Masks mandatory outdoors also a Roma in the shopping streets. From Saturday until New Year’s Eve and with high fines (from 400 euros to one thousand euros) for offenders. Yes, because in the capital the new infected by Covid (yesterday they registered 900, 300 more than a week ago) they grow despite the Omicron variant has not yet manifested itself between Rome and Lazio, while the administration of third doses finally registered a noteworthy trend: 40 thousand per day .
THE ORDER
So here is the ordinance in this direction last night signed by the mayor Roberto Gualtieri. Who, like his colleague Giuseppe Sala in Milan, followed the indications sent by the government to the various prefectures last Monday: strict controls by the police and zero tolerance against gatherings and against those who do not respect the obligation to masks in the shopping streets with a view to Christmas. “But we will evaluate – warned the mayor of the capital – the effects of the ordinance and the trend of the contagion curve, and we are ready, if necessary, to strengthen the provision with a generalized obligation”. That is, to the whole capital.
In his ordinance Gualtieri – as the highest city health authority – made it mandatory from midnight on next Saturday to wear a mask, especially in the areas of the capital where there is a greater presence of shops and Romans and tourists engaged in shopping. In the historic center we start from the most crowded street throughout the year – via del Corso – but the new rules are also extended to what is the good living room of the city, the so-called Trident: piazza di Spagna, via di Ripetta, via del Baboon, piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina, piazza San Silvestro, piazza del Parlamento, largo Chigi, largo Goldoni, piazza del Popolo, via della Croce, via Condotti, via Borgogna and via Frattina. That is where the boutiques of the most famous brands and the places for the aperitif so loved by tourists have settled. Obligation to wear a mask also in another district with a very high concentration of shops and restaurants: Prati. Anyone walking in via Cola di Rienzo, in piazza Cola di Rienzo, in via Marcantonio Colonna, in via Fabio Massimo, via Ottaviano, viale Giulio Cesare and via Candia must cover their mouths and noses. And the same input must be respected in viale Libia, a very busy commercial artery in the northeastern part of the capital.
ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS
As mentioned, Gualtieri did not rule out further tightening with an increase in infections. And he recalled that there will also be maximum attention to the use of the mask in all areas of the capital where gatherings occur. A law in force since last year, but never really respected and not only in Rome. “However, it is primarily up to the Romans with their behavior – he declared – to guarantee the application of this and other fundamental safety rules, protecting themselves and others”. And the same concept was expressed yesterday during the Committee for public order and safety in the presence of the prefect of the capital, Matteo Piantedosi. With him the crux of checks was addressed: the government representative guaranteed more men on the street, including local police officers. In this direction, the brigades of the special forces, usually engaged against illegal activities and environmental crimes, will also turn the shopping streets.
