Confusing messages

On February 25th in Italy, there were 323 diagnosed cases of Coronavirus, mostly in Lombardy and some other regions in the north of the country. In the province of Milan, schools, churches, gyms, museums and movie theaters were closed, as well as all large public events.

This week my sister and mother were hoping to buy their plane tickets to visit me this summer. I'm so on board with that. I wasn't working so now I had plenty of time to chat with them about itineraries and prices. Something bugged me though, just in case there would be problems this summer with travel restrictions between Italy and the US, I told them to first check if their travel insurance would cover closures due to a pandemic. It took a few days for them to check, but in the meantime realized that it just wouldn't be a good time for them.

Meanwhile on the same day in the US, Coronavirus was in the news, but messages were very mixed to say the least. You could find reports full of facts, numbers, statistics. Here's an article quoting the CDC, click here.

Photo credit: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-news-us-pandemic-schools-business-closure-china-latest-a9359196.html?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1582655074

And on the other hand you saw the president acting like there was no big deal, making very general and approximative statements laced with just so much wishful thinking, it seemed like he was speaking straight from his imagination center. But he wasn't chatting with his family, he was addressing hundred and thousands of people, his own followers. Clicking here opens a news page from February 25th with a Trump rally speech clip.

This link goes to my favorite article so far on Coronavirus COVID-19 for its comprehensiveness and clarity, but it won't be published until March 10th.

And here is where you can check numbers and stats updated daily.

School closures and Church dismissed

As cases spread, people are feeling more validated in their concerns. Some have had been exposed and begin self-quarantining, some notice that their daily commute route goes through Codogno (Italy’s first hot spot). This prompted one small church community I know to announce Saturday evening that the next morning’s service is cancelled.

Sunday school teachers in my church talked about cancelling Sunday school the next day. Once we write to warn families that this service will be limited or cancelled completely, the majority respond that they will not be attending anyway. Later after the service, I heard later, the congregation decided together they should respect only meet with some special guidelines respected: 1 meter personal distancing and avoid physical contact. Our usual greet and hug tradition would be cancelled. Anyone with symptoms was begged to not come. 

My husband and I went to our last mass for awhile. You see, I’m protestant, from Baptist background, and my husband is Catholic, so for us building an ecumenical marriage means we respect both traditions and are part of both communities, together. This morning we went to our parish mass, swathed in pomp and incense, just before the eucharist wafers are about to be distributed, the priest asked the organist to stop playing mid-song for an announcement. He says per directions, the eucharist will be placed into worshipper’s hands, not placed into the mouth. Mass finishes and aside from a few huddles, everyone else avoids contact and dashes home to make lunch. 

In the afternoon, only a few hours later, there is a Catholic church directive to cancel mass from that moment on. Those who were planning to go in the evening were out of luck. No more mass for awhile. There’s also a government directive that schools will be close for the week in the entire Lombardy region. Every went straight to the grocery store and ransacked the aisles.

Photo credit: https://patch.com/virginia/oldtownalexandria/northern-virginia-school-closings-related-new-coronavirus

Trends and general panic

Italians suddenly want to stock up on Amuchina brand hand sanitizer gel and face masks. These immediately became scarce and profiteers were selling the items on Amazon for the cost of gold: little bottles of Amuchina or a single face mask were listed for multiple hundreds of euros. Pure madness. Thank God people are now posting DIY recipes for hand sanitizer so no one has to go without.

Since the day Milan first splashed in the news for Coronavirus cases, every article had a picture of someone wearing a mask while standing around recognizable parts of the city. I personally went into the city multiple times for work, errands, and to donate blood (don't forget to donate!). I used public transportation exclusively. I only saw maybe one in twenty people had a mask. Wondering why so many had them in the photos, I realized, of course: photos of people in the coronavirus hot spot are not as interesting as photos of people with face masks in the coronavirus hot spot. When you only see pictures of people wearing face masks, you end up feeling left out if you don't have one, like how you feel showing up to a Halloween party without a costume. The grab to buy face masks makes me the more angry than other panic buying phenomena because many vulnerable people (immune-depressed, cancer patients, elderly) weren’t able to, and still aren’t able to, get their hands on one because others bought them before they even asked themselves if they really needed one.

