Rome is in a yellow zone, curfew at 10pm but what about on a glorious sunny Saturday afternoon?
Most of us have forgotten what we used to be able to do we have been under restrictions for so long. But it only takes a sunny afternoon for the instinct to get out and be together to take over.
This week at school my 9 year-old had to start wearing double masks but the weekend has its own rules. My local park was packed today, a tapestry of football matches (masks an optional with the youth); birthday parties and the usual assortment of dogs, bikes, walkers and runners.
If we act like this how long before we will be out of lockdown
The paradox of the school mask rule and then the Saturday afternoon amnesia of all that we have been told to do is understandable but worrying. If we act like this with the first glimpse of sunshine, how long before we can come out of lockdown?
Yesterday in Lazio there were 15,470 new cases taking the total to 2.78 million and 95,235 deaths. The reproductive (Rt) number is under one at 0,95 meaning we stay yellow – the lightest of restrictions but still devastating for those sectors who have basically lost a year of business.
No end in sight and so we look to Mario Draghi and an effective vaccination programme to provide a modicum of hope. In the meantime it is double masks at school and a free-for-all at the weekend.