Zaoutis: Omicron will bring an end to the intense phase of the pandemic

“We are entering another phase of the pandemic. We see worldwide that the Omicron“, it will probably bring the end of the intense phase, however, with this particular virus, the data can always change with a new strain, with a new mutation” stressed the president of EODY, Theoklis Zaoutis, speaking in the First Program.

However, even if we have the appearance of a new strain, it is very difficult not to be covered by vaccines, at least in terms of serious disease, said Mr. Zaoutis, after all there is a level of immunity in the population that will work against new strains.

The president of EODY, according to ERT, clarified that the discussion is no longer whether this virus is circulating and if we stick to it, the most important indicators for the next day are hospitalizations, serious illness and deaths. After all, as he explained, every year the coronaviruses circulated and we all caught a common cold, a flu. 15% -30% of the colds were from coronaviruses that circulated uncontrollably between us every year, there was just an immunity and so we did not get seriously ill.

At the moment, we are seeing an escalation in the deaths, a course that will continue, Mr. Zaoutis estimated. If we consider the course of the pandemic we will see that there is an outbreak, after 15 days follow the hospitalizations and then follow the loss of lives, described the president of EODY. “The very high death tolls of recent weeks were the result of infections in early January, when we still had 50% Delta, a strain that has a higher risk of serious illness and death. In addition, we are the second country in Europe in the population of people aged 80 and over. “Certainly there are other factors, such as nosocomial infections and others that have to do with hospitalization, all of which contribute to having these death rates.”

Also important is how each country has defined death by covid. As Mr. Zaoutis explained, the definition of covid-related death, according to the WHO, is a person who has a positive covid test and dies, regardless of when he contracted it and regardless of the underlying disease. “During the pandemic, some people changed their definitions. Some states charge death as covid, if a positive ends up in hospital, others have set a time limit, for example if 28 days have passed since the infection, death is not charged in covid. So there is a confusion, because we do not all speak the same language, we compare apples with oranges and we try to conclude that the most accurate indicator at this time because there is this difference in how we measure deaths, is the excessive mortality, ie how many deaths we have more than expected from all the reasons and there we generally did well in the pandemic “.

“I believe that in the first phase the masks will go outside, when the weather opens, in the next period, I can not say if it will be weeks, months”, said Mr. Zaoutis about how the lifting of restrictions will proceed . “We will see it depending on where we are, if there is an upsurge, a new executive.” As far as the revaccination certificate is concerned, this is also under consideration. “We will see in the coming months, if we really have de-escalation, to see what the other European countries will do. The vaccination committee is examining the data regarding the duration of immunity and we will see “.

What matters is these pandemic consequences that go beyond covid disease. That is, the increase of psychological diseases, depression, diseases related to stress, while, Mr. Zaoutis pointed out, “the psychological health of children has certainly been affected by the closure of schools. “Studies have come out that speak of a change in the life expectancy of our children due to the pandemic.”

ERT

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