The Covid-19 emergency in Italy prompted the Italian Government to adopt strict measures restricting activities and health protection measures. In relation to the latter, the experience of these weeks has led everyone to undertake virtuous and specific steps to deal with such contagion and trying to avoid it.

The most evident criticalities are related to the danger of contagion (the ratio is 1:2.5 which is a very important multiplier) and to the management of serious cases (resuscitation and intensive care) for which health facilities are, compared to the said multiplier, insufficient. All ordinary hospital activity has been interrupted and only exceptional cases are managed apart from cases related to Covid 19.

Let's examine in detail what has been done since the outbreak of the virus began and what needs to be done immediately by anyone and everywhere.

First of all, access to companies and firms has been banned, except for the exceptions provided for by law, and in any case it takes place in a way that does not involve contact with people or long stays (for example, the delivery of goods or documentation is allowed only by appointment and in any case within the interpersonal distance of one meter).

Secondly, companies and firms have implemented remote working procedures in order to avoid as much as possible the mobility of people, which is one of the main causes of the spread of the virus. The strong and unequivocal message is to "stay at home": the sooner you do it, the better it will be and generally this will reduce contagion. It is certainly a fact that thanks to the complete isolation of the area of the first contagion in Italy (which dates back three weeks ago) it has almost cancelled the spread of Covid-19. The current provisions in Italy provide that one may leave the house for family, health and work reasons, which must be self-certified in advance: if the statements made are not truthful, criminal fines will be imposed.

Thirdly, physical meetings with clients or suppliers both in own firm and in their own offices have been banned where they are permitted to take place in a standardized or "common sense" (see below) restricted manner.

The seriousness of the Covid-19 epidemic situation has also led to important choices as a new way of interacting with suppliers and customers, even if temporary and extraordinary, through video conference calls with the possibility of exchanging documents and the use of easily available applications, which are effectively replacing physical meetings.

A task force has been set up within our consulting firm to follow the provisions of the competent authorities both in terms of compliance, deadlines and even more so in terms of the organizational measures to be taken and the adoption of useful paths to deal with the consequences and repercussions of these restrictions.

Stated the above our activity has been led successfully without gaps or interruption that means only a new way to work: necessity is the mother of intervention for finding good solutions.

Apart from China, Italy was the first country to play seriously with the virus and sharing some inputs is the best way to avoid that a sanitary emergency become a big business loss for other countries.

In cases of corporate or department shutdowns, if, as in our case, it has not been possible to guarantee the physical presence of the secretaries in the office, it is possible to consider using a central mobile number available to clients and, as in our case, each of the professionals has provided their personal telephone number so that they can be contacted by clients when needed.

An additional task force has also been created in our firm, which constantly follows the provisions of the competent authorities to update and inform clients. The focus was on staff protection needs, fulfilments, deadlines, contractual consequences, but also on the organizational measures to be taken and the adoption of useful paths to deal with the consequences and repercussions of restrictions.

Below are all the recommendations that the situation requires to be applied from the start of the contagion, both to ensure the safety of employees and to curb contagion, recommendations useful for anybody who is starting to face the contagion of Coronavirus.

Sanitation measures

• Avoid participating in any activity that involves the gathering of people, bars, restaurants, cinemas, museums, assemblies, events etc.
• wash your hands, and also your face, many times a day.
• make hydroalcoholic solutions for hand washing available in every location (be careful these products may disappear from the market in a few days and might be still rarely available later: denatured alcohol, hand gel sanitizer, anti-germ).
• avoid close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections;
• avoid handshakes and hugs;
• respect the interpersonal distance of at least one meter, preferably two meters.
• there can't be more than two people in each room;
• sneeze and/or cough in a handkerchief or inside your elbow, avoiding hand contact with respiratory secretions;
• use only disposable glasses and plates, avoiding promiscuous use of bottles and glasses;
• do not touch eyes, nose and mouth with your hands;
• cover your mouth and nose if you sneeze or cough;
• clean surfaces with chlorine or alcohol-based disinfectants;
• air the premises after each meeting;
• report to the Competent Doctor any symptomatology, or any discomfort of relatives or family members, in order to immediately evaluate the initiatives to be taken;
• Use masks (FFP3 is ideal) when travelling, on means of transport or during contacts, as well as gloves. The baking paper, cut out and with an elastic band, has a function similar to the masks;
• Avoid as far as possible bars, restaurants and places with accumulation of people;
• Use disposable gloves for every action requiring contact (example: when using supermarket trolleys).

These, on the other hand, are the organizational measures, in addition to those above, that firms, companies and offices can adopt under the restrictive regulations if the decision is to close all working facilities for avoiding personal contacts, in the same way that happened to our firm.

However, the decision to stop the physical work in our firm was not due to a total regulatory obligation, but to avoid commuting from home to work and meeting places, which are one of the first cause of possible contagion.

• the work of our entire firm is therefore carried out remotely, even meetings with more than two people can only be held via Skype or WebEx (an online meeting software); 
• access to the firm's premises is allowed if and only if strictly necessary and to collect and/or deliver documentation;
• access to the Firm is otherwise allowed only by reaching it with one's own vehicles.
• access to the Firm, by suppliers or clients, are excluded and, if strictly necessary, will take place within the interpersonal distance of one meter;
• no more than two people will be allowed in any room of the Firm in rooms other than the meeting room.
• Appointments must be fixed in advance with the referents so as to avoid the simultaneous presence of more than one person at the entrance;
• The presence of more than one person in the entrance area and in the waiting areas must be avoided; should there be more than one person, both clients and professionals must wait outside the Firm's premises and only for the time strictly necessary.

Initially, all these provisions appeared as severe measures to be adopted by the community. However, after two or three days they appeared as common sense measures for protecting the health of citizens and for not overloading the Hospitals with new cases of infections.

On the other hand, with just a very quick and efficient re-organization, working is continuing more or less as before: as in Pragma we like to say, we try to find the best solutions taking our business, colleagues and clients’ needs personally.