image: https://www.ilpost.it
I travelled from Hamburg to Rome on the 2nd of March and then back on the 11th of March, enjoying the time in between in my lovely hometown of Tivoli.
The outbound flight was maybe 2/3 full and that’s not really normal, even more so at the start of the school holidays. During it, all passengers were requested to fill in a Aussteigekarte, a paper form with personal data. I was not happy about that but for once I managed to shut up and simply comply (more on it later…).
Once landed, the crew informed us that due to the corona virus situation in Italy some passengers may be requested to go through a temperature check. Well, nobody was checked at the plane’s exit, nobody was checked at the finger’s exit, nobody was checked in the terminal but all of us had to go through a thermal scanner just before the luggage collection zone.
Mmm. Not perfect.
Wouldn’t it be better to go through a thermal scan at the departure airport before/after the security checks? Wouldn’t it be better to go through it at boarding? Or even when getting out of the plane? Or just out of the finger? Clearly from a logistic point of view, it is far easier to set a checkpoint in a bottleneck like the luggage collection zone, but then you do risk to spread the virus in all terminal.
Notwhitstanding the catastrophic news on the corona virus (actually the only news on top of serie A football) being blasted by the TV, life in Tivoli seemed just a bit toned down compared to normal.
It changed.
And quickly.
We all heard the suggestion to stay at home. Actually, and very regretfully, we all half heard it as it was not affecting us directly, the good weather and the spring in the air were just too inviting to miss the opportunity to walk around, meet people and enjoy life.
On the 8th of March life started to change.
It was strange to meet so many overdressed tourists along the trails of the Monte Catillo Natural Reserve. The night before, Lombardy and 14 provinces were locked down by the government. There were even other measures valid for all the country like closed museums and that’s why so many tourists initially headed to some of Tivoli’s main sights rerouted to a nice walk along the sweet slopes of nearby hills. The effect of the government’s measures was a sort of awakening for many: finally the government’s point was being seriously considered. Many people started isolating themselves, many other were less social (less hugs / kisses), few opted for a self/inflicted home reclusion, traffic was not its usual chaotic self and generally the atmosphere was heavier, darker.
The day after, the 9th of March, in the evening all Italy was declared as single protected zone.
The morning after, the 10th of March, at least 80% of the passers wore a mask and a good portion of the remaining 20% a scarf (I really dunno if it helps, but I am more than doubtful). People started queuing ordinately in front of supermarkets, keeping the recommended 1m distance. Just few people at a time were allowed to enter - one person out, one in. A cameo: it is fine to keep the distance outside the supermarket, but I fear the supermarket doors do not block the virus and hence piling up to get cold cuts and meat at the counter or to pay is not exactly a best practice. Restaurants were basically empty and bars far far less crowded than usual, with lovely lines taped to the floor to point the right distance to be kept while sipping a coffee.
On the 11th of March was time for me to go. Even in the marketplace you could now see some distancing and practically nobody touching any food.
image: Marketplace in Tivoli
I got to the Fiumicino airport in about an hour at a leisurely pace: along the GRA (the highway belt around Rome) there were far more cars than I expected, but at least driving was frictionless. Many flights were cancelled and many people were rerouted. Luckily enough my flight was there (and on time!). A couple of points:
~ Do you remember we should keep a distance? Well, it seems nobody communicated that to many people queuing for dropping their bags, not to many queuing for rebooking their flights.
~ Few countries at the time already closed connections to Italy. So what do you do if you are stuck in Rome? Well, you triangulate! I would dare say that even for cash strapped students is not exactly common to fly Rome-Hamburg-Wien. Or Rome-Hamburg-Zurich-Havana. Or Rome-Hamburg-Barcelona.
image: Terminal D at Fiumicino Airport
All airport personnel I met wore masks and gloves and at least at the security check they took care of avoiding contact as much as possible, routing each passenger to a different scanner - yep, it’s doable if you have full staff and about a flight per hour.
Two points more:
~ before the security check I was asked to fill in the required autocertification for moving in Italy. Only then I understood that such certification is requested only to Italian citizens resident in Italy and does not apply to foreigners or even to Italian citizens resident abroad
~ after the security check I was asked to show my documents and my residency was checked
Good to go to the gate. I never saw so few people in Fiumicino, not even at 4AM.
The inbound flight is even less full than the outbound one, all crew wears protective masks and I get once more the (in)famous Aussteigekarte. Yes, I completed it once more and it handed it over to the stewardess but this time I was unable to keep silent.
image: www.gesetze-im-internet.de
I asked her who was requesting such form.
Answer: die Behörde - the government agency.
Q. Which one?
Dunno, I just collect all forms and put them in an envelope.
I stopped there as she looked really lost.
I’d be curious to see how GDPR compliant such form-collection is.
I’d be curious to understand why a paper form collection with a potential delayed analysis is preferable to querying an airline database and maybe requesting the remaining info during the checki-phase.
I’d be curious why only Germany is requesting such data.
Yes, I know, I’m too curious.
I enjoyed the rest of the flight, at least as much as you can do with 2 small kids, and then landed in a different planet.
Corona virus? What’s that?
All Italy is considered a risk area and then what you do with passengers arriving from Rome?
NOTHING - business as usual.
Even the crew of our plane took off the protective masks as soon as on ground. And I may be wrong, but I saw really no dedicated cleaning of the aircraft coming from Rome before letting it fly to London few minutes later.
Got home using the public transport and absolutely nobody seemed to care about potential infections. I hope to be very wrong, but I fear the situation will change in just few weeks.
Coming back from a risk area, I opted to limit contacts for the next couple of weeks, staying at home to curb the possibility to infect somebody else - the challenge will be to keep my kids at bay!
Btw, they are not allowed to attend school for 2 weeks but they are not forbidden to go out and play in the park, there is just a suggestion to limit social interactions.
Even more interesting, teachers who spent their holidays in a risk area could come back to work after 4 days if they test negative to corona virus.
A double no comment.
#IoRestoACasa #IchBleibeZuhause