Summer is approaching and free beaches and bathing establishments will be at the center of the strategy for containment and coexistence with the coronavirus in the coming months.
With the heat and the beautiful season, going to the beach has always been a pleasant habit for millions of Italians, ready to escape from the city heat, taking a dip or enjoying the sun on towels and sunbeds. Not to mention the millions of tourists who every summer they flock to our shores making an important contribution to seaside tourism.
The problem is that often this reality translates into people crammed next to each other on free beaches and in bathing establishments packed to the bone. Impossible to imagine such a scenario for this summer, without a vaccine that protects us from the coronavirus and with the risk of a second wave of infections that would once again jeopardize the stability of public health, creating further problems for our economy, already at grappled with an unprecedented crisis.
To avoid the hypothesis, Inail and Iss have published a technical document "on risk analysis and measures to contain the contagion from SARS-CoV-2" on free beaches and bathing establishments. The text reads in black and white that the sector is among those at greatest risk, precisely by virtue of the "specific characteristics of the bathing establishments and free beaches, such as their use by a large number of people especially on weekends and in the high season months, as well as the multiplicity of activities that can be carried out on the beach" .
The document therefore contains protocols that the business associations have defined as "unsustainable" and indications that, if applied, they believe will cause "serious damage to the whole sector".
Ma what are the rules for free beaches and bathing establishments indicated by the experts? Let's see them one by one.
BATHING ESTABLISHMENTS: THE RULES TO FOLLOW
To enter a bathing establishment there will be an obligation to book, entry and exit must be separate and umbrellas and sunbeds, sanitized after each use, must be well spaced apart. The document places a series of strict rules one after the other to be respected by both managers and customers:
“To allow limited access to bathing establishments and equipped beaches, compulsory booking is recommended, even by time slots. It is also recommended to encourage the use of fast payment systems with contactless cards or through web portals/apps. Furthermore, where possible, the entry and exit routes must be differentiated, providing for clear signage. To ensure correct social distancing on the beach, the recommended minimum distance between rows of umbrellas is five meters and that between umbrellas in the same row is four and a half meters. It is also advisable to favor the assignment of the same umbrella to the same occupants who stay for several days. In any case, surfaces must be sanitized before assigning the same equipment to another user, even during the same day".
Source: Inail-Iss technical document
Not only. The managers will have to provide sunbeds, deck chairs and chairs in limited quantities, in order to promote distancing. If not placed under umbrellas, these equipment must be spaced out at least 2 meters apart. Recreational and sporting activities, parties and events are prohibited.
As for customers, the only exceptions to the distance will be granted to people of the same family or to cohabitants. Will be the use of the mask is mandatory in the path between the entrance and your umbrella and viceversa. Inail also recommends installing dispensers with sanitizers.
BATHING ESTABLISHMENTS: SWIMMING POOLS AND CABINS
The swimming pools inside the bathing establishments must remain closed, while a single cabin can only be used by members of the same family or by cohabitants. In the absence of separating barriers, you will have to stay 2 meters away in the bathrooms and showers.
FREE BEACHES AND ESTABLISHMENTS: THE RULES FOR CHILDREN
On children, the Inail and Iss document is peremptory:
“Vigilance over social distancing rules for children must be ensured in all circumstances.”
Source: Inail-Iss document
FREE BEACHES: THE RULES TO FOLLOW
More difficult to impose precise rules on the use of free beaches. In this case, however, the document requires the posting of signs in different languages containing clear indications on the rules to be followed. Two diktats: at least one meter distance between each customer and a ban on gatherings.
The indication is also to map the beaches, tracing a perimeter with ribbons where umbrellas and deck chairs can be positioned. By doing so, it will be possible to establish a maximum capacity and to define time slots and reservation systems for each individual space. As? The suggestion is to use apps or online platforms that will also help identify the presence of the infected.
Enforcing the rules will be the task of the local administrations which will have to define "the methods of access and use, identifying the most suitable and effective ones".
Finally, Inail and Iss recommend evaluating "provisions aimed at limiting the parking of bathers on the shoreline to avoid gatherings" and ensuring cleaning measures for the beaches and common equipment (such as the bathrooms).
"It is advisable, where possible, to entrust the management of these beaches to entities/subjects that can use adequately trained personnel, also evaluating the possibility of involving voluntary associations, third sector subjects, etc., also for the purpose of informing users about behaviors to follow”.
Source: Inail-Iss technical document
FREE BEACHES AND ESTABLISHMENTS: CRITICISM OF THE DOCUMENT
Some regions have already commented very negatively on the indications received from Inail and Iss. The president of the Liguria Region, John Toti, makes it known that, if these rules are applied: "there will be beaches here where someone will find themselves alone, because in Liguria four meters by six is the size of a beach, sometimes".
According to Gianmarco Oneglio, president of Fiba Liguria: "the application of similar provisions would mean the loss of 75% of the positions available on Ligurian beaches, including free ones, and would make it difficult to go to the beach, not to mention, of course, any tourists arriving from outside the region".
The governor of Sicily, Nello Musumeci, instead he asked for "reasonable measures" for free beaches and bathing establishments. In Trinacria, the latter have already been authorized to open to organize the season, but Musumeci asks us to avoid "extreme rules": "If we have to make fun of them with rules like this, it's better not to let them open".
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