COMO, Italy (Reuters) – The death rate is steadily increasing. Over 25,700 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Italy in the last 24 hours, with the infection rate remaining stable at 7%, while half of the country’s regions are once again under stringent lockdown as designated red zones, one year after the entire country was essentially shut down.
Lazio – the region that encompasses the capital city Rome — was put in the red zone for the first time since the color-coded system was adopted last year. In Lombardy, one in every five people is from Como, my hometown. We’ve also returned to the danger zone. It’s no surprise that Prime Minister Mario Draghi is eager to reintroduce the Oxford-AstraZeneca AZN, -0.24 percent vaccine, despite concerns about bad reactions.
“ ‘I heard the ambulances today, and it reminded me of the soundtrack from this time last year.’
— A resident of Bergamo, which was the hub of Italy’s pandemic last year.
Como, Milan, Bergamo, the city hardest struck by COVID-19 last year, and the whole of Lombardy have been placed back in the “red zone,” with full lockdown in place until April 6. The lockdown will be extended nationally at Easter, with Sardinia, which had been granted the green light, returning to join us. Hairdressers, barbers, lingerie stores, and make-up counters remained open last time, maybe to cheer up image-conscious Italians, but they have all closed this time. One reaction to these efforts has been, “We’ll emerge looking like cavemen,” but the government is on high alert. The benefits of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine “continue to outweigh the risk of side effects,” according to the European Medicines Agency, which also stated that the one-shot vaccine “is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots.” Following the regulator’s announcement, several European Union countries have announced the restart of the drug’s immunizations. In an effort to reestablish trust in the vaccination, Draghi said that he will take the AstraZeneca dose himself. “It is apparent that the revocation of the suspension is a tremendous relief for us since we have to substantially speed the vaccination campaign,” Giovanni Rezza, the head of prevention at the Italian Health Ministry, told the Associated Press and other sources on Friday in Rome. He went on to say that this would imply doubling the country’s daily vaccination rate, which was 200,000 before the vaccine was halted. It is a race against the clock. COVID-19 has killed 104,642 individuals in Italy as of Sunday, up 401 in the last 24 hours and a 34 percent spike in 14 days, according to the New York Times tracker. Over 2.7 million people have died as a result of the disaster. Vaccinations began on December 27 in this city. Pfizer PFE, -0.67% and German partner BioNTech SE’s BNTX, +3.80 percent Moderna’s MRNA, +1.61 percent two-dose vaccines, as well as AstraZeneca’s single-dose vaccine with a booster shot around 12 weeks later, are all available here.
‘Last time, hairdressers, barbers, lingerie shops, and make-up counters remained open — maybe to improve the mood of image-conscious Italians — but they have all been closed this time,’ says Alison Fottrell.
‘We arrived, were stabbed, and then left.’ AstraZeneca had been delivered to instructors in a carpet-bombing style before it was halted here, the rapidity of the convocations stunning us all by surprise. I had awoken on a Saturday morning in early March to a message telling me to come to Milan. I jumped out of bed, grabbed a sugar cube from the dish on the way out the door for old time’s sake, and drove down the highway to the city, accepting the inevitability of immunization. I was standing in line by late morning, catching a glimpse of coworkers I hadn’t seen in over a year and fighting the want to run across the lawn and hug them. We arrived, were stabbed, and then departed. At 2:00 p.m., I was driving back to the lake in my car. Thankfully, my coworkers have all recovered from the 48-hour fever and chills. On the other hand, I haven’t. Shortly after the vaccine was briefly halted, college websites issued a statement saying that people who had been vaccinated and had no major side effects should feel safe.
“ ‘However, there is little information available for persons who have experienced long-term negative effects.’
