Not unexpected but Conti has just announced Italy lockdown...

...extended until 3rd May . Slight relaxation allowing opening of bookshops, stationers, and clothing shops specifically for newborns and children. Only marginal drop in daily deaths and new cases from yesterday after 2 days where the figures jumped sharply. This isn't going away any time soon although the numbers admitted to ICUs have fallen for 7 consecutive days.

 

Good that the icu numbers have fallen at least . I really hope that they're over the worse.

 

Great news about the numbers falling. How's Southern Italy doing?

 

It has not hit the fan yet but a news report outlined the problems...

"In Calabria, the Locri hospital often sends patients elsewhere for a lack of doctors and equipment.
Its lifts are endlessly in disrepair, and the CT scan works one day, but not the next.
Infiltration by the mafia, severe doctor shortages, and a regional health agency hundreds of millions of euros in debt are just a few of the challenges the hospital confronted in 2019 alone.
And that was before the coronavirus outbreak."

The economic and Social divide between the North and South In Italy is far more extreme than London/ South East England and the North- Some areas are nicknamed 'bandit country' as crime and corruption is rampant and the Mafia have control over many aspects of daily life. Ironically the people are regarded as more friendly , hospitable and traditional in the South (bit like an upside down England). It is like a different country.

Central Italy is far better off. Lower density population compared to Northern region but close enough to get many of economic benefits (infrastructure etc.)
A bit O/T.....Italy is far less of a 'nanny state' than UK so people tend to be more self-reliant. We never noticed this at first having lived in the UK all our lives. It is one of the reason I tend to get frustrated and 'get on my soap box' more than I should on here as people in the UK (I included myself) tend to spend far too much time blaming Govts and authorities for our problems. Too much about 'my rights' and not enough about 'my responsibilies'. We all blame them for too much inteference and then for NOT legislating on many things like social care. The onus here is on families to support elderly parents unless they are not in a position to and the State support is far more 'lighter touch'
Another simple, single, example are medical records. Here in Italy you keep your own. We all have a file/wallet (of various sizes depending how old/how many ailments you have had). I have had DVT and my file contains scan results (DVDs as well as written diagnosis and treatment recommendations) all provided at the time of the scans, EGC trace when I was sent 'Pronto Soccorso' at the hospital etc. You take all that with you if you have a hospital appointment) You are responsible for keeping it in order and up to date.
That said Italy has huge problems, as can be seen from the North South situation and the fact that Italian debt is an unsustainable 133% of GDP. Attempts to modernise the bureaucratic mess Italy is infamous for have largely failed. The moves to IT resulted in most of the paper system simply being transferred, unchanged onto the computers.

 

Well written and informative. Thank you!

 

Seconded