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ROME – The secret plan to counter the coronavirus epidemic has already existed since February and was adopted by the government in early March. after the green light of the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza. And if it has not yet been made public, despite media pressure and political controversy, it is because on March 2, the Scientific Technical Committee underlined, in black and white in official documents, the need to maintain the confidentiality of the content.
This is clear from the first 95 minutes of the CTS published yesterday afternoon on the Civil Protection website. Documents that reveal the crucial decisions, but also the changes of course of the experts, in the first six months of the Covid emergency. And they tell the story of friction and the “rags” blown behind closed doors between scientists and the extraordinary commissioner for the emergency, Domenico Arcuri.
One plan, three scenarios
The 15th minute transmits the drama of those days. At the meeting of March 2, inaugurated by the Minister of Health, a new decalogue of behavior is discussed for public opinion, it is recommended to all people over 75 to avoid crowded places, remember that the day before it was decided of increase ICU beds by 50%. And finally, mention is made of the “Plan for the organization of Italy’s response in the event of an epidemic”, with the recommendation that it remain classified.
On March 4, the theme of the plan, “prepared by the Higher Institute of Health, in agreement with the Ministry of Health and the Spallanzani hospital in Rome”, was addressed at the opening of the meeting, inviting the CTS to update “in consideration of the evolution of the epidemiological dynamics in the country “. And again it is recommended: “It is understood that the document should be considered classified“. Such confidentiality is explained by the words of the general director of the Ministry of Health Andrea Urbani. On April 21, interviewed by Messenger Service, reveals the existence of the secret plan and explains that the document contained three scenarios, one of which was too dramatic to reveal. “The line – said Urbani – was not to scare the population and work to contain the contagion».
Schools closed
From the papers emerge the uncertainties of the mask and pad experts and leaked doubts about the total closure of schools. Minister Speranza asks for an opinion on the advisability of sending home students of all levels throughout the country and the CTS writes on March 4 “currently there is no data that irrefutably addresses the usefulness of closing schools …”.
Red zones
The minutes of March 7 are one of the most voluminous, the alarm over the spread of the infection is very high and the hospitals are collapsing. Already on February 28, the need to create forbidden areas was highlighted and on that day scientists propose to overcome the distinction between red and yellow areas and impose a greater restriction for Lombardy and the provinces of Parma, Piacenza, Rimini, Reggio Emilia and Modena, Pesaro Urbino, Venice, Padua and Treviso, Alessandria and Asti. Schools closed. Stop for sporting events, closed ski resorts, closing the shutters of cinemas, theaters, discos. Measures that three days later will be extended to all of Italy.
Interviews and speeches
Institutional shocks
Between the pages and the lines of the minutes, the tensions of those hard days. The first institutional shock it was registered on March 15, in total confinement, when the CTS “firmly” invokes a safeguard rule that protects the work of its members, otherwise “the CTS will resign in a unified manner.” The second institutional shock is on May 3, as you can see in the many omitted that the pages cry. Attending, in alphabetical order, the coordinator Agostino Miozzo and then Ciciliano, Antonelli, Bernabei, Iavicoli, Ippolito, Magrini, Richeldi, Sebastiani, Urbani and Villani. Brusaferro, D’Amario, Dionisio, Guerra, Iachino, Locatelli, Maraglino and Zoli are connected by videoconference. There are also the Undersecretary of Health Sandra Zampa, Dr. Adriana Ammassari (Aifa) and Minister Speranza’s chief of staff, Goffredo Zaccardi.
The session begins at 11.10 am and the minutes reveal that at the beginning “there was a heated discussion” about the role and function of the CTS: “Great concern and deep regret arose from all members of the Committee, due to some notes received by the commissioner (Arcuri, ed), which can be interpreted as a delegitimization of the work carried out by the group due to alleged delays attributed to the CTS ”.
Scientists don’t want to take responsibility for the “possible lack of masks”, whose finding corresponds to Arcuri and they ask the minister to review their mandate, otherwise they will leave office.
More expensive
Another unpublished passage refers towearing masks in the workplace. “There is no evidence to indiscriminately recommend the use of surgical masks to workers,” the March 13 report reads. Exciting words, reread in hindsight.
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
September 4, 2020 (change September 4, 2020 | 23:50)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
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