Some countries are suddenly dealing with a shortage of toilet paper, not because production stopped, and not because the need increased, only because everyone went out to stock up more than they normally would have, and no one wants to be left out, so everyone tries to stock up all at once. Some people didn't get to buy any at all. Do you feel good about that now, hoarders? You know who you are. We've seen some strange phenomena about the panic reaction. Panic triggers set off irrational trends. Moral of the story: responsible unselfish citizens just buy what they need for now. You are going to be able to buy it again tomorrow and again next week, and again next month, for goodness sake.


Photo credit: https://offertedalweb.io/offerta/amuchina/ , https://notizie.tiscali.it/cronaca/articoli/cornavirus-contagi-salgono/ , sent to us by a friend

And then we noticed

While Spring Fashion week was throbbing in Milan—the city sparkling with models and fashionably dressed folks, and metros jam packed—we read that a young man was diagnosed with Coronavirus in Codogno, a small town in the SE corner of the province of Milan. Doctors and scientists were doing their best to understand how he could have got the virus, and whom he might have infected.

I have no idea if it was the original patient or someone else, but rumors went around that an infected young man was tired of quarantine and ran off to see his friends in a neighboring town, causing a breakout of infections in that town. Cases started showing up in Lodi and Bergamo, among other towns. Community spread. Alarms go off. Codogno and a few towns are completely cordoned off and these become the first areas to go under severe public quarantine. Already people started to erupt with anger on social media for his selfish act and so began the intense Italian social pressure on social media to do the right thing.


Photo credit: https://www.wheremilan.com/events/fashion-week-milano-moda-donna-febaruary-2020/ and https://starecat.com/norton-antivirus-cd-compact-disc-face-mask-corona-virus-protection/

Nervousness triggers racist reactions

Strange stories appeared in social media. A few nervous Italian provincials warned against entering Chinese businesses due to supply lines, but didn’t consider that most top brands and actually everything comes from China. Asian visitors and immigrants of various origins told stories of being shaken up by random racism-based attacks in public places, and warned anyone, regardless of continent of origin, who simply looks Asian, to keep their guard up and stay away for awhile. Our local Chinese population, having better access to Chinese-language guidelines from Wuhan, were the first citizens to begin closing their shops and staying indoors.

(Photo credit: https://adm-ea.com/2013/07/06/study-programmes-internship-for-asian-students-in-europe/)

Early days

Italy has more air connections to China than any other country in Europe, apparently. At the end of January, a couple of tourists from Wuhan flew into Milan and started their vacation heading South. They got symptoms and, reaching Rome, tested positive for Coronavirus. We were worried about potential spread, but didn’t hear of any other cases for awhile. The Italian government decided to cancel all flights from Wuhan, but didn’t restrict people from Wuhan who flew here through other routes. At this stage, we read about Coronavirus in the news a lot, but weren’t particularly concerned about its presence in Italy. Yet.

Meanwhile Milan hosted Spring fashion week and the city was jam packed. You had to squeeeeeze to get into the metro.

(photo credit: https://www.lamescolanza.com/…/giovani-occupati-piu-viaggi…/)

Why I'm writing this blog

I’m an American from the Pacific coast who immigrated to Italy 10 years ago and currently work as an English tutor/nanny. My husband is an Italian from the Lombardy region who is a Scout and works as an IT systems specialist. We met in 2017 and married last summer.

Back in January when I read the news regarding the Chinese public quarantine, I wondered how people were handling it in their private lives. What was happening in those millions of Chinese apartments in the provincial capital of Wuhan? Were they constantly fighting or constantly sleeping? Were they binge-watching Netflix or investing their time in productive activities? Were they sad and lonely or staying as connected as ever via social media? What would I do? I just saw myself standing there holding a giant question mark in my imagined Wuhan apartment. Now it’s here.

I’m telling my version of “our quarantine story” for anyone who wants to hear. This isn’t for me. I could write it in my journal and keep it to myself. But I figure someone else would like a peek into a quarantined home to see how they cope, and to imagine what it might be like when it’s their turn to shut indoors. If you're also shut indoors and want to contribute, feel free to write me.