I am really looking forward to the ‘post-mortem’ figuratively where the original Patients 0 are identified in each country. Was it Chinese immigrants who work in the factories of norther Italy as craftsmen returning from contact with people in wet markets during Lunar New Year Holidays that played a part ?
I spoke with my close friend last night, who is from Siena and on lockdown as of last night. Everything is now closed, you cannot be in groups of larger than 5 at any time, and the 1-meter rule of space on the street is mandatory. All understandable, but she says the financial effects will be devastating and she is concerned about how they will acquire necessary food and supplies in the future. Scary times around the world.
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Comparatively speaking, its a small country, about the size of a state in USA, so would be a big deal if the entire USA shutdown, and how it will be managed is the million dollar question for the GOPs.
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@Dean Italy has 60 million citizens and is the world's 8th largest economy. The potential for spreading the virus and impacting the world economy is high.
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@Dean I doubt Trump will stop flying among his golf-courses or self-quarantine... Even if the entire country had to, rules do not apply to him. They will do what makes Trump and his cronies money in the USA, what benefits mega-corporations, Big Oil and Big Pharma... not what's medically sound. It will make somebody millions when a vaccine is found, patented and produced (think Sackler family) and the more people with Coronavirus, the more money. And the more fearmongering, the easier to manipulate. Taking sound, urgent and thorough preventative measures costs money and does not yield a profit and that's why it will not happen. Sending the National Guard and the Army to prevent people from fighting for the oil at the pumps and to protect supermarkets is how the USA work problems out.
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All the resources should have been spent discerning more specifically who was at risk and why and protecting those people. Stopping the spread of the virus is not going to happen at this point, especially in Italy, but they could have taken powerful steps to protect the most vulnerable (this goes for the whole world at this point). And while they are at it, it's very nice they are in "lockdown" but the Milan and Bergamo airports remain open and "business as usual" with citizens and tourists still flying in and out with impunity. It defies credibility. Tens of thousands are still going to work in Ticino in Switzerland every day (this is a necessity for both countries). But I would like to ask what exactly it means to lock down a country when it allows people to come and go as they please.
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@Jonny Walker It seems to me that allowing movement for work within the Italian citizenry makes this less of a catastrophe, and the tourists will self ban from traveling there by air or train due to the closure of the many amenities which cater to tourism.
People have to eat and go to work and buy newspapers...
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@Manuela Bonnet-Buxton Except I knew people from Milan who went to Berlin for the weekend, partied with 2000 people, and then flew home after the lockdown was in effect in Milan. That is not good on any level.
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Italy has a reverence and care for older family members that is almost unheard of in the United States. Sympathy to the many families who have lost someone to this virus.
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Bella Italia. Few countries can match its beauty, its vigor, its lust for life -- and that's why it's such a bastion of contagion.
Whether it's the obligatory embrace upon meeting or departing, or the gatherings in the marketplace or lingering over an espresso at the café, it is a society that thrives on contact and on being together.
And now all that has changed.
Apparently this Coronavirus thrives among a population that skews elderly and living in close contact, in a way much like China. No one knows for sure.
But the only thing we do know at this point is that we're not ready for it.
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@N. Smith Bernita is in the eye of the beholder. On a trip a couple of years ago throughout Europe the train to Florence had human feces flowing down the aisle. Italy is beautiful. It's hygiene has never been above poverty level.
"Restrictions will be in place til at least April 3rd" What is the significance of that date? It's unlikely there will be vaccine or cure so soon. Does Italy really intend to keep thee restrictions in place for as much as a year until there is a solution?
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none i believe except it sounds better than ‘indefinitely’
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@Bill
I suppose it's one week before Easter, the most important holiday for catholics. Something like thanksgiving for you.
But I fear that the lockdown will go well beyond that day.
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The quicker the rest of the world understands the scale of this, and acts preemptively, the more casualties that will be avoided.
The United States needs to act quickly and decisively. Now is the time. And we ALL need to take this seriously and step to the plate, no matter the inconvenience or sacrifice of personal comfort.
Extreme measures applied now will prove effective in the long run.
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@Miguel Let's start with New York and California. No travel to and from those two states! Problem solved.
@Miguel That ship has sailed. I suspect there are millions of cases in the US already. 700 is a fiction. We need to protect the most vulnerable.
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