coronavirus The reality behind Italy's lock down

[Aizmov]

As the situation with the Coronavirus keeps getting wider and more cases are being reported in new countries and cities around the world, rumors and bad habits are causing an overall panic around the globe.

it came to my attention this post by Rick Steves, a travel writer and activist, about the reality of the Italy's lock down

Quote

 

I am writing to you from Bergamo, Italy, at the heart of the coronavirus crisis. The news media in the US has not captured the severity of what is happening here. I am writing this post because each of you, today, not the government, not the school district, not the mayor, each individual citizen has the chance, today to take actions that will deter the Italian situation from becoming your own country’s reality.  The only way to stop this virus is to limit contagion. And the only way to limit contagion is for millions of people to change their behavior today.

If you are in Europe or the US you are weeks away from where we are today in Italy.

I can hear you now. “It’s just a flu. It only affects old people with preconditions”

There are 2 reasons why Coronavirus has brought Italy to it’s knees. First it is a flu is devastating when people get really sick they need weeks of ICU – and, second, because of how fast and effectively it spreads. There is 2 week incubation period and many who have it never show symptoms. 

When Prime Minister Conte announced last night that the entire country, 60 million people, would go on lock down, the line that struck me most was “there is no more time.” Because to be clear, this national lock down, is a hail mary. What he means is that if the numbers of contagion do not start to go down, the system, Italy, will collapse.

Why? Today the ICUs in Lombardy are at capacity – more than capacity. They have begun to put ICU units in the hallways. If the numbers do not go down, the growth rate of contagion tells us that there will be thousands of people who in a matter of a week? two weeks? who will need care. What will happen when there are 100, or a 1000 people who need the hospital and only a few ICU places left?

On Monday a doctor wrote in the paper that they have begun to have to decide who lives and who dies when the patients show up in the emergency room, like what is done in war. This will only get worse.

There are a finite number of drs, nurses, medical staff and they are getting the virus. They have also been working non-stop, non-stop for days and days. What happens when the drs, nurses and medical staff are simply not able to care for the patients, when they are not there?

And finally for those who say that this is just something that happens to old people, starting yesterday the hospitals are reporting that younger and younger patients – 40, 45, 18, are coming in for treatment.

You have a chance to make a difference and stop the spread in your country. Push for the entire office to work at home today, cancel birthday parties, and other gatherings, stay home as much as you can. If you have a fever, any fever, stay home. Push for school closures, now. Anything you can do to stop the spread, because it is spreading in your communities – there is a two week incubation period – and if you do these things now you can buy your medical system time.

And for those who say it is not possible to close the schools, and do all these other things, locking down Italy was beyond anyone’s imagination a week ago.

Soon you will not have a choice, so do what you can now.

 

it's sad to see other countries, like Italy, facing such a dire situation. But I think he is right about how cautious we should be and our responsibility to protect our community and loved ones by minimizing the risk of having the virus spread around.

The virus is indeed not a dangerous one, but it spreads so damn fast, because symptoms wouldn't show up until after approximately two weeks from the initial contact, which in that period the host is still going to be contagious.

So, the people, us, should work together with our community and official channels to keep the rate of infection as low as possible.

Wash your hands regularly, Exhalers, eat healthy and renew your Netflix subscription and start binging at home.

[Shadow2003]

Exactly! I was talking about this with my mom this morning and she told me that, apparently, the reason the virus spread so quickly among the Italian population is because people didn't take the government's advice seriously: people still went shopping with their whole families, went on vacation, travelled, etc.. Because of this, the number of infections soared. The Chinese / Asian population in Italy, however, adhered to these recommendations: one person frequently shopped for multiple families and they mostly stayed home, and the number of cases was much lower.

Make sure you stay safe, guys: wash and / or sanitize your hands frequently, try to stay home as much as possible and don't buy masks (they're ineffective unless you're already infected).

[ILikeChillinWithYou]

47 minutes ago, Shadow2003 said:

Exactly! I was talking about this with my mom this morning and she told me that, apparently, the reason the virus spread so quickly among the Italian population is because people didn't take the government's advice seriously: people still went shopping with their whole families, went on vacation, travelled, etc.. Because of this, the number of infections soared. The Chinese / Asian population in Italy, however, adhered to these recommendations: one person frequently shopped for multiple families and they mostly stayed home, and the number of cases was much lower.

Make sure you stay safe, guys: wash and / or sanitize your hands frequently, try to stay home as much as possible and don't buy masks (they're ineffective unless you're already infected).

An indian family based in Italy of 3 recently came to India for vacation. The virus cases here soared and now the whole state is in red alert. All public institutions closed for 3 months  and now all the people here are blaming Italy 🤦🏻‍♀️

You can check on the web how serious the situation here is, it's a place called Kerala

[Jordan Miller]

Legit kinda freaked me out more 

[Aizmov]

1 hour ago, Shadow2003 said:

Exactly! I was talking about this with my mom this morning and she told me that, apparently, the reason the virus spread so quickly among the Italian population is because people didn't take the government's advice seriously: people still went shopping with their whole families, went on vacation, travelled, etc.. Because of this, the number of infections soared. The Chinese / Asian population in Italy, however, adhered to these recommendations: one person frequently shopped for multiple families and they mostly stayed home, and the number of cases was much lower.

Make sure you stay safe, guys: wash and / or sanitize your hands frequently, try to stay home as much as possible and don't buy masks (they're ineffective unless you're already infected).

Yep yep and yep.

People not caring about what the government and official health channels are saying is the biggest reason this virus keeps breaking out everywhere.

I have a coworker from Italy who says Italians kept going to party every night despite the warnings which led to the current disaster.

43 minutes ago, ILikeChillinWithYou said:

An indian family based in Italy of 3 recently came to India for vacation. The virus cases here soared and now the whole state is in red alert. All public institutions closed for 3 months  and now all the people here are blaming Italy 🤦🏻‍♀️

You can check on the web how serious the situation here is, it's a place called Kerala

Sorry to hear about what is happening in your area, stay safe please.

Countries all around are not being careful, I know people in Kuwait buying their way out of quarantine zones, like, seriously!!

37 minutes ago, JordanMiller said:

Legit kinda freaked me out more 

Haha, be more careful and not freaked out 

still, to reassure you, the percentage of getting it is only 3% (compared to previous outbreaks like Bird Flu that was 60%) so you must be very unlucky and very careless to get it.