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HEALTH

Florence’s Duomo introduces social distancing necklaces for visitors

Florence's Duomo has introduced gadgets worn around the neck that will allow people to visit the celebrated cathedral while respecting safe distances.

Published: 18 May 2020 17:30 CEST

Italy's most frequented cultural sites are anxious to reopen and recoup lost tourism euros during Italy's two-month lockdown, while assuring visitors it is safe to do so.

READ ALSO: Who is allowed to travel to Italy from June 3rd?

With its bell tower begun by Giotto and its Brunelleschi dome, the Duomo is one of the Tuscan city's top tourist attractions.

The Duomo said in a statement that the device will be handed out for free at the beginning of each visit. When two people approach within a range of 2 metres, the device will beep softly, vibrate and flash.

The devices will be disinfected after each use.

“First in the world to use it in the museum context, this system guarantees the maximum of security and comfort during the visit,” said the cathedral, whose official name is the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.

Timothy Verdon, director of the Duomo Museum, said that the cathedral, the adjacent Baptistery and the museum planned to open its doors to Florentines and the city's visitors “in the upcoming days”. He did not specify a date.

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“Visits to the monuments and museum will be with a reduced number of people. During this initial period, visits will be free. It's a gesture, to welcome people once again,” Verdon said.

Italy's government has decreed that its borders will be opened to European Union tourists from June 3rd.

The measure is intended to help the tourism sector, a major part of Italy's economy, whose museums, hotels and other establishments have been shuttered since early March due to the coronavirus.

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

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Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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