They do not leave hope, they who enter Sardinian pharmacies. Even with trepidation, they wait to know the response of the antigenic swab (the quick one) they require. And many do it, to the point that to avoid crowds many pharmacies now work by appointment, and in many cases you have to wait a couple of days. Where people are still welcomed without setting a date and time, you have to resign yourself: the wait in line can be long, in the capitals such as Cagliari, Sassari, Nuoro and Oristano as well as in the small municipalities where the pharmacy (membership is free) has decided to carry out the tests.
Long lines at the counter
In the end, almost all the results are negative, but this is due to the fact that to undergo the test - it costs 15 euros for adults and 8 euros for children, prices controlled by the state - now it is no longer just those who fear being infected. and the no-vax (or no Green pass) who have to go to work. Those who are vaccinated with three doses are now also requesting them, who become infected much more difficult than those who are not protected and, in any case, do not develop the severe form of Covid.
The precaution
«In this period of holidays, especially as regards Christmas», confirms Maria Pia Orrù, president of Federfarma Cagliari and owner of the homonymous pharmacy in via Liguria, «there is a lot of attention towards relatives, especially for the elderly. Even the vaccinated want to undergo the rapid swab to protect the people they care about, and whom they meet for lunches and dinners ».
Useful screening
What might seem an excess of prudence, given that even those who have no sign of being infected by SarsCoV-2 ask for a swab, is instead a sign of civilization justified by the high infectious capacity of the Omicron variant, which is slowly supplanting the Delta, however, more "bad" than the current one.
"With the swabs we gave on Christmas Eve to people who, at the dinner, wanted to not infect elderly relatives and relatives, we found several cases of people positive for Covid, but totally asymptomatic". Camilla Pedrazzini, owner of the pharmacy of the same name in via Bacaredda in Cagliari, has no peace in front of the queue of people waiting: "It is a continuous flow, there is never respite: first the no-vax came, now everyone".
Voluntary testing
Those who want to undergo a quick swab will do better to inquire, because only a part of Sardinian pharmacies have decided to voluntarily join this control campaign. To give an example, of the approximately fifty pharmacies that exist in Cagliari, only sixteen offer this service, and in Quartu there are nine: the complete list of those in Sardinia where it is possible to undergo the anti-Covid antigenic swab is on the Federfarma website.
Fifteen euros for the test for adults, eight for children: there is a lot for a small business , yet many pharmacy owners are not attracted by the prospect, and for this reason the queues are so long. "I didn't join", explains Francesca Cozzoli, owner of the Sant'Antonio pharmacy in via Cettigne in Cagliari, "because I don't have enough space or a separate entrance from that of customers. And then, I prefer to dedicate the staff to the counter to keep the main service efficient and fast, that is the sale of medicines ».
(Unioneonline)
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