Masks at work, the obligation falls. Incentive for smart working – breaking latest news

Bologna, 30 June 2022 – Hot torrid, beginning of the vacation summer, exasperation after two years of pandemic: a mix that makes Italians ‘allergic’ to the subject Covid. But unfortunately the data on the infections have started to grow again worryingly, with the variant Omicron 5, super infectious, which gallops as even in March. And she goes back to talking about marcherine at work. The new protocol for anti-covid measures has been signed in the workplace that does not require masks but recommends them in particular contexts. In the case of frail workers, it is also possible to configure a specific prescription from the competent doctor precisely for the use of the mask FFp2 considered “an important safeguard for the protection of the health of workers for the purpose of preventing contagion in working contexts in closed environments shared by several workers or open to the public or where interpersonal distancing of one meter is not possible due to the specific characteristics of work activities”.

Summary

FFp2 masks in private workplaces, incentive to smart working, considered “useful to counter the spread of contagion, especially with reference to fragile workers, most exposed” and measuring the temperature at the entrance, which must not exceed 37 and a half degrees. These are the measures that in private workplaces will serve to combat the virus in light of the progress of the pandemic in Italy where the progressive and constant rise of infections continues.

The Ffp2 filter masks therefore remain a fundamental point of reference, as had already been established for workers in the public sector, even for employees in the private sector. The employer must ensure the availability of Ffp2 “in order to allow workers to use it in contexts at greatest risk”. It will still be up to the employer to identify “particular groups of workers to whom to provide adequate personal protective equipment (Ffp2), having particular regard to fragile subjects on the basis of assessments by the competent doctor”.

In addition to the obligation to check the temperature at the entrance, the worker with a fever must immediately notify the employer and these rules will also apply to external workers such as those who are contracted (suppliers, cleaners or supervisors). Periodic sanitation of the premises and workstations is then envisaged. Also established in the draft protocol that should remain in valid until the end of October, the need for staggered entry and exit if possible and continuous ventilation of the premises. No change, however, for the rules against Covid and the protection of fragile workers in the public administration.

“The indications of the Public Administration have not in fact changed”, said the ministry led by Renato Brunetta. And for the future the minister of labor Andrea Orlando explained that he believes that “smart working will not be used as in the months of the lockdown”, but which will still be used more than before. The updated measures are part of a profoundly changed context compared to a few weeks ago, which affects not only Italy. So much so that the World Health Organization (WHO) expects “high levels” of Covid-19 in Europe this summer and has called for close monitoring of the virus after daily cases have tripled in the last month.

To push up the numbers of the new wave is Omicron’s BA.5 subvariantmuch more transmissible than the versions of the SarsCoV2 virus that have circulated so far, so much so that the index of contagion Rt has now reached the value of 1.4 according to the sites that calculate this value on the basis of different indicators and criteria than those adopted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanita (Iss) and which allow for more up-to-date values.
Physics and statistics from the CovidTrends site indicate the value 1.4 for the index equivalent to Rt, the Covindex, with a doubling time of cases indicated in 17 days; the CovidStat site, of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (Infn), indicates the value of Rt equal to 1.44, with a margin of uncertainty between 1.81 and 1.15 and a reliability of 95%; the doubling time indicated is 11 days. The Rt value as of June 28 indicated on its website by the physicist Roberto Battiston, of the University of Trento, is 1.23.

As for the data from Fiaso sui hospitalizations for Covid, he was born in 17,7% the increase reported by the sentinel hospital network as of June 28th. Patients hospitalized in the moles are affected by the increase ordinary departments which increase overall by 20,9%. In particular, patients hospitalized for Covid, i.e. with respiratory and pulmonary syndromes, rise by 34.5%, while Con Covid, i.e. those who arrive in hospital for other diseases and are found to be incidentally positive, rise by 10%. For the president of Fiaso, Giovanni Migliore, the time elapsed since the last vaccination affects the increase in hospitalizations.