The new DPCM presented today, Oct. 25, by JosephCVisita the siteonte(the third in 12 days) imposes further restrictions on the sports world. Most notable among these is the closure of gyms and swimming pools until Nov. 24.
Closure that, in some ways, comes with a substantial amount of surprise given that, just two days ago, Minister Spadafora had confirmed that the facilities would remain open with new security measures.
The closure of swimming pools and gyms confirms-if any more is needed-that sport practiced as a form of wellness is considered a secondary and surrenderable activity. That is, according to what can be seen, the closure process was worked out on the basis of the expendability of assets, rather than on bases related to the risk of contagion. Ignoring what activities can, in addition, be good for health.
I forced myself, when I thought about writing this post, not to give the example of soccer. But it is a fact that-as a contact sport-it has inevitably generated a significant amount of outbreaks.
Numbers certainly more relevant than swimming or gyms. To date, however, Serie A continues to play as a “competition of national interest.”
Health first
Without a shadow of a doubt, health and human life take precedence over any economic activity. It goes without saying, I think. As I think we all agree.
It is equally true that in recent months we have “learned” more about how to protect ourselves from the virus and what are risky behaviors.
To take a trivial example, it is much riskier to take a selfie hugging each other without a mask at the end of a run (I have seen many of these in recent months) than to swim in a controlled, sanitized environment with a number of people respecting the spacing or to work out in a gym where entrances and use of equipment are spaced, quota, and sterilized.
Nor do I mention public transportation in which, until a few days ago, you could ride up to 100 percent of capacity for trips of less than 15 minutes.
The rules
In the past week, inspections of swimming pools and gyms found no noncompliance with the rules. Just zero. So, if the government now decides to close them down, one wonders if those rules served any purpose. Let me explain: if you impose safety measures on an operator and then close the facility anyway, I think it’s natural to question whether those rules made sense. In my opinion, yes: they made sense. Do we agree that it sounds like a mockery, though?
Despite this, they pay the consequences. Being, moreover, deemed non-essential activities, on a par with bingo halls or casinos.
And I’m not saying that bingo halls or casinos should close a priori, I’m just talking about a – I think shared by all – scale of priorities. I say this with respect for everyone’s work: a sacrosanct right for every citizen.
My opinion-and, as such, it is debatable-is that it would have been better to impose a very strict enforcement of the rules, avoid gatherings but limit closures of all kinds. Better to be a little more antisocial than to have to be out of work, right?!
The “faults”
Undoubtedly, we are now paying for many “faults” of the past months: lack of planning, risky and common-sense behaviors by some, and lack of an efficient contact tracing system (see, for example, the poor dissemination and adaptation of some regions to Immuni).
And unfortunately, “later” action is taken. Chirping when one could, suppressing now.
Of course, much blame can be attributed to the “light” behavior of many citizens, but-in my humble opinion-it is precisely the state that should have been watching out for this. We all remember the scenes of uncontrolled gatherings during the summer, don’t we!
For our part, we can only do one thing. Stop thinking that the virus does not exist, stop making the fight against Covid a matter of political debate and all be very very conscientious.
Hoping that these first closure measures, are also the last and will end soon.
We also discussed this in a special installment of Fuorisoglia. Don’t lose it!
Listen to “Extra: “DPCM: The second season”” on Spreaker.
(Main photo credits: cookelma on DepositPhotos.com)