From Monday, Emilia-Romagna will also leave the white zone. Rules and what changes. In orange 11 municipalities in the province of Reggio Calabria, Liguria risks
Rome, January 1st 2022 – In Italy divided in colour due to the Covid pandemic, half of the country from today, January 3rd, is in the yellow zone, with four regions added this week: Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont and Sicily. The total thus rises to 11, given that Liguria, Marche, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Calabria and the autonomous provinces of Bolzano and Trento had already entered yellow.
The positivity rate jumps up (from 13 to 22%), while the Agenas monitoring (Agency for regional health services) in one day the percentages of beds occupied in the wards in the non-critical area or intensive care eight regions: in Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Abruzzo, Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria and Liguria. Due to the progress of infections (over 1 million people positive to Covid), almost two out of three Italians (63%) for a total of 37 million people are in the yellow zone.
The regions that are about to enter the yellow zone
Emilia-Romagna will also pass into the yellow zone from next week. To anticipate it is the regional councillor for health, Raffaele Donini. “The yellow zone is a very close horizon – confirms Donini – today we are a little above the guard level in intensive care wards and the Covid wards. Last Friday, we were not, so today we are not yet in the yellow zone”. But if in these days “hospitalizations still increase and the resignations are not as consistent – warns the commissioner – we will certainly be in the yellow zone next Monday”.
What can do
However, the decrees passed by the government in the last month to deal with the Omicron variant have overcome and made the colour zone system almost useless. From a practical point of view, the passage does not change much as the obligation to wear a mask even outdoors is already in force throughout the country. The limit of 4 people at the table has exceeded the Super green pass’s obligation for bars and restaurants. Movements between municipalities are allowed.
Wrath of restaurateurs in Sicily
“The message that passes today with the yellow zone is by no means reassuring. We, restaurateurs, pay, as has already happened in the past, the higher price, even if the restrictions will require little effort …”. This is the alarm raised by Giovanni Trimboli, restaurateur and president of the restaurateur’s section of Fipe-Confcommercio, on the first day of Sicily in yellow. Trimboli is not particularly worried about the change of colour: “The obligation to wear a mask outdoors – he tells AGI – is the only real measure, we in Sicily have had it for months”, rather he is worried about the message he defines ” not reassuring “that comes from infections.
Who is in the orange zone and who risks
But there are other areas in Italy where we have already moved to the orange zone. The president of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto, in recent days has signed an ordinance with which the orange zone is established in 11 municipalities in the province of Reggio Calabria that have become hotbeds of Covid 19: Campo Calabro, Cinquefrondi, Ferruzzano, Galatro, Laureana di Borrello, Melicucco, Rizziconi, Roghudi, Rosarno, San Roberto and Taurianova. The measures in the orange zone will be in effect until January 9th. Also, in Liguria, a possible transition to orange is looming from January 10th. It is the first region to approach the orange zone again in months.
Orange zone: the parameters
But what are the parameters that trigger the orange zone? The usual three are also valid for the yellow zone. Only the thresholds change:
- Incidence must exceed the limit of 150 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants;
- Intensive care must exceed the 15% threshold;
- Admissions must exceed the 30% limit.
What changes in the orange zone: the rules
If there are no substantial differences in the yellow zone with the rest of Italy, in orange, the restrictions are greater, and above all, for the unvaccinated, they are more stringent. It is possible to move freely in your municipality but to reach other cities or regions, you need self-certification, which justifies that the need to move is proven for reasons of health, work or necessity, or services not available in our municipality.
This only if you are travelling by your own means: if you take planes, trains or buses, it will be sufficient to have the basic Green pass (to be vaccinated, cured or to have undergone a tampon), as in the yellow and white area.
And again: in the orange area, you can enter shops and offices without a Green pass. The exception concerns shops located in shopping centres: on holidays and the day before holidays, the reinforced Green pass will be required to access these establishments (food, newsstands, bookstores, pharmacies, tobacconists are excluded from the law).
And the Super Green pass will also be used to consume at the counter and sit at the outdoor table, for wellness centres, spas and theme parks, indoor access gyms and swimming pools, museums, exhibitions, and cinemas. Finally, the rules also change for those who ski: buy a ski pass and use the ski lifts. It will be necessary to have the Super Green Pass (therefore, the buffer is not enough).