Packed parks, lurking virus? Worries mount as Italy reopens

Italy’s gradual reopening after six months of rotating virus closures is satisfying no one: Too cautious for some, too hasty for others

MILAN -- Italy’s gradual reopening on Monday after six months of rotating virus lockdowns is satisfying no one: Too cautious for some, too hasty for others. Allowing outdoor dining comes too little, too late for Italy's restaurant owners, whose survival is threatened by more than a year of on-again, off-again closures. The country's continued 10 p.m. curfew puts a damper on theater reopenings, and is seen as bad public relations for Italy's key tourism industry, which hopes the second summer of the pandemic can finally see the return of overseas visitors. The government has also been facing strong pressure to reopen from Italy’s right-wing parties. Yet the nation’s weary virologists and medical workers worry that even the tentative reopening planned by Premier Mario Draghi’s government will invite a free-for-all that risks a new virus surge before the current one is truly tamped down. “Unfortunately, as I have had to repeat often: The virus does not negotiate. The virus, moreover, has succeeded in adapting itself, becoming more aggressive and more widespread,’’ said Professor Massimo Galli of Milan’s Sacco Hospital.