FLORENCE, ITALY – It’s official. The entire region of Tuscany will lower the restrictions for Covid 19 and return to the yellow zone from Monday April 26, 2021.
The Tuscany Region, by the act of the Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, passes back to the yellow zone, as it had been before February 14th, when it first ended up in the orange zone and then in the red zone.
The health data is progressively improving in Tuscany. Only the occupancy of beds in intensive care worries the scientists : it’s at 41%, eleven points above the limit, while it has dropped to 30% of the occupation of Covid 19 ordinary hospital beds(the critical limit is 40%)., according to the latest monitoring of the National Agency for Health Services regional (Agenas).
In Tuscany the Rt contagion index has dropped, with a lower limit of 0.82 and an upper limit of 0.86. The incidence rate of new positive cases calculated per 100 thousand inhabitants is also down: it’s at 183, while last week it was at 209, with a decrease of 13%.
But what does the yellow zone mean?
In the yellow zone, restaurants are able to serve customers at outdoor tables for lunch and dinner, in any case within the curfew at 10pm. Cinemas and theaters will also reopen, but with a capacity of 50% and a maximum of 500 spectators indoors and one thousand outdoors. Seats must be reserved.
All commercial activities can continue to be open, including the shopping centers. All outdoor sports activities are allowed. The swimming pools and gyms remain closed for now, as well as fairs and congress centers. From April 26 until the end of the school year, classes will also resume attendance. It is possible to move within the Municipality, between different Municipalities and between Regions that are in the yellow or white zone.
“The passage in the yellow zone is a sign of the light at the end of the tunnel. Positive news, which will give a shot in the arm to many sectors of our economy, severely tested by closures and anti Covid 19 measures’’, comments Tuscany President Eugenio Giani.
Also, 13 other regions and two autonomous provinces could become yellow zones: Abruzzo, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Molise, Marche, Piemont, Puglia, Umbria, Veneto and the autonomous provinces of Bolzano and Trento. There are doubts, however, about whether Puglia will be yellow or orange. Sardinia, meanwhile, is expected to remain a red zone.