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Italy, hit hard in the first wave of the coronavirus, is today the exception of Europe – where the resurgence of Covid-19 is almost widespread – with a limited number of new cases thanks to the strict measures against the disease, which were praised by the World Organization. (WHO) on Friday (25).
France, for example, registered on Thursday (24) a record number of 16,096 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, while the number of daily infections in Italy, which performs more than 120 thousand daily tests (180 thousand in France) , has stayed below 2,000 for weeks.
How to explain this Italian specificity?
In an interview with AFP, Professor Massimo Andreoni, a renowned infection specialist at the Roman hospital in Tor Vergata, said “several reasons”.
“The epidemic hit Italy before, which raised awareness of this problem and led to the immediate implementation of a very severe containment plan. Italy was the first country to carry out a total closure that lasted several weeks, and we still benefit from it, “he highlights. He also mentions” the very progressive and very slow reopening of the country, which has not even ended! “.
“The stadiums are closed, the party houses are closing again, the schools are not all open …”, Andreoni lists, although the return to school began on September 14.
“Furthermore, Italians respect the rules very well. When I see images of other European cities, I see many more people without masks than in Italy,” he says.
Another example of mobilization in Italy – a country criticized for its chaotic organization and the weight of bureaucracy – is the Rome-Fiumicino Airport, the first in the world to receive the maximum rating of five stars, awarded by the Skytrax rating agency, due to Covid-19 health management.
The Roman airport is praised for its temperature controls, the mandatory use of a mask, the availability of alcohol gel, the physical distance and the control of the number of visitors in the stores.
“I think Italians try to follow the rules in the best possible way,” confirms Giacomo Rech, owner of Green Tea, a Chinese cuisine restaurant, a stone’s throw from the Pantheon, in the center of Rome.
However, despite this reassuring situation, Professor Andreoni prefers prudence.
“In two or four weeks, when all the schools are open, we will see what the impact will be and if Italy will be able to keep these levels low. [de contágio] or if it will approach the levels of France or Spain. To know if we were really good students, we still have to wait a month, ”he says.
