L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020 L'Italo-Americano H o w d o w e l i v e a t t h e t i m e o f c o r o n a v i - r u s ? W h a t has changed in our lives? What's our perception of all t h a t h a p p e n s a r o u n d u s ? We've been looking at the world from our windows, on T V ; w e ' v e b e e n t r a n s f o r - ming our experience into new, changing habits. From North to South, here's what L'Italo-Americano colla- borators can tell us about it. THE NORTH — this is t h e m o s t h i t p a r t o f t h e country, with 3/4 of all vic- t i m s c o n c e n t r a t e d i n Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and, especially, Lombardia, where 11.000 lives were cut short by the virus. Veneto adds 15.000 positives to the total, bringing the count for t h e s e f o u r r e g i o n s a t 112.000, 70% of the total. Mauro tells us about "his" Cremona, "where n o t h i n g w i l l e v e r b e t h e s a m e . " H e w r i t e s : " D e s o l a t i o n , p a i n , m o u r - ning: this is what dominates a city that has been on the frontline almost since the very beginning, in this tita- nic war against a microsco- pic coronavirus, as many of the infected from the first red zones of Codogno and Lodi were brought to our h o s p i t a l . N u m b e r s r e a l l y speak for themselves: even if restrictions were applied immediately — even before they were applied nationally — official data related to the 13th of April show how, in t h e p r o v i n c e o f C r e m o n a a l o n e , 4 . 9 4 5 p e o p l e a r e positive. Although concrete s u p p o r t f r o m t h e r e g i o n , from independent associa- tions, institutions, common people have been reaching us, our healthcare system is under an immense strain, devastated by the quantity and quality of the clinical issues it needs to face daily. Every day, the air ambulan- ce moves patients to other, less congested hospitals, in a n a t t e m p t t o a v o i d r e a - ching the saturation levels of the past weeks, yet the situation is still critical. On Easter Monday alone, we registered 224 new positi- ves. In Bergamo and Brescia numbers quickly rose above those of Cremona (at least when we talk about absolute values, but not in relation to the number of people living i n e a c h p r o v i n c e ) : t h i s shows other areas are expe- riencing now that "peak" we seem to have reached, but that we still can't consider behind us. The field hospital built in the parking lot of Cremona hospital thanks to t h e A m e r i c a n n o n - p r o f i t organization Samaritan's Purse gave us some respite, but a week after its inaugu- ration, all beds were occu- pied already. There's something, howe- ver, that numbers and stati- stics don't tell you about. It's the community's sense of bewilderment in front of its own fragility, vulnerabi- lity and utter lack of defen- ses. A wounded community not only in the flesh, within h o s p i t a l s ' w a r d s w h e r e patients are alone, isolated, far from their loved ones, but also in its deepest feel- ings. Everyone in Cremona can tell about an ill friend o r r e l a t i v e , h o s p i t a l i z e d g o d - k n o w s - w h e r e a n d , unfortunately, many can tell about their dead. Just like the sudden death of my for- mer director, Monsignor Vincenzo Rini, who led La Vita Cattolica, our dioce- s e s ' w e e k l y , f o r o v e r 3 0 years, known on the natio- nal editorial panorama as the president of CEI (the I t a l i a n E p i s c o p a l Conference)'s Sir and, befo- re that, of Fisc's Catholic weeklies. For those leaving us, not even the comfort of a funeral, which adds sorrow t o d e s p e r a t i o n : m o r t a l remains only receive a prie- st's blessing , in presence of one or two relatives. Then burial or, more often, cre- mation to avoid the sprea- ding of infection. Experts say that the virus i s s l o w i n g d o w n . W e a l l hope so, but we don't know w h e n a n d h o w t h e p o s t - c o r o n a v i r u s w i l l b e . . . without a doubt, nothing will be like before." Cremona Cathedral: the city has been tragically hit by Covid-19 (Photo: Dreamstime) North, Center and South: how Covid-19 changed the way we live — part one BARBARA MINAFRA LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Continued to page 10

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