We wish to thank you for the useful notifications provided and, following our statement of yesterday, the 23rd of February, we are writing to you with some more updates and clarifications provided by the Head of the Prevention and Protection Service and the medical officer of the SNS, following the indications of local health authorities.
It is anyway clear that the peculiarity of this form of infection and the constant evolution of the situation do not allow the formulation of precise guidelines valid for any of the different cases reported.
We wish, however, to remind you that is MANDATORY:
a) for who has transited or stayed after 1st of February in one of the risk areas, in Italy or abroad, to observe a period of voluntary isolation, even without symptoms, to inform the Prevention Department of the local ASL - Asl Toscana nord ovest (050 954444); Asl Toscana centro (055 5454777); 800556060. The Asl office can apply any measures they deem necessary, included home reclusion with active surveillance. They have to inform their general practitioner by telephone and contact Scuola Normale (emergenza.coronavirus@sns.it).
At the moment, risk areas are the following:
· Abroad: China, and now also South Korea and Iran;
· Italy: 10 municipalities of Bassa Lodigiana: Casalpusterlengo, Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Fombio, Maleo, Somaglia, Bertonico, Terranova dei Passerini, Castelgerundo e San Fiorano; 1 municipality in Veneto: Vo' Euganeo;
b) for who shows symptoms such as fever, cough and any other flu symptoms (in particular, respiratory difficulties), regardless of transit or staying in risk areas, to contact their general practitioner by telephone and to stay at home until full recovery. They have to inform SNS by e-mail to emergenza.coronavirus@sns.it
In addition to the above, we wish to remind you that yesterday on the Official Journal was published the Prime Minister’s Decree of 23/02/2020 for the adoption of drastic measures against the spreading of contagion only in the aforementioned municipalities. Such measures include: ban on entry and leaving the municipality for anyone and the suspension of transport services for people and goods in both directions.
The other telephone numbers that can be used for emergencies are 1500 and 112 (or, for those Regions where the central European number is not yet active, 118).
Such obligations will be valid, for the moment, at least until the 7th of March.
We also wish to remind you to observe normal hygiene practices for the prevention of respiratory diseases, that is:
· Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds;
· Avoid close contact with people who are sick or who show symptoms of respiratory diseases;
· Avoid touching the eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands;
· Sneeze or cough in a tissue or with your elbow flexed;
· Do not take antibiotics unless prescribed by a practitioner;
· Clean surfaces with alcohol-based disinfectants;
· Use a mask only in the presence of symptoms such as cough or sneezes, or if you are assisting a person who might be affected by a coronavirus infection (e.g.: someone who recently arrived from China or any other risk area);
· Products made in China and packages shipped from China do not constitute a risk;
· Contact the free number 1500 if, arriving from China, you present any flu symptoms;
· Pets do not constitute a risk.
As already communicated, all the didactic tours to and from the Scuola Normale are suspended, as provided by the MIUR, until further and different communication.
Since the next few days will be crucial to understand the evolution of the situation, for precautionary reasons, all the events that involve the arrival of several people at the SNS, such as conferences, training courses and other public events already scheduled are suspended and postponed after March 2nd.
For any other different information, please contact emergenza.coronavirus@sns.it
