Today the decree mandating the closure of ski lifts across the entire Italian territory came into force. All resorts have therefore complied with the regulations by closing their ski areas early.
Some mountain enthusiasts have interpreted this lift closure as an opportunity to go ski mountaineering and snowshoeing in complete peace and quiet thanks to the closed slopes.
In light of this new wave of enthusiasm among ski mountaineers, snowshoers, and other hikers, the National Mountain Rescue Service has stepped in with an appeal to stay at home and avoid high-mountain excursions, so as not to trigger rescue calls in the event of an accident and thereby tie up medical personnel already exhausted by the fight against the Coronavirus.
Below is the message posted on their official page:
The country is in difficulty: the doctors and nurses of the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps – CNSAS are working alongside their colleagues to care for thousands of infected patients from northern to southern Italy. As you know well, carrying out a cave rescue or a high-mountain alpine rescue requires deploying dozens of operators, including healthcare personnel. Imagine, then, the difficulties we would face right now in carrying out a rescue operation—a rescue we would naturally perform, but one that could trigger complex post-intervention management.
There will be time to climb a mountain again; there will be time to explore a cave together again.
Right now, however, it is time to stop. Time to be responsible toward ourselves, toward others, and toward Italy. As written in the Italian Constitution: the Republic safeguards health as a fundamental right of the individual and as a collective interest, and guarantees free medical care to the indigent. We must defend these values; we must protect our doctors, our nurses, and Italy from a collapse of the National Health Service. No immense sacrifices are being asked of us, nor are we being asked to climb a 3,000-meter peak: we are simply being asked to stay at home for a short period of time.
#iorestoacasa (#Istayathome) is not a slogan or a hashtag to fill up social media, but a concrete call to keep unnecessary travel to an absolute minimum.
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