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The ordinance for the use of devices in the historic center. The accusation: “The cartels were there, they were waiting for the end of the elections”
Genoa – Via del Campo, early in the afternoon. A patrol of three municipal police officers comes across two North African men. You don’t have a mask with it. They arrest him, they follow him in sight to a store where he assures that he was going: “I went out to buy it.” It is in these hours that they begin the first real controls, after a morning of tolerance. No fines, just moral suasion.
The first day of “mini blockade” Surprise a Genoa suspended between a distracted move – the ordinance was taken seriously by only half of the visitors who pass through these streets – and the latent fear that this is the beginning of something that nobody knows where it can lead. Perhaps the historic center is the fragile and vital heart of this city. And that the limits of the obligation of the mask remain altered for several hours after the announcement of the new measures. The fact is that in the streets of the old city there is a heavy air. Behind the masks, the eyes meet and let go. If it is the beginning of the famous second wave, and if Liguria (already hit in La Spezia) is among the first areas at risk, better not think too much about it.
Covid departments are back
That something was changing is not entirely new. Until the second half of August Galliera hospital, the benchmark for this entire area, was Covid Free. The positives have been increasing, significantly after the first days of September. Today there are about thirty inmates and a flow of 5-6 people a day who in the last hours are strongly suspected of contagion. Almost all come from known groupings. Assistants of Islamic prayer centers. Many members of the Bengali community, their relatives, some workers at the Fincantieri factories were infected with relatives or friends. There is talk of nuclei with extended relationships, many times more difficult to reach. But this is a context that concerns many sectors of the historic center, multi-ethnic by vocation and history. These signals led Alisa, the regional health post, to suggest increased precautions. And, without too much fuss, order the reopening of a Covid ward also in a hospital ward. Villa Scassi by Sampierdarena. It is necessary to relieve the pressure of new infections in hospital structures, find new spaces to transfer less serious patients and maintain spaces available for emergencies. Things already seen, unfortunately. The difference compared to March-April, however, the experts explain, is remarkable: “Today, on average, three days elapse between the appearance of symptoms and the result of a swab”, underlines the epidemiologist Alisa Filippo Ansaldi. In short, there is more control and it can be better prevented.
Then there are the elections that have just ended and here the matter becomes more complex. Mayor Marco Bucci, with the usual somewhat rude low profile, tries to nip any controversy at the root: “Let’s not mix politics with sanitary measures.” In fact, the new ordinance has the effect of bridging political worlds that are normally light years apart. Andrea Carratù, president of the North League of the Central East Municipality (which are most of the alleys), expresses perplexity: “In this way we run the risk of ghettoizing the historic center and giving the image of a lazaretto”. The sparks between Giovanni Toti and the Carroccio allies are still fresh, the first galvanized by electoral victory, the second by a conspicuous withdrawal, particularly evident in the old city. The paradox is that in similar positions, but for different reasons, there is also opposition. Luca Curtaz, Councilor for Linea Condivisa, launches a provocation: «Disobey this health ordinance until the others are also complied with. Those that prevent the sale of alcohol to drunks, or the rules that prevent drug trafficking and the exploitation of prostitution.
Post-election controversies
Discontent over the concomitance of these new measures and the closure of the polls, the not too veiled accusation of electoral opportunism, was also explicitly expressed by the inhabitants of via del Campo: “These are signs for more than a week – explains Christian Spadarotto , president of the local committee – it is not clear why they waited for the consultations to end. The truth is that here Bucci knows that he plays a lot. Not in vain, the emergency of the reconstruction of the bridge was closed, he announced. an extraordinary recovery plan for the historic center. A remodeling project that aims to hook the funds from the Recovery Fund, but also to tackle more everyday problems: treatment, the emergency of the mouse and the collection of waste. In these lands, and in a context in which Italian municipalities could intercept funds unthinkable in recent years, the next re-election is at stake.
From today tolerance will cease. Those who do not wear the mask take a risk fines from 400 euros. There is a possibility that these signals will become a cluster to avoid. And to scare away the ugly ghosts, especially for the inhabitants and merchants of the historic center, who remember the closure not only because of the incidence of the coronavirus, but also because of the advance of street crime.
