Reopening of indoor restaurants and mask, Cts guidelines

With the reopening of the restaurants and bars indoors, from 1 June in the yellow zone, the new rules of the Technical Scientific Committee for the resumption of economic and social activities arrive. Among the recommendations of the CTS, there is also an indication on the use of the mask in the restaurant which has raised controversy in the last hours. “Customers must wear a mask to protect the respiratory tract on every occasion when they are not seated at the table except when drinking and eating”, reads the guidelines of the CTS to the Regions. Read also “But does the CTS really think of reopening the restaurants indoors by forcing customers to eat by lowering and lifting the mask for every single bite? If there were no crying there would be laughter!”, Wrote the president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti on Twitter. Even among experts, the rule aroused perplexity: “I was frankly struck by the decision of the CTS to wear the mask inside the restaurants, when sitting at the table, except in moments of drinking and eating. mask or maybe, we could think of designing slit masks for food and maybe drinking with a straw? All of this is ridiculous and dangerous. This is an embarrassing proposition without any scientific basis that generates only fear and confusion “, is the comment by Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino hospital in Genoa. If this proposal “is adopted, it will cover Italy with ridicule compared to the rest of Europe and the world. It would be another bad figure for the CTS … only the latest in a very long series – he said -. But why in Italy do we always find the way only to complicate and never to help to understand and simplify? “. GUIDELINES In the guidelines for the regions, the technicians who have been decoding the anti-Covid regulations for over a year have pointed out some key points for the sectors that are starting up again. Not only restaurants. “For all activities, especially where there is a progressive aim at the saturation of available places, and for all workers who cannot maintain the required interpersonal distancing, it is necessary to consider the possession of one of the requirements for the green certificate”, it is recommended. For all activities, moreover, “it is understood that workers must use the personal protective equipment provided according to the specific risks of the job, as well as compliant with the prescriptions of the competent doctor”. For catering and ceremonies, the Cts emphasizes that in carrying out the service both at lunch and dinner, it is necessary to “define the maximum number of simultaneous presences (outdoors and especially indoors) in relation to the volumes of space and air changes and the possibility of creating aggregations throughout the path of entry, presence and exit “. The maximum number of people per table is not indicated, at the moment no more than 4. It is recommended to “make hand sanitizing products available and mandatory for customers and staff even in several points of the room”. also recommends access by booking and to keep the guest list for 14 days. Customers “must wear a mask to protect the respiratory tract except in moments of drinking and eating”. For the ceremonies, “participation is only allowed to those who are in possession of one of the requirements for the green card” and it is necessary to “define the maximum number of simultaneous presences in relation to the volumes of space “. For beaches and bathing establishments, it is necessary to “define the maximum number of simultaneous presences (outdoors and especially indoors) in relation to the volumes of space and air changes and the possibility of creating aggregations throughout the entry path, presence and exit “. In the changing rooms of gyms, thermal pools and wellness centers,” the use of showers must be precluded. Furthermore, the consumption of food must be prohibited in the changing rooms “, recommends the CTS.