Guido Bertolaso, former head of civil protection at the time of the Prodi and Berlusconi governments and recently appointed by the Lombardy Region as a consultant for the coronavirus emergency, tested positive. “I am positive for Covid-19 – confessed Bertolaso in a post published on his Facebook profile. When I accepted this job, I knew what the risks were, but I couldn't not answer the call for my country. I have a few lines of fever, no other symptoms at the moment. Both my closest collaborators and I are in isolation and will respect the quarantine period. He will continue to follow the works of the Fiera hospital and will coordinate the works in the Marche region. I will win this battle too."
Bertolaso, who turned 70 three days ago, therefore has some symptoms, albeit slight. A doctor by profession, he was appointed head of civil protection for the first time in 1996, under the government of Romano Prodi. He came back in 2001, chosen by Berlusconi himself, and really in that term he had to manage another health emergencyto, albeit of smaller dimensions, that of SARS (2003). In 2006, Bertolaso was again appointed by Prodi, this time as Extraordinary Commissioner for the waste crisis in Campania. In 2016 he had also been nominated by the centre-right for aspiring mayor of Rome, but he withdrew his candidacy before the vote.
From March 14 Bertolaso is personal consultant of the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana for the realization of the project concerning the construction of a hospital dedicated to patients in the structures made available by the Fiera di Milano Foundation.
