Coronavirus in Italy

By Gabriella Regueiro

COVID-19 is the latest coronavirus, which is “any group of RNA viruses that cause a variety of diseases in humans and other animals” (dictionary.com). According to hopkinsmedicine.org, “COVID-19 appeared in Wuhan, a city in China, in December 2019. Although health officials are still tracing the exact source of this new coronavirus, early hypotheses thought it may be linked to a seafood market in Wuhan.” They also stated, “A study that came out on Jan. 25, 2020, notes that the individual with the first reported case became ill on Dec. 1, 2019, and had no link to the seafood market. Investigations are ongoing as to how this virus originated and spread.” It was later noted that the first patient had no link to the other patients.

Italy was the first major western country to face the viral disease, which has spread around the world. The death toll in Italy since its outbreak became the second highest in the world after the United States. As of this writing, Italy has had 201,505 confirmed cases of the virus, 27,359 confirmed deaths, and 68,941 recovered.

In the United States, the economy is slowly starting to reopen with much precaution and notice to the public. In Italy, on the other hand, plans are being made to slowly begin to open as well, except the government is leaving their people in the dark as to future plans, according to a Bloomberg columnist. There have been restrictions released in some areas earlier than others. Italy plans on opening some businesses and easing up on social distancing policies for family visits come May 4th.

Italy has succeeded in limiting the speed of transmission of Covid-19. The mean number of people infected by each case fell to 0.5-0.7 at the start of April, which is below the threshold “1” where growth becomes exponential. Italy reported the biggest daily jump in death tolls as of the beginning of March. According to government data, 4.25% of people who have tested positive for the virus have died. Although the death toll keeps rising, there have been fewer new cases.

The first coronavirus infections in Italy date back to January but the testing began after diagnosing its first patient on February 21st. A study based on a sample of cases registered in April said 44.1 percent of infections occurred in nursing homes and another 24.7 percent spread within families. A further 10.8 percent of people caught the virus at hospital and 4.2 percent in the workplace.

Russia was one of the first countries to help out Italy during this pandemic. It dispatched 122 military doctors, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and mobile disinfection machines on cargo planes from Moscow. An article by theguardian.com stirred up a controversy: “Italy’s political leadership was dealt a series of blows over the aid. On 25 March a high-level political source told Jacopo Iacoboni, a journalist from La Stampa newspaper, that 80% of the Russian PPE was ‘useless’. A Russian defence spokesman attacked the story on social media, ending his message with the veiled warning to Iacoboni that ‘[he] who digs the grave crashes into it’. La Stampa’s story was not denied by the Italian government.”

There were also reports that a 15 year old girl from South Carolina was trapped in Italy for two months due to the lockdowns. An article from wcvb.com states:

“Chloe Woody, 15, went to Italy with her uncle in late February to brush up on her Italian. They didn’t expect the coronavirus to become a global emergency. In response, Italy quickly closed its borders. ‘It was really fun, then all of a sudden, it’s on the news, almost 2,000 people had died,’ Woody said. ‘And they are like, 'We can't leave the house any more, we need to stay in.”

Chloe's mother, Marie Painter, was finally able to book her daughter a flight to the US. Chloe’s mother drove 12 hours to pick up her daughter from JFK Airport in New York to bring her back home to South Carolina.

These stories show how severe the cases, not only in Italy but all around the world, really are. Precautions need to be taken by everyone to remain safe and healthy. The sooner we can control the spread, the sooner our economy and society can bounce back to a new normal. All in all, Italy’s new cases are not increasing and may have reached an overall plateau. There hopefully are lights at the end of the tunnel.

Works Cited

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51805727

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-28/coronavirus-italy-is-leaving-its-citizens

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-italy/italy-frets-over-lockdown-eyes-event

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https://www.theguardian.com/italy