How is Italy?

[SimonCaldersPassport]

Due to travel to Tuscany towards end of August. Starting to wonder if this 'European Second Wave' is being talked about in Italy? I follow a few Italian SM pages for the area we are travelling to, and all seems well, and the daily figures seem reasonable.

However I've got 4 days before I can cancel and get a full refund and flip-flopping between going and not.

So as not to drip feed - we are visiting a family member who has serious health complications and not to put too fine a point on it - may not make it through the flu season, let alone Covid this winter. (We will test on arrival, and social distance at all times so as not to put them at risk) This could be the last opportunity for us to see them, and I know how much it will mean to them to see the DC.

Any MNetters in the area? How are things looking? Any talk of lockdowns?

So unsure of what to do.

Bump

Italy look to be doing very well going by what’s on worldometer. Cases very static at present. I would be more concerned that they will ban people travelling from the UK rather than the other way round to be honest.

It's fine, I'm flying out next week on holiday

Fine.
There was an article in the Guardian yesterday titled "Italy treading a fine line" which, when you opened it said nothing if the sort.
There are a few localised outbreaks, most of fewer than ten people and almost, if not all, tracked and traced back to the patient zero who was (usually) someone coming in from abroad. In factories mainly.
Lots of the refugees coming in are testing positive as might be expected.
I agree with Marceline- I was due to go to Spain on holiday next week but have cancelled because I don't want to quarantine when I get back, I also need to visit the UK to sort out family stuff but again I'm putting it off tbh.
Big whopping heatwave predicted for next week!

@MarcelineMissouri

Italy look to be doing very well going by what’s on worldometer. Cases very static at present. I would be more concerned that they will ban people travelling from the UK rather than the other way round to be honest.

Actually I think you're probably right...... I wonder if the UK will go on a black list, and we have to quarantine there for 14 days, given our latest figures I wouldn't be surprised.

We have the added complication of driving so am looking carefully at France too.

Decision day -3!

It's so hard to decide isn't it? I think all you can do is keep checking the news and the figures. The sole 24 ore tables are very good. I'll see if I can find a link.

lab24.ilsole24ore.com/coronavirus/en/
Does a good breakdown of regions etc. Tuscany is the fifth highest overall since the beginning, but only 11 new cases on the whole region yesterday.

@MorningManiacMusic

lab24.ilsole24ore.com/coronavirus/en/ Does a good breakdown of regions etc. Tuscany is the fifth highest overall since the beginning, but only 11 new cases on the whole region yesterday.

Haven't seen that before thank you, really helpful.

Hi. I live in Italy and I have just been on holiday within Italy. Lots of mask wearing and people are being careful (no kissing!) Cases are relatively low but there have been a few outbreaks usually related to a particular workplace. (My mum was worried because she heard on the UK tv that there was a spike where I live but it wasn't generalised, it was in one distribution centre which wasn't really the impression she got). I would probably avoid city centre bars but I wouldn't be particularly worried about being here. Of course, a possible quarantine on reentry is a different risk!

Numbers are much lower than ours, but easyJet have cancelled all their flights to Naples this week until mid October

EasyJet flights to Naples are still showing on the website. And I did a pretend booking (as far as pay now) and it lets you get all the way.
I'm not looking to book for Naples (I live about an hour away) but I wonder why their website hasn't been updated?

Why is there such disparity between Italy and Spain? Is it the locations of spikes? Or type of tourism?

Maybe it's all the UK tourists bringing it in to Spain. 😆

I live in Tuscany. Life feels pretty normal most of the time, except everyone wears masks indoors, and lots of people wear them outdoors even when it's not a requirement. Some social distancing regulations still in place like only entering small shops one at a time. Public transport is empty where we live but I haven't been to Florence recently, for example, so might be different there. Where are you headed, OP?

The number of new cases in the region is very low now and there is extensive testing going on, pretty much everyone I know who works outside the home has been tested at least once. Hospitals are treating all their non-Covid patients again.

Hello Lee! We chatted in the deepest darkest depths of lockdown- I've namechanged since, hope you are well.

pretty much everyone I know who works outside the home has been tested at least once
That's interesting and sort of confirms my hunch that the Tuscan health service is better than ER!

I have family in the south and they seems to be living as close to normal as possible! I think the infection rates are really low

@MorningManiacMusic I can guess who you are (waves!) hope you are well and enjoying the summer, we are melting here!

That's interesting and sort of confirms my hunch that the Tuscan health service is better than ER!
Interesting! I have no complaints about the system here in Tuscany other than money being wasted on homeopathic "treatments".

@totallyyesno

Maybe it's all the UK tourists bringing it in to Spain. 😆

I wondered if it was exactly that or if I was being too simplistic!

We are due to fly to Pisa soon and am still worried about being told to quarantine (either there or back here) due to others testing positive! Haven't booked a 2 week stay, ony 9 days. Dh is on furlough, so has time on his hands but my girls and I all have to go back to school in September 😐 Just want to get out there ASAP now before anything else changes to stop us.

I follow this poster on Twitter as a quick link to the daily figures. Things are getting worse by the day in Italy. However Tuscany looks to be one of the best of the worst areas.

twitter.com/you_trend/status/1289223057899282432?s=21

Like a previous poster said, lots of the big jumps in numbers are isolated outbreaks - for example a migrant centre in Treviso is the cause of the big rise in Veneto.

Our restrictions have been extended but they wouldn't make me hesitate to travel to Italy from the U.K. Driving is probably safer than flying.

I wouldn't go abroad anywhere at the moment. The rules can change daily, as all governments are winging it really.
You don't know if you'd be stuck there, not allowed to travel, not able to travel, be made to come home early, not able to get home, need to quarantine when you get there, need to quarantine when you get home.... People can guess, but it's only a guess.

And if I do catch The Covid, I want to be in the UK when I do.

@totallyyesno

Maybe it's all the UK tourists bringing it in to Spain. 😆

Didn't know there were tons of British tourists in Aragon or Navarre.

The parts of Spain experiencing a major resurgence aren't the Costa Del Sol or other areas frequented by large numbers of British tourists.

Also in Italy. Cases have crept up a bit but as others have said, at the moment these are mainly isolated outbreaks of imported cases. I think your destination is safer than your point of origin.

Still, if this were just a holiday, I'd say don't do it. A month is a long time, as we all now know, and the risk of quarantine from one side or another is certainly there. But you are visiting an ill relative, and I can really understand why you need to come.

My main worry would be travelling here and back. It is a risk, both being on the plane and stuck in the arrivals hall, especially in the UK, for hours. Recent arrivals to the UK from the EU have waited well more than 2 hours at immigration. You're in an indoor space with inadequate social distancing with people who have just been engaged in a risky activity (flying) potentially coming from places with a much higher risk of Covid.

So it comes down to your fear of contracting Covid, as well. (No judgement, just that some people are more willing to roll the dice than others.)

It would be heartbreaking, though, to not see your family member - it's so sad that we have all been kept apart. A tough one! Good luck.

I'm contemplating flying to the UK next week but am having the opposite fear- as where I'll be going is so much more covidy than here but feel if I'm going to go I should go now, as I can see Boris's logic in asking people to quarantine despite there being fewer cases where they are coming from!

Mumsnet tbh doesn't help- all the people saying they aren't going to wear masks and yet shouting at people wanting to visit relatives possibly for the last time. It's all a bit chicken licken.

I also think that the Spanish figures need to be clearer to really understand. Yes, big rise in cases, but how many emerged because of mass testing? Etc etc.