[ad_1]
According to a survey conducted by SWG Research, more than 50% of Italians support the Green Pass to regulate activities other than travel. Business owners have welcomed the Green Pass as a tool to avoid more restrictive measures – even another fall lockdown.
With the rapid spread of the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, the Italian government is urging more people to get vaccinated, and demanding use of the Green Pass appears to be motivating more people to get vaccinated. As soon as Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced Green Pass requirements on July 22, 2021, several regions registered record appointment bookings for vaccines, including Abruzzo, Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont and Tuscany.
Progress of vaccination deployment
Based on what is reported in the media, the general public considers the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to be the most effective against the delta variant of the four vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency. So, during the recent wave of vaccination appointments, most people signed up to receive the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, as in the case of the Marche region.
As of August 4, 2021, Italy’s national vaccination rates were higher than those in the United States, with 53% of eligible people fully vaccinated, compared to 50% in the United States, and 64% having received the first vaccines, against 58% in the United States
Italy’s COVID-19 Emergency Commissioner, General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, has set a target of 80% of eligible people vaccinated by the end of September. According to Giovanni Rezza, director of prevention at the Ministry of Health, this would allow the country to return to “pseudo-normality” in the first months of 2022.
Color system tracks pandemic in all regions
With low percentages of intensive and non-critical care hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients – 3% and 4% respectively as of August 4, 2021 – as well as widely available vaccines, the Italian Ministry of Health has revised its way to proceed. uses its color system to establish regional public health mandates based on a region’s pandemic situation.
For more than a year, colors have been assigned – white, yellow, orange or red, in order of emergency level – based on the number of COVID-19 cases in the region. But since the Prime Minister’s decree of July 22, the colors are now assigned every week based on infection rates and hospitalization rates per 100,000 inhabitants.
A region goes into the red zone when the weekly infection rate exceeds 150 per 100,000, combined with an intensive care occupancy rate of 30% and an overall hospitalization rate of 40%.
Regional governors strongly support these latest changes in the color system as they represent not only the total number of infections and hospitalizations, but also the overall severity of the pandemic in the region.
Mask mandates
In addition to the Green Pass, several requirements remain in place, such as mask wearing and social distancing indoors, and social distancing even outdoors. When it is not possible to maintain social distancing outdoors, masks should be worn.
The only exceptions to the mask mandate are for children under 6, as well as people with disabilities and their caregivers where wearing a mask would prevent communication or care.
Italian beach destinations, popular with Italians and tourists alike, are open this summer – with resorts, restaurants and bars respecting social distancing and mask mandates as needed or required by the government.
Dining in the dining room is resuming in Italy, particularly given the country’s reopening to tourists. But during my recent visit, I observed that many people still prefer to eat out – which is actually the typical choice of Italians during the summer, pandemic or no pandemic.
Outdoor mask warrants are now limited to situations where social distancing is not possible, such as at sporting events or online when entering museums. I have noticed, however, that many people choose to wear masks on the streets as well as indoors, even when they are not required.
The tourism industry has enthusiastically welcomed the government’s reopening of the country to foreign visitors. Travelers entering Italy from certain countries, including the United States, are now required to present official proof of vaccination – such as the digital EU certificate or a vaccination card from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States. United States – A negative COVID-19 test or COVID-19 certificate of recovery signed by a health care provider.
Adjust work life and school
Offices still offer employees the opportunity to work remotely, especially employees at risk. When employees who are not in an at-risk category return to work, they usually have alternate shifts, so fewer people are in the office at the same time.
Several companies, including international companies with offices in Italy, are taking steps to ensure compliance with the latest pandemic laws. For example, Ferrari, which closed its main factory in Maranello three days before the imposition of the first nationwide lockdown, set up a small internal task force to ensure the company follows government rules and recommendations.
The school year officially begins on September 13, 2021, but the government has yet to release official policies for the reopening of schools, and it is still unclear what measures will be in place during the school year. Factors that could affect this include the pace of vaccination in children and youth ages 12-19, and how well schools will be able to maintain a social distance – 6 feet between students and teachers, and 3 feet between students – as some schools may not have enough space in their classrooms.
But the proof of vaccination system is also being implemented in education: from September, teachers, school staff and university students will have to present a Green Pass or be tested regularly.
[Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week. Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter.]
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Sara Belligoni, University of Central Florida.
Read more:
Sara Belligoni is a member of the CONVERGE COVID-19 Working Groups for Public Health and Social Science Research: Emergency Management and Pandemic Policy Analysis.
[ad_2]
Source link