L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS ing the loudest noise. Some 50,000 relatives of novel coronavirus victims j o i n e d a F a c e b o o k g r o u p c a l l e d " N o i Denunceremo" (We will report you). The aim is to gather testimonies and raise a voice that shall be heard. The group was started by Luca Fusco, a commercial- ist in Bergamo whose father died from COVID-19. Last week, it became an associa- tion that asks for justice. People share their experi- ences and family cases. "The aim is not to target health workers, but people in lead- ership positions who may h a v e u n d e r e s t i m a t e d t h e v i r u s , " s a y s F u s c o . " T h e health workers are victims as much as those who have died," he says. "But as the healthcare system in Italy is decentralized, it would have b e e n t h o s e w h o l e a d t h e regions who set the guide- lines for hospitals." The Bergamo cluster was first detected in the Hospital o f A l z a n o L o m b a r d o t w o days after the outbreak' s epicenter in Codogno, south of Milan. Alzano is a village in the Seriana Valley some 6 km from the Upper City of Bergamo. A n o f f i c i a l p r o b e h a s already begun at a hospital in Alzano where the disease spread. In Italy, too many grand- parents succumbed to the novel coronavirus, too many parents, and even too many sons and daughters. Several towns are planning to estab- lish a monument to the vic- tims. The urge to honor the d e a d a n d r e m e m b e r t h i s shocking experience is as prevalent as the impulse to try to repress terrible mem- ories and move on. We owe a memorial to these innocents. To call them all by name is impossi- b l e , y e t t h e i r s t o r i e s w i l l descend to any age. Each one of them will live in the leaves that tremble. M i s t a k e s w e r e m a d e e v e r y w h e r e i n t h e w o r l d during this collective public health emergency. We all minimized the problem at first. In the beginning, we all underestimated the perni- ciousness of COVID-19. H a l f o f a l l E u r o p e a n COVID-19 related deaths have taken place in nursing h o m e s . A r e p o r t b y t h e L o n d o n S c h o o l o f E c o n o m i c s f i n d s t h a t i n Italy, France, Ireland, Spain, a n d B e l g i u m b e t w e e n 4 2 percent and 57 percent of d e a t h s h a v e o c c u r r e d i n skilled nursing homes. Some call it the "silent massacre." In Milan, several families h a v e m a d e a l l e g a t i o n s a g a i n s t F o n d a z i o n e D o n Gnocchi, claiming the nurs- ing home mishandled the epidemic— some 150 of the 6 0 0 r e s i d e n t s h a v e d i e d since the start of the out- break. T h e a l a r m c l a i m i n g alleged wrongdoings was raised by 15 health-workers who fell ill with COVID-19 in mid-March when the Don Gnocchi clinic opened a dedicated COVID-19 ward with beds for confirmed but non-life threatening cases. The move came in response to a call from the Lombardy r e g i o n a s k i n g n u r s i n g h o m e s t o h o s t C O V I D - 1 9 patients to ease pressure on hospitals. The health work- ers claimed they were told not to wear masks to avoid frightening patients. They complained to the manage- m e n t a n d f i l e d a l a w s u i t against the clinic that laid them off. The Don Gnocchi clinic has rejected the accu- sations. But currently, three directors of the facility are u n d e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n , a n d also the general director has tested positive for the virus. A n o t h e r n o t e d s k i l l e d nursing facility in Milan, the Pio Albergo Trivulzio, is facing similar allegations following an investigation by t h e d a i l y n e w s p a p e r L a Repubblica that found 200 of its residents have died. The relatives of the victims have formed a committee to gather evidence for prosecu- tors. The families' outrage is understandable. They want justice served, yet violations o f l a w m u s t b e p r o v e n before stating that a crime has been committed. Were those deaths caused by acts of negligence? T r u t h i s t h e g l u e t h a t holds together civilization, and history will be the final j u d g e o f w h a t h a p p e n e d d u r i n g a n d b e f o r e t h i s u n p r e c e d e n t e d s t a t e o f emergency. But to every- t h i n g , t h e r e i s a s e a s o n . T h e r e i s a t i m e t o k e e p silence, and a time to speak. S o m e s a y t h e l a t t e r h a s come. Some mistakes need t o b e t r a c k e d d o w n . L a s t M a r c h a n d A p r i l w e r e m o n t h s o f i n c r e d u l i t y : nobody could predict such a scenario. As of May 9, 156 medical doctors have died of COVID- 19 on the frontlines in Italy. " T h e d e a d d o n o t m a k e noise, 'they are no louder t h a n t h e g r o w i n g g r a s s ' , w r o t e t h e p o e t G i u s e p p e U n g a r e t t i " , s a y s F i l i p p o A n e l l i , p r e s i d e n t o f F N O M C e O , t h e I t a l i a n Medical Association. "Yet, the names of our colleagues reported 'dead' and listed on our website make a deafen- ing noise. And so it does the h i g h n u m b e r o f t h e s t i l l infected health-workers — they constitute 10 percent of the total. We can no longer allow doctors, nurses, and p a r a m e d i c s t o b e s e n t t o f i g h t t h e v i r u s w i t h b a r e hands. It is an uneven fight that hurts us, the citizens, and the entire country." We are walking the path t o r e c o v e r y t o g e t h e r . I n d i v i d u a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y must continue to sit at the h e a r t o f m a n a g i n g t h e improved situation at the best if we want to fully re- inhabit the land we love and choose to plow new ground. "Stop killing the dead/ Outcry no more, do not out- cry/ If you would hear them still. If you would not die," r e a d s t h a t f a m o u s Ungaretti's poem from his book The Pain (Il Dolore). "Their whisper is impercep- t i b l e / T h e y a r e n o louder/Than the growing of t h e g r a s s , / H a p p y w h e r e man does not pass." The shouting we all do, the violence of words, and all the hatred is disrespect for the dead. In a way, it is a s i f w e d e s e c r a t e t h e i r graves or stifle their whisper through the grass that fears the passage of man. For man is capable of doing wrong. T h e r e w i l l b e a l w a y s a bridge called love that con- nects the land of the living and the land of the dead. Love has the power to over- c o m e d i v i s i o n s , h e a l w o u n d s , a n d p r o v i d e t h e strength of pursuing social justice. But accepting pain as a condition of existence is the first step towards that justice. In Waiting for Godot, all the dead voices make noise "like leaves," says Estragon. Earth puts forth new life in spring. Even our tattered hopes shine a light on a new beginning. Continued from page 4 Holding hands with your elders: most of coronavirus'dead in Italy have been among the elderly (Photo: Dreamstime)

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