Italy: COVID-19 National Strategy - Health Systems Facts

Italy COVID-19 National Strategy: Transition: Business, Schools, and Facilities

“Schools and education
“On 26th April, the Minister of Education announced that schools will not reopen before September. However, the only exception approved by the Scientifical and Technical Committee, is to allow students that have to attend Baccalaureate exams to sit the tests in classrooms.”

Source: COVID-19 Health System Response Monitor. A project of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the European Commission, and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe. From the web at https://www.covid19healthsystem.org/mainpage.aspx, last accessed May 16, 2020.

“Economy
“On 26th April the Prime Minister announced that starting from May 4th, which marks the beginning of so-called Phase II, as far as commercial and production activities are concerned, bars and restaurants will be allowed to deliver to retail and not only to customers’ homes. Manufacturers and construction sites will be able to reopen. It has been estimated that this will imply the mobilization of 700,000 workers using public transport, imposing a significant responsibility on its organization.

“It is estimated that retailers, museums, exhibitions and team sport training will be able to resume activities on May 18th, while ordinary running of bars, restaurants, barbers, hairdressers and beauty centers will have to wait for June 1st.

“Travel:
“Starting from May 4, individuals will be able to visit relatives, as long as they live in the same region.”

Italy COVID-19 National Strategy: Transition: Physical Distancing Measures

“Although data on the epidemic situation displays encouraging improvements, Italy is still far from being able to end the lockdown and reopen the country. As the Prime Minister announced on April 26, there will be small changes in terms of social distancing and isolation restrictions from May 4. These include: as far as individual travel is concerned, the possibility to visit relatives in the same region; doing physical activity in open spaces, always maintaining one meter of interpersonal distance – which extends to two meters, in case of intense physical exercise; citizens are allowed to travel to a different municipality for specific types of physical activity; lastly, individuals who have been staying far from their residence are allowed to return, even if this requires crossing over to another region, as long as they contact the Local Health Authority and go into voluntary self-isolation for 14 days.”

Italy’s COVID19 Strategy: Physical Distancing, Facility and Business Closing:

“Italy was the first country in Europe to adopt restrictive physical and social distancing measures. Although introduced incrementally, the nation transitioned to full lockdown in a very short period. In fact, after declaring a state of emergency on 31st January 2020, the government issued a series of “Urgent measures with regard to the containment and management of the epidemiological emergency due to COVID-19”. Legislative Decree n°6 23/02 focused on limiting further human-to-human transmission in an effort to halt the spread of COVID-19 in areas or municipalities with at least one positive case and, from 9th March, a series of Prime Ministerial Decrees (DPCMs) have extended the measures to the entire country, with new and more restrictive measures introduced almost on a daily basis.”

“First wave of social distancing measures:
“Government decrees released from 9th to 22nd March have:

“• Banned any movement to, from and within municipalities except for proven working requirements, situations of necessity and health reasons. Citizens must carry a signed self-declaration explaining the reason for their movement or risk criminal charges
“• Recommended to those presenting symptoms of respiratory infections and a body temperature above 37.5°C to stay at home
“• Prohibited any form of mobility for those in quarantine or who have tested positive to the virus
“• Closed all schools (kindergartens, primary and secondary schools) and universities, requiring educational activities to take place solely through online teaching
“• Suspended all forms of gatherings, including sport competitions and cultural, recreational, religious or trade-fair events
“• Suggested salaried workers resort to days of paid leave or to work remotely
“• Discontinued civil and religious ceremonies, including funerals
“• Suspended public tenders except those evaluating candidates through digital mediums. Healthcare and Civil Protection professionals constitute the only exception; however, the examination must take place in conditions that guarantee a safe distance between people
“• Allowed bars and restaurants to stay open from 6.00 a.m. to 6 p.m. if managers can guarantee the required safety distance of at least one metre between clients
“• Suspended ordinary leave permits for personnel whose activities are requested by regional crisis units
“• Shut down all fitness and wellness centres, excluding services recognized as Essential Levels of Assistance (LEAs) i.e. listed in the health benefits package
“• Suspended all driving license tests and lessons”

“Second wave of measures:
“A further decree on 22nd March addressed non-essential businesses (e.g. working from home, closure of premises, restrictions of working hours, etc.) and increased restrictions by suspending the production of all industrial and commercial activities, unless they can be undertaken through remote working. Thus, all bars and restaurants, as well as most stores are currently shut. Pharmacies, drug stores and grocery stores are excluded; however, they must guarantee safety distance between customers. Those businesses directly involved in the correct functioning of these essential services and of public utility services are also exempt and are allowed to function as normal, making employees working remotely when possible. The production, transport and marketing of pharmaceuticals, healthcare technology, medical devices and groceries or activities considered necessary for dealing with the emergency are, in fact, still permitted. Similarly, the restrictions are not applied to the aerospace and defence sectors, together with other activities that are strategically relevant for the national economy. Of course, all personnel must abide by infection containment protocols designed for the workplace (“Shared Protocol regarding the regulation of measures for the contrast to and containment of the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace”- 14th March 2020).

“On 31st March, the Ministry of Health also released a circular banning the possibility to go jogging. However, it is still possible to practice physical activity in proximity of one’s own home.”

Testing:

“Going beyond national guidelines aligned with WHO and ECDC recommendations, Veneto (a region with about 5 million inhabitants) adopted a different approach to testing aiming towards mass population screening. The regional government approved on 16th March a plan for large-scale population testing. Capacity was scaled-up by involving all microbiology laboratories in regional hospitals to increase the number of tests processed per day from 3,210 to over 11,000. Testing priority is being given to 54,000 healthcare professionals, GPs, pharmacists and vulnerable people such as elderly patients in long-term care nursing homes. In addition, a regional pilot research project is conducting 10,000 tests on essential-services workers, such as supermarket workers, public transportation personnel and police officers. By March 31st, the region declared to have performed 105,000 tests, out of which 8,724 citizens were found to be positive. In addition, it purchased 700,000 rapid testing kits and is planning a trial project to test population immunity by identifying COVID-19 antibodies through blood tests. These approaches were triggered by a pilot experience at the very beginning of the outbreak, in the village of Vo Euganeo, with 3,000 inhabitants. The entire population was tested, and this is believed to have been key in containing the outbreak as 50 to 75% positive cases were found to be totally asymptomatic or with mild symptoms only. Isolation measures were therefore imposed to all positive cases (including those without symptoms) to contain local transmission. As a result, the total numbers of cases went down from 88 to 7 in about 10 days.”

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Page last updated May 21, 2020 by Doug McVay, Senior Policy Analyst.