Italian Community Information Regarding COVID-19

Dear Members of the Italian Community,

At the present time here in South Australia and in the rest of the world we are going through unprecedented times with the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is important that as a community we continue to function and live, however we must also be cautious and vigilant as our state of South Australia has been declared in a state of emergency and we must continue to follow trusted sources of information on how we can remain safe.

In order to stay protected you can do the following to help one another by regularly;

• Washing your hands
• Stay at home if you feel unwell
• Covering your coughs and sneezes with a tissue
• Social distancing yourself at least 1.5m away from others
• Maintaining clean and sanitised surfaces at home

There are currently no vaccines for coronavirus, but it can especially affect elderly populations and those with other comorbidities. Therefore, the Australian government has also enacted rules to protect the population by banning gatherings/meeting of more than 100 people to minimise the spread of the virus, and in order to protect the elderly population it has recommended to reduce visitors to aged-care homes.

Based on this information the elected committee members of Com.It.Es South Australia with the support of the Consulate of Italy want to provide trusted information to the Italian community associations, clubs, organisations and key members to ensure you keep updated on developments from the following government trusted sources.

• The Australian Department of Health – health.gov.au
• SA Health – sahealth.sa.gov.au
• Australian Government Coronavirus Helpline (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) P: 1800 020 080 – If you require translation or interpreting in Italian call 131 450
• Consolato d’Italia Adelaide – consadelaide.esteri.it (Information for Italian citizens’ abroad and visa/travel issues)

Furthermore, as you are aware the annual Festa della Liberazione which was scheduled for the 25th of April has been cancelled due to the interest of public safety given the large amount of elderly Italian’s who attend the event.

Therefore, given the current issues in South Australia with the virus spreading daily we would kindly ask for you and your committee’s to follow the government’s direction and re-assess any events you may be planning on hosting up until 30 of June in the interest of public safety and in the interests of safety to the members of the Italian community. All social gatherings, dinners, dinner dances, feasts and group social activities (i.e. cards and bocce) that involve (especially older) members of the community should be rescheduled later in the year in order to control the spread to the community.

Com.It.Es South Australia wish you and your associations/clubs all the very best in this difficult time, and we pray that you all remain safe.

Cari Saluti,

Dr Christian Verdicchio – President Com.It.Es South Australia

Kindly under the support of the Italian Consulate in South Australia

Click here for Media Release in PDF Com.It.Es SA Media Release COVID19