“We ask the Conte government for damages for Covid’s mismanagement”

The class action has started in recent weeks to request compensation for the material, moral, biological and relationship damage suffered by Italian citizens, families, freelancers, entrepreneurs and companies, due to the emergency measures issued by the Conte government, first of all that of the lockdown. To promote it are dozens of lawyers from all regions of Italy: in the lead the lawyer Mauro Sandri, of the Milan bar, who the DiariodelWeb.it contacted to find out the details of this civil case.

Lawyer Mauro Sandri, what are the reasons for the claim for damages you are filing against the Italian government?

The reasons are distinctly scientific-legal. The thesis that we advance with this act is that the Covid emergency would have been manageable through ordinary diligence of the medical means that a European state should have had. We overturn the narrative according to which the coronavirus would be an emergency that cannot be curbed, indeed, with the statistical data we document that it is the exact opposite. A good ability to contrast would have been sufficient to avoid any alarmism and, above all, the lockdown.

Are you saying that this situation arose not because Covid-19 is a particularly serious disease, but because it was poorly managed?

Exact. The coercive measures we are undergoing do not derive from the virulence gradient of the virus, but must be placed in exclusive correlation with the negligence of the national health system.

On what basis does it state this?

Based on the studies we have carried out in recent months. Obviously the cause is very complex, it consists of several dozen pages. But let’s start from an essential premise: Italy is a country of 60 million inhabitants, which, in February-March, had only 5090 intensive care places.

These numbers are obviously insufficient, however, more than the management of the current government would seem to be attributable to the cuts in health care that have occurred over the last few decades.

We are absurd: the same people who have cut for years, that is the presidents of the Region, are now asking for money to reactivate those posts that they previously canceled. We are in fiction. We Italians supinely accept the oppression consumed by these inadequate subjects. But this is not the only problem.

And which?

Covid-19, which I still consider a flu-like, although more virulent than the previous ones, spreads in China already in September-October last year. In Italy, the government publishes the declaration of a national health emergency in the Official Journal on 30 January. The Technical-Scientific Committee is formed on 10-12 February. There is one important thing in the secret minutes: in the report of March 7, the CTS, which has just taken office, reminds the government of the urgent need to increase the number of intensive care places.

And what happens?

Meanwhile, Minister Speranza went on television to Fazio, together with Burioni, around 20 February, saying that the Italian health system is very ready, it is the best in the world, and that citizens must rest assured that Covid in Italy will not create problems. After 8-10 days, four provinces are closed, then eight, and then on March 9 the whole country is closed. Therefore the underestimation of the phenomenon, in the preliminary phase, is documented.

And what about the subsequent management?

To the total lack of preparation is added an inexcusable management negligence. The increase in intensive care places, for a mere 20%, takes place with the decree of May. Therefore, the entire period of peak, of diffusion and of excess mortality takes place in the absence of intervention by the national health authority. It gets to the point that many anesthesiologists in major hospitals issue statements to the press that they had to choose the patients to intubate. That is, some people have been killed for lack of means. This is very serious, even if it has gone virtually unnoticed. In the face of such statements, in a normal country, there would have been no need for my legal action.

On the other hand, it was decided to opt for the lockdown.

Instead of shooting at the bear, which is there in front, all the birds around are massacred. With enormous damage. Ordinary diligence in the crucial period would have been enough to avoid all these deaths.

So the lockdown was the wrong measure, in your opinion?

Let’s compare it with Sweden, which has not introduced it. Contrary to popular belief, mortality in that country was below average.

In addition to the number of dead, however, there is much talk of that of infections.

And even on this a fake is being brought forward. In a year and a half of coronavirus we are infected with 600,000, compared to millions of swabs. But in the past few years, there were between five and nine million flu infections. Creating alarmism on the number of infections, which are about a tenth of the previous years, is absurd. A very serious disinformation. Like that on the filling of intensive care places: Italy today is below 30%, compared to an average of 85% in the winter period, according to OECD data. These are the data.

So, specifically, who can claim damages on the basis of his civil suit, and to whom?

The Italian government and the Ministry of Health are summoned to answer for their actions. The non-pecuniary damage concerns each citizen who was imprisoned for the lockdown due to negligence. We parameterize damages on the basis of unjust detention, which is required by law. The second category concerns those who have had economic damage: all VAT numbers can ask for the difference between 2019 and 2020 turnover.

How many have signed up so far?

I started with my core of about fifty people, which has now already risen to about a thousand. But this is a collective case, which I pursue with at least a hundred other lawyers I have associated.

What are the next steps you have in mind?

We will have the first feedback very soon. On November 26 I will discuss with the Council of State the request, which I made on behalf of hundreds of teachers, pupils and parents, for the elimination of the measures taken by Minister Azzolina in schools. On 2 December I will discuss the request for the abolition of the measures launched by the Conte government in the last Dpcm at the TAR of Lazio. We are facing concrete initiatives which, within a fortnight, will result in sentences. At that point the magistrates will speak.