We all read the news from around the world, sometimes horrifying but seldom personal.
This email from a real person, a friend in virus "lockdown" in Italy makes it more personal. We visit on every trip. She has two college-age daughters, one who came and stayed with us a couple of years ago.
It has been less than two months since the first case of the coronavirus in Italy was detected in a Chinese tourist and less than five weeks since the first cases started the community spread in northern Italy. As of today there are nearly 64,000 reported cases there. We are not that far behind them... Almost 10% of those reported as infected in Italy have died.
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baci e abbracci dall'Italia
Dears,
thank you for your kind email.
We have been inside for almost three weeks now and it seems more and more to be living a surreal experience. At first it didn't seem so terrible to us, but now that loved ones, friends, are starting to die, we are really scared and devastated by the pain; one of our dear friends left Friday night, others are already sick.
You can not go out except to go to the pharmacy or supermarket. You have to have a certificate explaining why, and on the street there is the police who do checks. The rows in front of the supermarkets are very long and purchases that normally occupied you a couple of minutes, now become a commitment of hours. All lined up, all three feet away... to take a zucchini do the line of 5 minutes...all with mask and often with gloves, all beyond the red line drawn on the ground in front of the food counters. You enter at most 10 people in a two-story supermarket!. Back home, you wash with heat and hope that you have left out the evil....
Two of M----'s companions have their parent in the hospital, my cousin, with whom both S---- and I had contact, is in quarantine... Good thing we're all fine.
M---- has every day online lesson and I prepare lessons for homeworking for my pupils and I have updates and webinar meetings. Having more time, you can also do many things that you had no way to do before: you put bookshelves and documents in place, you have elaborate lunches, ravioli, pasta, culinary experiments..
S----, in Vicenza, is fine: the work proceeds and works from home. She's healthy and happy for now. Of course, it's a sad thought for me not to have her around. A---- is fine, he is not working for now: his teaching direction does not yet have the means for homeworking and therefore helps a lot in the home and law.
We hope that everything will proceed for the best and that this experience will not hurt us as deeply as possible.
Too bad your trip is so missed, I hope to see you soon in good health.
I embrace you with such affection, see you soon
N--------
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Way before all this started we bought airline, train, and Vatican tickets and had many reservations for a 20 day trip in May. Maybe next year.
JKJ
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