Masks Mandatory on April 20: Dos and Don’ts

The ordinance that everyone must wear a face mask in public in the city of Florence will become effective as of Monday, April 20.  According to the decree by the Tuscan regional government, which left individual cities and towns free to decide the starting date, a mask must be worn in “spaces, whether indoors or out, open to the public, in the presence of other people while maintaining a minimum distance of one meter (3 ft.), as well as on local buses and trams, and when taking a taxi.”

Children under the age of six and the chronically ill (who are required to get a doctor’s certificate) are exempt from placing one over his or her nose and mouth when going out in public after leaving home.

Nearly 180,000 families have already received two free masks each provided by Florence city government through the National Health Service and distributed by Public Safety (Protezione Civile) and Misericordia volunteers, with another 10,000 slated to be delivered to students and other non-residents by the weekend.

Starting April 20, another 1.5 million masks will distributed for free in pharmacies (to receive a package of five, please show your tessera sanitaria, Italian health care card or your codice fiscale card) and supermarkets throughout Tuscany.  People with these cards are entitled to receive five free masks.  Everyone is entitled to receive 30 more free masks, a few at a time, available at this distribution points during the month of May.  (rosanna cirigliano)

To read more in Italian, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site.