"To keep the contagions in Puglia under control and allow us to move quickly and safely towards Phase Two, we must defuse the RSA bomb immediately ". This was declared by the Apulian regional councilor of the Democratic Party, Michael Mazzarano, in light of the latest data disseminated on the infections in the RSA, and in particular of the Residence for the elderly who confirmed 102 coronavirus cases among guests and staff of its structure.
"The rules to limit contagion have been in place for several weeks - Mazzarano continues - yet the contagions in the RSA continue to increase. It is clear, therefore, that somewhere this management mechanism is not working. If the spacing rules are in place, the PPE is supplied to the staff and visitors from outside cannot access, then it is necessary to intervene on what the guests handle, and that can be contaminated, therefore a source of other infections. This is because viruses persist on surfaces and fabrics, at different times: therefore, the risk that the virus travels through what RSA guests touch and which can be the source of new infections must be eliminated. In addition to sanitizing the environments, therefore, it will be necessary to intervene on two other aspects of life within the RSA: the management of dirty linen and the management of waste. If all RSAs, while the emergency lasts, were treated as places with potential infectious risk - proposes Mazzarano - everything that patients produce or touch should be isolated, therefore also the linen and waste that are produced inside them, which would be subject to the protocols on infectious or potentially infectious environments. This means that they should be subjected to different treatment modalities, able to eliminate any source of contamination both for the staff who handle them, and for the guests themselves. The treatment of soiled linen should therefore be subject to the isolation and treatment procedures typical of infectious wards in order to eliminate both the presence of viruses and bacteria and the possibility of their transmission, while the waste should be sent for sterilization or incineration, precisely to to reduce the infectious risk ".
"This is a precautionary method - Mazzarano concludes - but it is the only one able to avoid another possible source of contagion".