Green Pass, Super Green Pass and the dictatorship vibe.
Italy’s rules regarding the Green Pass — the digital certificate proving the holder has been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19 — change with effect from Tuesday 1 February. The Italian government is currently operating a two-tiered Green Pass system, with the “basic” version of the pass available by testing negative for Covid, alongside the “reinforced” or “Super” version which can only be obtained by those who are vaccinated or have recovered from the virus.
Where do I need the Green Pass from 1 February?
The Green Pass is required to enter public offices, banks, post offices, tobacconists, bookshops and newsagents (unless outdoor kiosks), in addition to hairdressers, barbers and beauty salons. These are a lot of important places, but with a simple negative test you can enter like if you had two doses of the vaccine. Of course the tests are expensive, fifteen euros each one, but the coolest part of these cracked measures is about to come.
Super Green Pass
This new rule is in addition to the requirement of the Super Green Pass on public transport, in bars and restaurants (both indoors and outdoors), gyms, hotels, cinemas, theatres, malls and sports stadiums.
- Italy lists shops exempt from covid Green Pass after 1 February
Unvaccinated people in Italy are still permitted to access food shops, supermarkets, pharmacies and fuel stations. Neither version of the Green Pass applies to children under 12. Are we serious? If you are not vaccineted with three doses in Italy, you can’t take a bus, drink a coffe at the counter, eat at the restaurant outdoor, yes outdoor! You can’t go to the gym, sleep in a hotel, go to the theater or watch a movie at the cinema, go shopping at the mall, but now you can enter a shop! Before you couldn’t even enter a damn shop! And of course you can’t go to the stadium rooting for your favourite team. I mean, these are crazy measures. I can’t eat outside a fucking restaurant with a negative covid test? I am safer than anyone with three doses because I have the certainty that I am not positive to Covid. The other crazy thing is that if you don’t have three doses and you don’t have a car, you can’t move from your house. You can’t take any bus, any train, any nothing. This is a lockdown for non three doses vaccinated people, that’s what it is, and the shitty thing is that the state didn’t have the balls to call it that way.
Duration of Green Pass
Also from 1 February the validity of the Super Green Pass for those who have had at least two doses of the covid vaccine is reduced from nine to six months. However the government is considering the possibility of extending the validity of the pass indefinitely for those who have had the third “booster” dose, with news expected on this front in the coming days. I hardly doubt that, I think that this autumn there will be another boost, and next year problaby too. It’s funny when last year the italian virologists said the same thing with two doses, that you will be immune to Covid for the rest of your life.
Masks outdoors
This is another silly measure: with the 80% of population vaccinated with two doses, was removed the compulsion to wear masks outdoor, because the vaccinated people are “less contagious” in respect to the unvaccinated. Since the 88% of the population has two doses, why reintroducing this measure?
- The outdoor mask mandate, due to expire on 31 January, has been extended by 10 days and will remain in force until 10 February, news agency ANSA reported on Monday.
Likewise, the closure of Italy’s night clubs, discos and dance halls has been extended until 10 February, along with a ban on concerts and outdoor parties.
Covid vaccine mandate for over-50s
Also on 1 February the government introduces a €100 fine for all Italians and foreigners aged over 50 living in Italy who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, under the government’s controversial vaccine mandate for the over-50s.
- Italy makes covid vaccine mandatory for over 50s
From 15 February all public and private workers in Italy aged over 50 will only be able to access their workplace with a Super Green Pass, while the existing basic Green Pass mandate stays in effect for workers under 50. Now, this could seem the worst of all the measures mentioned above, but in fact it’s the best. Italian health care system is free but it’s broken: the intensive care rooms are very limited in numbers and capacity; since from above 50 years of age a considerable percentage of ill people need this treatments, this rooms are always full. This is the real problem, not the number of deaths, which the large majority are over 80s. So, preventing the intensive care rooms from being occupied by the over 50s is the best measure you could have taken to keep your health care system in place.
Travel to Italy
Additionally, Italy eased travel rules for EU visitors from 1 February, dropping the government’s contentious requirement of a Covid test before departure, even for vaccinated travellers. As of today all that is required for EU travellers to Italy is a valid Green Pass. Until the 31th of January, all travellers to Italy from European Union countries had to undergo a covid test before departure — including those who are vaccinated. Also an obligation was in place that unvaccinated visitors from EU countries quarantine for five days on arrival, even if they tested negative for Covid. Italy’s former measures appears to undermine the EU digital health certificate system of common travel rules in operation across the bloc. European Commission vice president Vera Jourova told reporters: “These individual decisions of the member states will damage the trust of the people that there are equal conditions everywhere in Europe.”. Come to Italy, we’re happy to welcome you!
