These tragic numbers just don’t go down. Every evening at 6 p.m., the Italians sit in front of the television and listen anxiously to the new “Bollettino”, the bulletin with the current numbers of new infections and deaths. It is read aloud by Angelo Borrelli, the head of national civil protection, a calm man in a dark blue sweater. And since Borrelli has had to deliver bad news for a month, he starts every evening with the most positive number that he carries in his portfolio, that of the recovered. However, it is always overshadowed by the number he says at the end.
This weekend alone, an additional 1,444 fatalities were added in Italy. There has never been such a high number in such a short time in this crisis, at least not officially, nowhere in the world. There is usually a man next to Borrelli who has also become very familiar to the Italians in recent weeks: Silvio Brusaferro, President of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the country’s highest health institute. The Northern Italian then says that the victims are almost exclusively elderly people around the age of 80 with multiple previous illnesses.
The chorus of that time
Brusaferro is a scientist and always just wants to comment on the development of the numbers, even if the reporters ask him about forecasts. But this weekend, given the latest figures, he too became personal and a bit emotional. Behind every number, he said, there was a person, a relative, and he was also very concerned about his elderly parents. In order to protect the most vulnerable members of society, it was so important that everyone adhered to government regulations: “Please stay at home,” he said. You can hear this appeal everywhere, it has become the refrain of this time.
But is that enough? Even two weeks after the curfew was imposed, the peak of the crisis does not appear to have reached its peak. Civil protection chief Borrelli once hypothesized that a turnaround could begin on March 25. Now and then you can hear that the peak is probably still two weeks away.
For this reason, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has now adopted even more drastic measures to prevent as many citizens as possible from leaving their homes – including the workers. “We are slowing down the entire production engine in the country,” said Conte in a television speech late Saturday evening. “But we’re not completely turning it off.”
New and for the time being until April 3, all factories, companies and offices will be closed, whose products and services are not absolutely necessary for the functioning of society. The Contes wording only leaves open sectors that are “necessary” and “essential”: food, energy, pharmaceuticals, transport, textiles for workwear. He worked out the list together with unions and employers’ organizations; the lottery was also suspended.
Of course, one is afraid of the consequences of this decision, first of all the economic ones. The head of the industrial association, Carlo Bonomi, spoke of a “war economy”. Many companies would never open again afterwards. The closure of the factories in the north is also potentially dangerous because even more southern Italians could now be tempted to go home. The government therefore decided to ban all travel in the country that was not urgently needed.
Those who do not abide by the rule face a fine of 5,000 euros.
The move was unfortunately necessary, said Conte. “This is our biggest crisis since the Second World War.” You are now in the most acute phase. “Our victim is minimal compared to that of our fellow citizens, the doctors and nurses in the hospitals, the employees in the supermarkets, the pharmacists, the couriers and the security guards.” So of all those who are still outside, so that life goes on for everyone inside.
Meanwhile, some regions and cities go even further in restricting freedom of movement, especially in the most affected area, Lombardy. A regional order now prohibits jogging outdoors, even alone. Attilio Fontana, the governor of Lombardy, has recently often complained about citizens who saw the right to “motor activities” as an invitation to populate streets and parks. Those who do not abide by the rule face a fine of 5,000 euros. In Lombardy, all construction sites and public offices are also closed, except for garbage collection and similar essential services. At the entrance to each supermarket, customers are measured for fever.
Nobody drives for no reason
Veneto and Piedmont passed similar regulations. Emilia Romagna, which had already anticipated some of the tightening, now had the beach promenades of Rimini and Riccione closed, among other things – they have never been seen so empty. Rome’s city government also prohibited walking on the coasts of Ostia, where many people have been breathing heavily on weekends, with a reasonable distance from their neighbors. Almost every car is now stopped in Rome: only those who actually have a good reason to be on the road can drive on.
In his speech, Conte said that he had always communicated in total transparency from the start, that he never glossed over anything. “It takes time for these measures to take effect, but there is no alternative – we have to persevere.” Morally too, bulletin after bulletin.
Created: 03/22/2020, 08:24 PM
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