Italy turns yellow, but not entirely. The usual weekly monitoring carried out by the Higher Institute of Health and the Ministry of Health has expressed the verdict that was more or less expected on the eve: in red, i.e. in fact in lockdown, only the Sardinia, which a few weeks ago was the only region even in white; five other regions go orange – Calabria, Sicily, Valle d'Aosta, Basilicata e Puglia -, while for all the others the yellow color is returned or confirmed. The novelty this time is not only theoretical: for a month and a half the slightest restrictions had been suspended, even in the last few weeks when several Regions would have already had data from the yellow zone, but now those in yellow are serious about it and above all they will only be the Regions of this color to benefit from the highly anticipated reopenings of Monday 26 April.
In short, the first restart signal it will not involve everyone, but in any case around fifty million will have the green light: with all the necessary precautions, repeatedly mentioned by Prime Minister Mario Draghi, bars and restaurants (but also non-essential commercial activities and culture) will be able to reopen even in the evening, but only with tables outside and in any case no later than 22pm, given that the curfew remains for a few weeks. Controversy on the other hand shopping centres, which remain closed on weekends while there is the green light to the beaches. This time it is the South that is penalized: while the first waves had hit the northern Regions the most, in recent weeks the contagion is worrying above all in some southern regions and on the islands, which so for now they won't be able to reopen, following the rules of the orange or red zones.
The Regions in yellow are therefore 13, plus the two autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano. The colors are the result of the data trend in the last two weeks. If you look exclusively at today's monitoring, there are only two Regions with a Rt higher than 1, namely Basilicata and Sicily. The same goes for the risk, which can be low, moderate or high (and in the latter case it leads to the orange zone even if the RT is below 1). Well, this week only Calabria and Sardinia have it high. Further descends theNational Rt which is now at 0,81, down again from last week's 0,85.
The control room concludes that "the slow decline of new cases and the number of hospitalized patients is confirmed, but the overall picture still remains at a critical level". Indeed, experts explain that the bed occupancy rate remains high: “The nationwide ICU occupancy rate is above the critical threshold, i.e. at 35%, even as the number of people admitted to ICUs is decreasing from 3.526 on April 13 to 3.151 on the 20th. in medical areas nationwide it is below the critical 36% mark for the first time in several weeks. The number of people hospitalized in these areas increased from 26.952 to 23.255. Again according to the experts “it is essential that the population avoid all opportunities for contact with people outside their own household who are not strictly necessary".
“Remember that it is mandatory to adopt strict individual behaviors and respect the hygienic-sanitary measures in place relating to distancing and correct use of the masks. The need to respect the measures recommended by the health authorities is reiterated, including the quarantine measures of close contacts of the established cases and the isolation of the cases themselves", concluded the scientific committee.
