Government ready for a new Dpcm: hypotheses about the next tightening

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With Covid infections exceeding 19 thousand cases in one day, Governor Vincenzo De Luca announced a shutdown of at least a month in Campania and asked the government for a similar measure at the national level, the situation is evolving rapidly. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wants at all costs “to avoid a second generalized blockade.” Therefore, no to the blocking of schools and productive activities. But after increasingly urgent requests from scientists, the Health Minister and the Democratic Party, he seems to have become convinced of the need to accelerate a national tightening, with a new Dpcm, perhaps already over the weekend.

Government ready for a new Dpcm

Time is running out. New measures are needed. Which is the subject of the meetings at this time also based on the alarm that comes from the weekly monitoring of the Ministry of Health and the Higher Institute of Health: “the situation is serious, contacts must be limited, the population remains at home when possible. We need restrictions on non-essential activities and mobility. ”The assumptions on the table are therefore different and a decision has not yet been made: they range from a generalized curfew that could be anticipated at 9 p.m. hours, until the closure of bars and restaurants from 6:00 p.m. (without aperitif), until the prohibition of moving between regions. Gyms and swimming pools would also be the target, despite the updated protocol with even stricter measures to avoid the closure. And then the galleries and shopping centers, especially crowded on weekends. The most rigorous wing of the government no longer excludes even a confinement, for a limited time of two or three weeks and with a new massive injection of aid to the economy. Although from Palazzo Chigi they deny that the idea is on the table.

Public transport and school nodes

Lightening public transport is the main concern at this time, in addition to strengthening the monitoring system for those infected. But it is precisely in transport and schools where a rebound between ministries is taking place that for now has also slowed down the call for the meeting with the hypothesized Regions to harmonize regional measures. The Minister of Education Lucía Azzolina is on the barricades in defense of face-to-face teaching, supported by Luigi Di Maio and the M5s: one is infected on buses and the subway, not in class, they insist. The Minister of Infrastructure Paola De Micheli defends the quota measures already adopted and resists the pressure from the Five Stars to lower the capacity from the current 80%. Of course, a new restriction would lead to a massive strengthening of smart work. But at that point, Democratic sources claim, distance education should also increase, starting from high school. As for travel, it is discussed whether, given the spread of the virus, intervene by preventing movement from the Regions.

The appeal of scientists: drastic measures in 2-3 days

The umpteenth day hectic in the political buildings began with the spectacle on Facebook of the Governor of Campania: “We must close everything and we must decide today, not tomorrow. We have to close for a month, 40 days and then we will see, without drastic solutions we cannot endure, “said De Luca, who between Saturday and Sunday was able to sign the ordinance that closes the region, because” in a few days we run the risk of having the intensive therapies are stuck ». Scientists have also moved along the same lines for several days. A hundred university professors, researchers and experts wrote directly to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella to ask him for “drastic measures in the next 2 or 3 days” and Giorgio Parisi, a physicist at the La Sapienza University of Rome warns: “without strong measures between two weeks the deaths could exceed 400 “.

De Luca’s line remains isolated

There is also an alarm from anesthesiologists according to which within 15 days admissions to intensive care will double and that will be the “breaking point”. De Luca’s line remains isolated among governors at this time and is in fact openly opposed by Attilio Fontana. “A second blockade would be unbearable for the country, we run the risk of not being able to return to it,” argues the Lombard governor, however, he asks citizens for “sacrifices”. Even the president of the State Conference of Regions, Stefano Bonaccini, stops, stating that there is “uniformity of views” between the government and the regions on the no to a new blockade, and Minister Teresa Bellanova reaffirms Italy’s position Long live: a national curfew would have “very strong repercussions on people’s lives and on the entire productive system that the country cannot afford.” A much softer position than that of other ministers, Roberto Speranza and Dario Franceschini especially , who have been pushing for tougher measures for days.