«Even today there are important entrepreneurs who call me, frightened by the economic damage of a total stop. But I answer that either we stop everything, or they risk losing everything. Even their workers. I hope the government will accept this request. But the closure must be supported with concrete economic measures “. Giorgio Gori is the mayor of a city that a month ago enjoyed and suffered from the onslaught of tourists. Now there is nobody on the streets of Bergamo. It is discipline, but also fear. The province has the record of coronavirus-infected (1,472), the dead are already 116.
How does Bergamo react?
“The positive thing is that in the last 72 hours there is a widespread awareness of the seriousness of the situation. Stores and many businesses have decided to close. It is the only way, as the data from the red area of Lodi indicates ” (here the map of the infection).
What is most scary today?
«The growth of the infection does not stop. Hospitals should be thanked for the incredible effort they are making, but they are in great difficulty. What will happen in a week? Today the drama is not being able to cure the octogenarians. I have two elderly parents, I am very worried. But in ten, twenty days we risk not having respirators for young people ».
Can you fall asleep thinking that you have invited citizens to experience the city in the early stages of the epidemic?
«I, like others, at first did not have the elements to understand the gravity of a situation never seen. Perhaps only some epidemiologist was already able to predict what’s going on now. “
But in the hours when she and the mayor of Milan Beppe Sala launched optimistic hashtags, the chief of infectious men of Bergamo Marco Rizzi said that the beds would not be enough.
«We got there step by step, they were initiatives made not out of stupidity, but because the fear of economic repercussions prevailed. Today we know that if the current measures had been taken two weeks ago we would have saved many deaths and hospitals would have been able to better manage the epidemic. But the controversy will be made later. Do we really care now? Not me. “
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When it is over, what injuries will remain on Bergamo?
«For the generations that are experiencing this moment, the effects will be those of a war event. The hope is that it will last a few months. It will be difficult to start again, but I am sure we will succeed ».
Where is Hope Found?
«In people, who have now understood. And in the many volunteers who, risking their health, are helping the most fragile people, the elderly, locked in the house ».
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March 10, 2020 (change March 10, 2020 | 10:13 pm)
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