The outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 led governments around the world to adopt an extraordinary set of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs), including lockdowns, school closures, limits on mobility, and border…
According to a scientific paper just published, lockdowns in Europe and the US decreased COVID-19 mortality by a mere 0.2% on average, while the economic costs were enormous. This is…
This year and a half of pandemic has rekindled the debate about the relationship between individual freedom and its limits, especially when health is at stake. While in several countries governments seem to be reasonably cautious in this regard, Italy has adopted policies (i.e., the so called “green-pass”) that have no equal among Western democracies in terms of extension and invasiveness. Italian citizens cannot take a train, attend a university class or go to work without giving proof, possibly via a specific App in their smartphone, that they are vaccinated (or to be negative to a Covid-test taken in the last 72-hours). Despite the perplexity shown by some commentators, general support for the green-pass in Italy is rather high. About two Italians out of three believe that far from depriving them of liberty, the green pass actually enhances their liberty. Although this reaction may be surprising, it could perhaps be understandable, if such policies were thought as temporary. Some data, however, highlight a different and less optimistic scenario.
