Potential short-term outcome of an uncontrolled COVID-19 epidemic in Lombardy, Italy, February to March 2020
Giorgio Guzzetta, Piero Poletti, Marco Ajelli, Filippo Trentini, Valentina Marziano, Danilo Cereda, Marcello Tirani, Giulio Diurno, Annalisa Bodina, Antonio Barone, Lucia Crottogini, Maria Gramegna, Alessia Melegaro, Stefano Merler
Abstract
Sustained coronavirus disease (COVID-19) transmission is ongoing in Italy, with 7,375 reported cases and 366 deaths by 8 March 2020. We provide a model-based evaluation of patient records from Lombardy, predicting the impact of an uncontrolled epidemic on the healthcare system. It has the potential to cause more than 250,039 (95% credible interval (CrI): 147,717-459,890) cases within 3 weeks, including 37,194 (95% CrI: 22,250-67,632) patients requiring intensive care. Aggressive containment strategies are required.