Italy has been in the grip of the coronavirus for more than two months now. It was the 8th of March when the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that everyone was to stay at home till further notice. Factories and schools, offices and gyms, bars and restaurants, there was not a single activity which was allowed to operate excluding the ones providing basic necessities like super markets, grocery stores and pharmacies.
It was a hard decision to take but it was necessary to guarantee those social distancing rules which were ( and still are) the key to stop the spreading of the Covid-19 disease.
Phase two and a breath of fresh air
On the 4th of May started the so-called “Phase two” of the lockdown. It was not necessary anymore to demonstrate to the public authorities the reasons why we were going out. It was a huge risk to take but the Italian have demonstrated a high sense of individual responsibility with just a few episodes of refusal to obey rules and restrictions.
We started again to take the kids out for a walk, to vist our families and relatives, soe of us went back to work given that some other industries were allowed to resume operations including design and fashion.
And we were all waiting to see what the outcome was with regards to the epidemiological curve. The result were kind of surprising. Even if it is kind of early to clearly judge the spread of the coronavirus in the past 10 days, it seems that the softening of the extreme measures adopted so far has not caused any major peak in the curve. Hence the beginning of “Phase three”.
Phase three and liberty of movement
If the first two weeks of May have been just the chance to catch some fresh air in the surroundings of our home, the second half of the month is set to be a much wider opportunity. The president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana has announced the rules to be respected in order to be allowed to operate. Bars and restaurants in Milan and in the entire region are waiting to open their doors again and to do it in the safest way possible. The point is that if the measure will be too restrictive, if the tables in bars and restaurants must be kept 6 feet apart, it may not be the case to open after all. The lower the number of guest, the lower the income. This is what restaurants owner are saying. In any case here the list of the new lockdown measures which should be in place starting from the 18th of May:
- People will need to wear face masks, gloves and to sanitize their hands before entering public places such as restaurants and stores.
- Employers must control body temperature of their employees
- Staff must control body temperature of clients and suppliers entering the office or the working facilities such as stores, restaurants, wharehouses, etc…
- On the 18th of May bars, restaurants, pubs and food outlets will reopen but need to respect the safety measures imposed by the government. The same for hair salon and beauty centres which could also be opeartional on Mondays and Sundays (In Italy they are usually not allowed to be open on these days.. I dunno…socialism has some disadvantages…)
- On the 25th it will be up to gyms and pools to re-open their facilities
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