Hey everyone
I thought id write as maybe you can all learn from our mistakes here in Italy.
As i imagine you all know (it is hard to hear about anything else), we are all in quarantine here in Italy, with the hope to stop spreading the virus any further. I fear that how it spread here will happen in the rest of Europe too.
Here once the schools closed all the kids would meet together in someones house for lunch or just to hang out, and parents would bring kids to the playground, it was great, it was as if we were all on holidays! Everyone that couldnt work went skiing.
We knew and continued to watch the numbers of infected rise daily, and the casualties, but didnt exactly change any of our habits. Until now, now when we realise how serious it all is.
Coronavirus is a bit more serious than a flu, many people get it and get better without serious complications, many kids get it, have no symptoms and are fine (but are still contagious and infect grandparents or others who may not shake the virus quite so easily), but some (about 50%) get it and need to go to hospital, they get a bad lung infection and may need to be put on a machine to help them breathe, till they get better again. Here the death rate is rising as they simply dont have enough equipment in the hospitals, so they have to chose who gets saved, and they will chose under 60's. Which is very young.
Only now, we have started being careful. We are all staying inside. Ettore goes to work, but stays far from the others in the office, and washes his hands once he comes home. We can go out for a walk but if we meet anyone we have to stay at least a metre away. I do the shopping alone, making sure to keep my distance from others in the shop, and trying not to touch my face . When i come back home i wash my hands carefully.(now they limit how many people can be in the shop at 1 time)
The girls get all their school stuff sent online, and have to email the work back to their teachers.
It seems a sad way to live, insensitive and cold, but it is the only chance we have to a actually stop spreading the virus further. For a while we have to suspend eating out, travelling, going to shows, pub, bar, school, sporting events.....anything where we need to be in close contact with others. Even taking the bus is risky, if its packed, and someone sneezes?....so really the best thing, the only thing to stop spreading this virus further is to sacrifice a little of our habits and stay at home, not just to protect ourselves, but to protect the others who may be a little more fragile than we are.
Just thought i would write to you, in case you all see it as someone elses problem. This virus is so contagious, and you only discover that you have it after 14 days of going around infecting everyone that you have been in contact with.
I imagine you all know all of this already anyway, but so did everyone here in Italy, and now look at how it spread!
Hope everyone is well, and hope to see you all soon once this situation has settled.