A new controversial front is opening up in Lombardy on the management of the Coronavirus emergency, this time between the Northern League region and the Municipality of Milan administered by the Democratic Party. Tuesday the Pirellone announced that serological tests will start from 21 April, at the rate of 20 thousand per day: we will start "with health and social care workers and citizens who have to go back to work - reads a note - with particular reference to provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona and Lodi".
It stands out on the list the absence of Milan, which also has not been spared by the epidemic and is certainly not comparable to the other Lombard provinces in terms of size and population density. The reaction of the Municipality was not long in coming: “May they give us masks, give us more swabs, give us serological tests – said the mayor dem, beppe room in his video column Good morning from Palazzo Marino – I read that in the Lombardy region from 21 April 20 tests will be carried out a day. Well, where? In other provinces but not in Milan? But how: isn't Milan the problem? Let's realize it".
But let's go in order. The Lombardy Region specifies that the serological tests were "designed and tested by the public Irccs San Matteo di Pavia" and should certify "immunity to the virus, allowing the so-called phase 2 to be managed in a conscious way".
According to the Northern League governor, Attilio Fontana, who spoke on the TV show Afternoon Five, serological tests should ensure a sort "Covid-19 immunity license, identifying people who have had this disease and who have enough antibodies to ensure coverage.
The Regional Councilor for Welfare, Julius Gallera, he added that “this test is done with blood sampling, not droplet, and aims to highlight whether the antibodies are immunizing, that is, whether they have blocked and suffocated the virus. It is not a very rapid test but it allows us to double the numbers we have".
Then, even to appease the controversies with Milan, Gallera explained that there are not the resources to test the entire Lombard population: “If more reliable and also faster serologicals arrived – said the councilor a Morning Five - we will be the first to adopt them. I understand the citizens who ask us 'give us tests in a massive way' and we really would like to do it. Unfortunately everyone tells us that these blood droplet tests have no diagnostic value for now. The ministry, the Higher Institute of Health and our scientists say so”.
It is obvious that the most affected provinces are others and not Milan, every politician has said it a thousand times and it is enough to look at the statistics to understand that the cities at risk and with the highest percentage are others. Milan has only a very high population density, but it is, among the Lombards of the south, the least affected. Doing everything for political manipulation is nothing short of ridiculous.