However, there is little guidance available for persons who have experienced long-term negative effects. Meanwhile, as I made my way into the emergency hospital in Como early one morning this week, my pulse rate had risen to 120. The local hospital was packed with people ten days after I received my dose. To escape the sound of sobbing and moaning from adjacent cubicles, I attempted meditation. That could explain why Dr. Strada’s vision, which gently awoke me from my slumber, has become firmly engraved in my mind, much like a newly hatched duckling catching a glimpse of its caretaker and clinging onto that thought for salvation. Dr. Strada is calm, compassionate, and serene, despite the chaos around him, and he made me feel protected. Draghi praised him as one of the city’s “many magnificent examples” of “silent protagonists of solidarity” in a speech on March 18 at the cemetery in Bergamo, where he laid a wreath on a stele dedicated to the city’s 3,400 official victims of the virus — although other estimates put the number closer to 6,000. This was President Sergio Mattarella’s official declaration of “National Memorial Day for all victims of the Coronavirus Epidemic.” Bergamo has now become a symbol of the entire country’s suffering, with Draghi’s speech inspiring a determination to care for our elderly, to never leave them alone and vulnerable again. A local newspaper stated in April 2020 that there had been 1,322 more deaths in nursing homes in Bergamo in 2019 than in 2019. The city had become a hotbed for the pandemic, with thousands of the elderly being admitted to hospitals that lacked adequate protective measures. Draghi went on to mention the field hospital that the Alpini, Civil Defense, and volunteers built in only a few days. He ended by thanking Europe for its continued support for Italy, comparing it to a family that has stood by our side.
‘People are enraged, and they want to know what occurred and why it happened.’ They believe the government has let them down and that the steps adopted have been too little, too late.’
Getty Images/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP
‘We were taken aback.’ Ernesto Olivero, a local poet, wrote a poem for the many who have died, which is now inscribed in stone in the cemetery. Although the lyrics are dedicated to his city, they reach out to the rest of the world. The forced seclusion that loved ones have had to endure, and are still having to endure, is what unifies victims of this pandemic. And the isolation that others have experienced in their final moments. “You are there,” the poem begins. I’m confident you’re there with the individuals who die alone, alone, with a sketch of a grandchild, a heart, a kiss, or a hello stuck to the resuscitation glass. You’re near to each of them, you’re by their side as they struggle, you’re there when they take their last breath, you’re there when they sacrifice their love to you…” The advent of lengthy columns of military vehicles rumbling through the streets in the early days of March last year caught the locals off guard. It took a while for them to realize that the morgue and crematorium had reached capacity, and that the coffins that had been piling up in the town’s solitary cemetery had to be moved. “…You’re there, you die with them to take them up to where you’ll be forever, forever with them. You’re there, friend of every buddy who dies in Bergamo, Lombardy, and all over our tortured homeland. You’re there, and it’s you who comforts them, embraces them, holds their hands, and converts their terror into calm trust. You’re there because you don’t forsake anyone, even when you’ve been abandoned by everyone…” The poetry by Olivero continues.
“ ‘In Bergamo, no one was singing on the balconies. We were shocked, and we were afraid.’
People are enraged, and they want to know what happened and why it happened. They believe the government has let them down and that the steps implemented have been too little, too late. One Bergamasco, who has been in self-imposed confinement since the epidemic, says, “We were blindsided, with little information on what was happening.” She quickly adds, “Nobody was singing on the balconies here in Bergamo.” “We were afraid and horrified.” Since March 2020, the hashtag #noidenunceremo or #wewilldenounce has been trending. Its aim is heartfelt, and its search is for justice — this is a people attempting to express their anguish. “If someone could have intervened and didn’t, if someone put their personal interests ahead of the lives of thousands of people, they will pay criminally for their acts and answer for their negligence,” said the resident, who wished to remain anonymous. To accomplish this purpose, they have established a non-profit committee to collect all complaints and make all evidence and grievances available to the justice so that a comprehensive investigation and trial can be conducted. They had 50,000 subscribers by April 2020, and that number has now increased to 70,000. The Bergamasco resident says, “We were the first to catch the virus, and we’ll be the last to get rid of it.” “Almost everyone in this town knows someone who has passed away.” Images of firefighters pulling the very ill from their flats to coax them out of their houses for treatment are still haunting them. “The lockdown began late because the industrial sector refused to shut down, and no swabs were taken at the local hospital in Alzano until the situation was stabilized.
