Italy eyes mandate for masks outdoors as virus rebounds

ROME (AP) — Italy was expected to order a nationwide outdoor mask mandate Wednesday with fines of up to 1,000 euros ($1,163) for violators, as the European country where COVID-19 first hit scrambles to keep rebounding infections from spiralling out of control.

The government was taking the measure even though Italy’s overall per capita infection rate is currently among the lowest in Europe. But public health authorities have warned that a steady, nine-week rise in infections nationwide demands new measures to counter it.

“We believe this is an appropriate measure to help contain the virus and send a message to the country that we need to raise the attention threshold,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza told parliament Tuesday in explaining the planned requirement. “(Facemasks) are the first weapon we have to contain the virus.”

The Cabinet meeting to approve the decree came on the same day that Italy added 3,678 new infections and 31 victims to its official coronavirus toll, the highest increase in new cases since the peak of the outbreak in April. Both hard-hit Lombardy and southern Campania added more than 500 cases apiece.

Italy now has over 36,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, the second-highest number in Europe after Britain.

Even though the World Health Organization doesn’t specifically recommend masks outdoors for the general population, the trend has taken off in Italy, particularly as new clusters have been identified in southern regions that largely escaped Italy’s first wave of infection.

The new government decree was to be contained in a measure to extend the state of emergency until Jan. 31, though by Wednesday evening it still hadn't been published by the government, suggesting a last-minute glitch.

It would require residents to have masks...