L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 4 MARIELLA RADAELLI NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS The Coronavirus crisis: Italy, my wounded land, garland of love I w o k e u p t o a dystopian reality on February 22 when at dawn I heard that t h e n o v e l c o r o n - avirus exploded in our effi- cient, modern, German-like Lombardy region. I w a s u n p r e p a r e d a n d skeptical like the majority of us. We all ignored the warn- i n g o f v i r o l o g i s t s a t o u r peril. In the beginning, we thought it was a rising hys- teria. No, it wasn't. W e t h o u g h t W u h a n , w h e r e t h e z o o n o t i c v i r u s originated, was almost on another planet. We don't h a v e a n y t h i n g t o d o w i t h t h a t r e a l i t y i n C h i n a , I t h o u g h t . T h a t v i r u s w i l l never arrive in our beautiful Italy. I was wrong. Today, the entire country is a stunning prison. Our architectural wonders with a l m o s t n o s i g n o f h u m a n a c t i v i t i e s t e l l u s h o w w e were lucky to live here, in t h i s p a r a d i s e o n e a r t h , before the beast sneaked in. N o w w o r d s w i l l h e l p exorcise this demon of dis- c o m f o r t , b i t t e r n e s s , a n d incredulous anger. I didn't believe my eyes when the numbers of conta- gions soared just in a few days. The biggest outbreak in Europe is still Lombardy, the engine of Italy's econo- my, together with Emilia- Romagna and Veneto, the second and the third worst- affected regions. Unfortunately today, the unforgiving Covid 19 has been detected acr oss the entire peninsula, the reason w h y o n M a r c h 8 , a s t h e number of infections sur- passed 9,100, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced to place Italy on l o c k d o w n a s a m a s s i v e expansion of the previous l o c k d o w n o r d e r f o r L o m b a r d y a n d o t h e r 1 4 Northern provinces. "There won't be just a red zone, but there will be Italy, a whole p r o t e c t e d z o n e , " h e s a i d during a historic press con- ference held at 2.30 A.M. P e o p l e c a n l e a v e t h e i r t o w n s a n d t h e i r r e g i o n s only out of serious necessi- ty— for compelling business reasons, health reasons or because they have to return to their homes. Each person needs to carry a self-certifi- cation form to justify valid travel within the regions, even entering and exiting one city or another. You can face up to three months of jail for making a false decla- ration. Today our cities are not paralyzed by a psychosis, but instead by the facts. We now see that Covid- 19 is nasty. All we got to do is stay calm, resilient and united to stop the spread. We must practice preven- tive measures daily, and s t r i c t l y f o l l o w t h e r u l e s i m p o s e d b y o u r n a t i o n a l and local institutions. W e m u s t c o n f r o n t t h e coronavirus with solidarity and we need mindful atten- t i o n t o o u r b o d i e s . Solidarity is humanity. I feel a sense of connected- ness to the misfortunate, b u t I a m n o t c a p a b l e o f mercy towards the powerful who in China did not pro- tect the most vulnerable. By shutting the mouth of the righteous in the beginning, they created chains of suf- fering. But where did Italy go wrong? I believe the coronavirus flew to Italy weeks earlier. Travel spread the virus like wildfire. Lombardy, and in gener- al Northern Italy, have a v e r y l a r g e n u m b e r o f Italians who travel back and forth to China on business and a big Chinese commu- nity that keeps solid contact with their ancestral land. If you are slow to announce the virus outbreak as was the case with the Chinese g o v e r n m e n t , w h i c h s u p - pressed the voices of those who tried to warn the coun- try, it means that people h a v e a b i g g e r c h a n c e t o s p r e a d t h e v i r u s w i t h o u t e v e n k n o w i n g i t . N o t t o mention the 5 million peo- ple who left Wuhan before the quarantine went into effect as Chinese traveled around the world for their L u n a r N e w Y e a r . T w o o f t h e m , a n o l d e r c o u p l e , b e c a m e o u r f i r s t c o r o n - avirus cases in Italy. They t r a v e l e d a c r o s s I t a l i a n cities, before being hospital- ized in Rome. Italy has wel- comed the highest number o f C h i n e s e t o u r i s t s i n E u r o p e f o r t h e l a s t t w o years. The streets of Milan are e e r i l y e m p t y . E v e n t h e G a l l e r i a V i t t o r i o E m a n u e l e I I , t h e m o s t sophisticated shopping mall and a major landmark of the city, is overlaid with the melancholy of a Giorgio De Chirico painting. O u r c i t i e s a r e u n r e a l , semi-deserted, including V e n i c e a n d a l s o Bergamo, where I had not thought death had undone so many. To curb the spread of the novel coronavirus pandem- ic, school classes are sus- pended in the entire coun- try and businesses asked e m p l o y e e s t o w o r k f r o m home. On March 11, Italy Piazza Duomo, in Milan, no longer sees people strolling around: it's eeerily empty during the lockdown (Photo: Dreamstime) Continued to page 6

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