Onishchenko called on Russians to wear costumes of “red zone doctors” to New Year’s corporate parties
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“Influenza in a specific historical period is even more serious than coronavirus”
On the eve of the New Year, Russians were threatened with a “triple epidemic”: influenza, coronavirus and ARVI. This is despite the fact that the incidence of measles, according to information disseminated in some media, has tripled, and some kind of “unusual pneumonia” is also raging, allegedly coming from China. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Onishchenko clarified the situation with diseases before the New Year in this regard and gave forecasts for January.
During his briefing, Onishchenko noted that we are now experiencing “a seasonal increase in incidence associated with weather conditions in the Northern Hemisphere in which we live.” These are ARVI, influenza and coronavirus. However, the good news is that, with rare exceptions, Covid is not as severe as before. Now the flu is considered much more dangerous than it. The Covid incidence rate over the past week per 100 thousand population was 73.39, and the flu incidence rate was 108.8 cases per 100 thousand population. This means that the intensity of the spread of influenza is one third higher.
Onishchenko recalled that during the entire period of the coronavirus pandemic (since December 2019), 23 million 537 thousand people fell ill in Russia, of which the number of deaths was 400,000. At the same time, over 89 million people, or 60.9% of the total, were vaccinated against Covid population (76.7% of the adult population). 20 million of them were revaccinated.
“Today the coronavirus incidence rate, despite the fact that it is growing, is “controllable and predictable,” the doctor said. Plus, the situation should improve due to the registration of a vaccine “with the most current subtype that is currently circulating.” “I make a fairly optimistic forecast regarding the coronavirus,” he concluded.
As for influenza, over the past week the indicator characterizing its incidence – 108.8 cases per 100 thousand population – exceeded the base value by 55%. Epidemic thresholds for influenza and ARVI for the entire population in the previous week were exceeded by 20% in 36 Russian cities: Moscow, Murmansk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladivostok, Vladimir and others. But Onishchenko is confident that a decline will begin next week. The fact is that schoolchildren will go on vacation (and students will go on vacation) and “will be separated.”
The children will go on vacation, but the time for corporate events will begin. Elderly workers and people with poor health are better off avoiding such large gatherings. If they are going there anyway, the doctor advised them to wear medical masks at New Year’s corporate parties and appear at the holiday in the guise of an “immunologist”, or even better, to dress in the costume of a “red zone doctor” (in a spacesuit and with a protective shield on the face) . “It would be good if such New Year’s costumes became a new tradition for us, so, among other things, we would pay tribute to the heroism of our doctors who fought Covid during the pandemic,” he added.
During the ten-day winter holidays, the situation with seasonal diseases will be more or less calm, but after everyone returns to work and school, that is, from about mid-January, their growth will begin again.
The coronavirus pandemic is over, but influenza in a “specific historical period” is even more serious. Therefore, according to the doctor, as few meetings and gatherings as possible should be held, and if they are held, it is better to do so online.
Onishchenko called information recently disseminated in the media about a 300-fold increase in the incidence of measles in Russia as a “provocation” and “information terrorism.” “We are now talking about several thousand people with measles. “We, thank God, maintain a national vaccination calendar,” he said, also expressing confidence that “in the 21st century we will switch to an individual vaccination calendar,” which will be much more effective.
As for another medical horror story of recent weeks – the increase in cases of mycoplasma pneumonia, then, according to the doctor, at the moment there is no objective evidence that it is somehow “special”. “Yes, there is mycoplasma pneumonia, one of the types of pneumonia that occurs as a consequence of a seasonal illness. They are there all year round. This is not some unknown infection from China. We know her! – he emphasized, admitting at the same time that “yes, now there is more of it.” The reason for this may be that for three years the human immune system was tested by coronavirus infection.
Newspaper headline:
Flu races with coronavirus
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