Dear Inbound students, dear families, dear host families,
We have been following the situation of evolution of COVID-19 quite close for the safety of our inbounds and of our outbounds and we have seen that the number of cases arose so much that OMS declared it a pandemic event.
Our Government issued a new decree whose main point are as follows:
• Schools will be closed till April 3rd as before stated
• Bars, restaurants, nonfood shops will be closed until March 25th
• Strict limitations of movement are applied; we are not allowed to enter or exit the “red zones” if the following reasons are not exclipited and proven: business reasons, emergency reason, need. All persons must have, when outside of their homes a declaration in which they state where they are going and if this is proven not to be real, jail up to three months could be a sanction
• Specific admission rules are applied for ER in hospital since places start being limited
Districts are free to choose what policy they have to follow, according to instructions received by their Governors, therefore, there might be different decisions in different districts in Italy. We do believe that you can understand that, since Governors are the ultimate responsible for Youth Exchange program, they can decide, together with the Youth Exchange Committee, independent solutions and decisions.
Decisions depend also on the situation in the single areas, so some districts might have decided to repatriate students, others to discuss the situation with the sponsor district and then take a decision.
This extraordinary event requires extraordinary measures and we have limited time to act. What we are aware of is that numbers are rising tremendously. In Lombardy there were 2.000 new cases in 24 hours and the situation is not at its peak yet. Private clinics are being seized in order to have patients treated.
We are facing a difficult period, we would not have liked and at the moment, although we follow this situation moment by moment, we have no possibility to tell you if and when we will return no normality. According the development of the situation we will see if, at the beginning of April, we will have some positive results. At the moment our main concern is that possibility to treat you inbounds, in case it is necessary, with the future situation of next week will not be as it should.
We are of course at your disposal for any question or request and we would like to remind you that, should you decide to have your sons and daughters return to your home countries, this decision will have to be taken in a very short time because of the closing of airports.
We do know that this dreadful and complicated period will help us grow and change some of our habits and ways of behaving and living, but as some parents told me, this is indeed part of the experience and we do have to live it.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Kindest regards.