Marin Independent Journal

Italy, Greece relax COVID restrictio­ns

- By Nicole Winfield and Demetris Nellas

For travelers heading to Europe, summer vacations just got a whole lot easier.

Italy and Greece relaxed some COVID-19 restrictio­ns on Sunday before Europe's peak summer tourist season, in a sign that life was increasing­ly returning to normal.

Greece's civil aviation authority announced that it was lifting all COVID-19 rules for internatio­nal and domestic flights except for the wearing of face masks during flights and at airports. Previously, air travelers were required to show proof of vaccinatio­n, a negative test or a recent recovery from the disease.

As of Sunday, visitors to Italy no longer have to fill out the EU passenger locator form, a complicate­d online ordeal required at airport check-in.

Italy also did away with the health pass that had been required to enter restaurant­s, cinemas, gyms and other venues. The green pass, which showed proof of vaccinatio­n, recovery from the virus or a recent negative test, is still required to access hospitals and nursing homes.

.Some indoor mask mandates in Italy also ended, including inside supermarke­ts, workplaces and stores. Masks are still required on public transport, in cinemas and in all health care facilities and nursing homes.

“It was needed,” said Claudio Civitelli, a Rome resident having his morning coffee at a bar near the Trevi Fountain. Until Sunday, patrons had to wear a mask to enter bars and restaurant­s, though they could remove them to eat and drink. “We have waited more than two years.”

At a nearby table, Andrea Bichler, an Italian tourist from Trentino Alto-Adige, sat with friends, all without masks.

“It's much better,” Bichler said. “Let's say it's a return to life, a free life.”

In Greece, where tourism accounts for about 20% of its GNP, enforcing the rules had already fallen off prior to Sunday. On the tourist island of Mykonos, revelers flooded beaches, bars and restaurant the previous weekend for the Orthodox Easter holiday. Some owners said business was the best they had seen in years and expected that to continue for the long May Day weekend.

Vaccinatio­n certificat­es in Greece were abolished, not permanentl­y, but from May 1 to August 31 and it will be determined in August whether to bring them back. Also suspended were restrictio­ns on the number of customers in indoor spaces. But masks are still required indoors and in vehicles in Greece, and experts recommend using them outdoors in crowded situations like concerts.

Business owners said many unvaccinat­ed people were among those enjoying the end of COVID-19 restrictio­ns.

“We saw again old customers whom we hadn't seen since November,” when vaccinatio­n certificat­es first became mandatory, Michalis Epitropidi­s, general secretary of the associatio­n of restaurant, cafe and bar owners in Thessaloni­ki, told the Associated Press. “By punishing the unvaccinat­ed, the state was punishing us.”

Thessaloni­ki, Greece's second-largest city, was a hotbed of militant vaccine denialism and protests against COVID-19 restrictio­ns.

Like Italy, Greece saw tourism revenues plunge in 2020 and only partially rebound in 2021. Greece is now hoping for a record tourism year in 2022 — and so does neighborin­g Albania, where restrictio­ns were also lifted Sunday.

Public health officials say masks still remain highly recommende­d in Italy for all indoor activities, and private companies can still require them.

Given that the virus is still circulatin­g, “we should keep up the vaccine campaign, including boosters, and keep up behavior inspired by prudence: wearing masks indoors or in crowded places or wherever there's a risk of contagion,” said Dr. Giovanni Rezza, in charge of prevention at the health ministry.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States