets that a person infects emits when breathing, speaking, coughing and sneezing. These droplets can enter the airways of another person who is less than five feet away;
- The precautions to take are therefore intuitive: stay away from those who cough and sneeze; washing hands (who may have touched contaminated objects, even if the resistance of the virus would seem very limited in time, at most a few days, weakening already after 24 hours); do not touch your face (again because your hands could harbor the virus); if you have symptoms, avoid going to the emergency room and call your doctor, 112 or 1500;
- Is it also possible to be infected by someone who has no symptoms? It is not yet clear but doctors say it is unlikely that the virus is transmitted by people who are completely without symptoms. And instead It can be transmitted by people with few symptoms;
- Can the virus also infect young, sporty and healthy people? The elderly and people with health problems certainly risk more, but nothing rules out the possibility that even a healthy and perfectly efficient lung can become seriously ill, especially if it waits many days before seeking assistance;
- Mortality: in Wuhan it is 2,5%, but in the rest of the world it is 0,5 per thousand, less than a common flu;
- How much will the virus spread in Italy? Doctors agree on this: it cannot be predicted, but what seems certain is that the official number of infected is only the tip of the iceberg compared to infected people, who were not included in the counts because without symptoms, or with mild symptoms that resolved on their own.
