Altamura and Gravina return to the orange zone. Active ordinance in 20 municipalities of Apulia

After the announcement of the last hours, the official status has arrived: the Puglia Region has ordered the transition from the yellow zone to the orange zone for two Murgian municipalities in the Bari area (Altamura and Gravina), for Andria, Barletta, Bisceglie and Spinazzola in the province of Bat. ; and for the municipalities of Accadia, Ascoli Satriano, Carapelle, Cerignola, Lucera, Manfredonia, San Marco in Lamis, San Nicandro Garganico, San Severo, Torremaggiore, Troia, Zapponeta, Foggia and Monte Sant’Angelo nel Foggiano. A mandatory worsening of the restrictions, given that “in the municipalities informed by the Health Promotion Department of the Puglia Region – explains Governor Michele Emiliano – there are still situations of epidemiological risk that we intend to control by expanding the so-called regime. “orange zone” in a week, with the hope of seeing the contagions decrease. If this circumstance occurs, it will also happen in the aforementioned Municipalities in the yellow zone as of December 14. The order has been previously agreed with the Government ” .

Active measures in orange zones

The ordinance establishes that, in the 20 ‘orange’ municipalities, other measures are applied to contain the risk of spreading the virus:

1. Any movement with public or private means of transport in a municipality other than that of residence, domicile or domicile is prohibited, except for a proven need for work or study, for health reasons, for situations of need or for carrying out activities or use. of services not suspended and not available in that Municipality;
2. The activities of the catering services (including bars, pubs, restaurants, ice cream parlors, patisseries) are suspended, with the exception of dining rooms and continuous restoration in a contractual manner provided that the protocols or guidelines aimed at preventing or containing infection Only catering with home delivery is allowed in compliance with sanitary and hygienic regulations for both packaging and transport activities, as well as catering with take-out food until 10:00 p.m., with prohibition of consumption on the spot or at the vicinity. In any case, the food and beverage outlets located in the service and refueling areas located along the motorways, the European routes E45 and E55, in hospitals, airports, ports and interports remain open, with the obligation of ensure in any case respect for interpersonal distance of at least one meter;
3. Regional Ordinance n. 444 of December 4, 2020 and the other measures provided by the Prime Minister’s Decree of December 3, 2020, with the exception of those mentioned in article 3, also apply to the territories referred to in this ordinance;
4. Without prejudice to the power of the Mayors to adopt more restrictive measures within their competence in the territorial scope of reference, in compliance with the principles of adequacy and proportionality, if such measures are justified by a particular local situation;
5. Unless the act constitutes a crime, failure to comply with the provisions of this ordinance entails the application of the sanctions provided in art. 2 of Legislative Decree 33 of May 16, 2020 converted, with amendments by law July 14, 2020, n. 74.

The reasons for the order

The decision to issue the ordinance follows several considerations. In the first place, because the Department of Health has transmitted the analysis of the monitoring data of the spread of the infection, based on the monitoring indicators referred to in the Ministerial Decree of April 30, 2020 calculated at the provincial level , from which critical issues specific to the Foggia provinces arise. and MTD, which involve a “high” risk assessment with reference to the probability of the spread of the epidemic, as well as a “high” risk assessment with reference to the impacts on the regional health system. Later, the Department also transmitted an additional analysis of the monitoring data, which highlighted specific critical problems in some municipal areas, taking into consideration several indicators at the municipal level, among them: the absolute number of new positive cases in the molecular diagnostic test of SARS-CoV-2 infection detected in the last two weeks of follow-up (period 16-22 and 23-29 November). Then there is the incidence rate (number of new cases compared to the resident population) for each of the two weeks, the relationship between the municipal incidence rate and the similar regional rate for each of the two weeks; The analysis carried out is based on an evaluation methodology that foresees that in the municipalities where there is a number of positive cases in the molecular test for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection detected in each of the two weeks greater than 10, The exceeding of one of the following two risk thresholds is evaluated:

■ Relationship between the municipal incidence rate and the regional incidence rate greater than the value of 1.3 (which corresponds to an excess of 30% of the municipal incidence compared to the regional value) in both weeks of follow-up;

■ relationship between the municipal incidence rate and the regional incidence rate greater than 2 in the last week of follow-up (corresponding to an excess of more than 100% compared to the regional value);

The results of the analysis led the Department of Health to point out that, in the two provinces classified with a “high” risk assessment, some municipalities exceed at least one of the risk thresholds specified below:

■ in the BAT province, the municipalities of: Andria, Barletta, Bisceglie and Spinazzola (number of cases per week greater than 10; ratio between municipal and regional rates greater than 1.3 for two weeks);

■ in the province of Foggia, the municipalities of: Accadia, Ascoli Satriano, Carapelle, Cerignola, Lucera, Manfredonia, Monte Sant’Angelo, San Marco in Lamis, San Nicandro Garganico, San Severo, Torremaggiore, Troia, Zapponeta (no. cases per week greater than 10; ratio between municipal rate and regional rate greater than 1.3 for two weeks), Foggia (no. cases per week greater than 10; ratio between municipal rate and regional rate greater than 2 in the last week );

The situation in Altamura and Gravina

Outside of the two provincial areas classified as “high” risk on the basis of the indicators and the evaluation algorithm mentioned in the Ministerial Decree of April 30, 2020, the Department of Health has also identified a specific additional criticality in the municipalities from Altamura and Gravina in Puglia, the province of Bari, which shows a relationship between the municipal incidence rate and the regional incidence rate greater than 2 in both weeks of follow-up;

The Department concluded that in the municipalities of the provinces of Foggia and BAT, as mentioned above, and in the municipalities of the province of Bari, Altamura and Gravina in Puglia, the monitoring data revealed a high risk, both with reference to the probability of spread of contagion than the evaluation of the impacts on the regional health system, such as requiring the adoption of additional appropriate measures to (re) locate the aforementioned territories in infra-regional “orange” areas, applying the measures referred to in the Article 2 of the aforementioned Dpcm December 3, 2020;

“The Puglia region, in addition, within the limits of the allocation established by the Government with the decree ‘quater refreshment’, will deal with refreshments for the categories in question subject to restrictions,” they explain in a note.