It's official. Schools closed until 7 March in Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. Targeted closures in other cities. The government's decision is in line with requests from the Istituto superiore di sanità.
Update 02/03/2020
Teaching activities at universities, schools and nurseries will remain suspended in Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna next week as well, that is from Monday 2 March to Saturday 7 March. The measure was taken by the government in agreement with the scientific community, in order to curb and contain the spread of coronavirus in our country.
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Among the first to announce it — even before the government's official statement — were the president of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Stefano Bonaccini, and the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana. A timely communication with which the authorities reached out to the many parents, students and teachers waiting for an answer so they could make arrangements as soon as possible.
Bonaccini wrote on his Facebook profile: "On the basis of the opinion of the national Technical Scientific Committee, the closure of nurseries, school activities and universities is confirmed for next week as well, for the three most affected regions: Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. The Technical Scientific Committee and the Government also consider it necessary to update this forecast on a weekly basis in line with how the epidemiological situation develops."
Fontana also turned to social media to reach families as quickly as possible, writing while the videoconference summit with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was still under way: "I am in a meeting with Premier Conte and the regional presidents. For now the only news I can anticipate, above all out of respect for families, is that teaching activities at schools and nurseries will remain suspended next week as well. I will update you as soon as we have further confirmed news."
The government thus decided to listen to and follow the guidance provided by the Istituto superiore di sanità, which had described the extension of school closures in the regions affected by the outbreaks as prudent. A decision that is in some respects unpopular, and will require a further effort from families, but which the entire scientific community considers necessary.
Attilio Fontana, in voluntary quarantine after one of his staff members contracted the virus, wrote again on his profile: "The weapon we have against this virus is to stop it from spreading."
Lombardy Region Welfare Councillor Giulio Gallera expressed his satisfaction, acknowledging "substantial compliance with our requests" on the part of the government.
At the end of the summit on the Coronavirus emergency, held at the Civil Protection headquarters, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared: "We have now concluded the meeting; tomorrow morning we will publish the new Dpcm in full coordination with the governors' assessments. There is a climate of great collaboration." On the school closures he added: "With regard to the affected regions, we will adopt precautionary measures that will be distinct from those for other regions."
According to experts, the restrictive measures adopted this week by the regions — including on a preventive basis — are essential to curbing the spread of Covid-19. If nothing else, for a "mathematical reason": drastically reducing contact and gatherings means slowing the spread of the disease. Furthermore, next Friday will mark fourteen days — that is, the virus's incubation period — since Patient 1. At that point a more complete picture should be available.
Another crucial point underpinning the restrictions is the aim of avoiding overwhelming hospitals. In the red zones of Lodi, Cremona and Alzano Lombardo (Bg), where the incidence is high, the hospital situation is still under control, but intensive care units are full and a further increase in contagion could push them into crisis.
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Targeted closures have been adopted in the province of Benevento (until 7 March), where a soldier tested positive for coronavirus, and in Fiumicino, where a ten-year-old girl contracted the virus along with her parents. "Following the guidelines set by the Region, the local health authority and the Spallanzani", stated Mayor Esterino Montino, "it was decided to close and sanitise, until 9 March as a precautionary measure, the school attended by the girl, namely the Rodano primary school. Given the layout of the entire school building and the many shared spaces within it, the Segré middle school and the adjacent municipal swimming pool will also be closed and sanitised until 9 March."
Regarding the province of Benevento, the municipalities affected by the measures are San Lupo, San Lorenzo Maggiore, Castelvenere, Telese, San Salvatore Telesino and Guardia Sanframondi.
New sanitisation works have also been ordered at secondary schools in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, which will remain closed from today until Monday 2 March, as ordered by the president, Bernardo Lodispoto, with the aim of preventing possible contagion.
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Schools will also remain closed in regions not directly affected by the outbreaks that had decided on preventive closures during the week of 24 to 29 February. In Piedmont, schools are closed until 4 March "as a precaution given that we border Lombardy", in the words of Regional President Alberto Cirio. On 4 March itself, families will be informed whether schools will reopen or not, depending on how the situation evolves.
In Liguria, schools are closed for the whole week in the province of Savona. In the provinces of Genoa, La Spezia and Imperia they are expected to reopen on Wednesday 4 March, "to allow institutions time to equip themselves with all the preventive tools required by the regulations", as explained by Liguria Regional President Giovanni Toti. The University of Genoa, however, remains closed for the entire week.
Schools will also remain closed for a further seven days in Friuli Venezia Giulia and only in the province of Pesaro Urbino, in the Marche.
From Tuesday 3 March, teaching activities return to normal in Palermo, where schools had been closed all week for extraordinary cleaning. The situation is more uneven in Naples, where schools reopened on Monday 2 March in the city, but not in all neighbouring towns.
In Trentino Alto Adige, schools are reopening, but with new hygiene rules and with the recommendation from Education Councillor Mirko Bisesti to keep children at home if they are unwell.
In the meantime, the decree-law approved on Friday evening by the Council of Ministers introduced a provision from the Ministry of Education that grants an exemption from the minimum of 200 days required for the validity of the school year in schools closed due to Coronavirus. This means that the days lost will not necessarily have to be made up. Given that the situation is still very much in flux, we will nonetheless need to await the authorities' subsequent decisions.