Bologna in the time of the Corona Virus

Life before lockdown

If I had written this piece last week it would be completely different. I was into the start of the second week of Skype only lessons with the school closed.  Al had just been advised that the place where his restaurant is located would be closing for evenings. This was a move as related to falling demand as to public safely as people had stopped going out as much. Corona Virus was largely to the north of us in the mountains and ski resort areas. We had taken advantage of more free time by visiting a few sites we hadn’t got round to like the walk to San Luca (to be told in a future posting), finding groups of school kids excited at the unexpected holidays pretty much everywhere we went. Museums and galleries were closed so there was nothing but views to admire.

The tourist numbers had been quick to drop and the arteries of the quadrilatero (medieval centre) were no longer so clogged as to make them impassable. In fact, one of the busiest streets, Via Pescherie Vecchie was so empty of customers I thought about stopping for lunch just because it might be the only time I could get into a restaurant here. Usually the voices around the centre of town are Italian with the occasional English, American or Chinese accent being quite striking and evidently tourist, so I hadn’t appreciated how many of those voices were Italian tourists and not locals. This became apparent by the reduction of people around. We knew the fall in visitors would have a financial impact so we decided to spend our money in shops that were likely to suffer the most.

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Staying informed

We are using a mixture of media to keep abreast of what is going on from the BBC, The Local.it, La Repubblica and The Commune di Bologna (local council) as well as staying up to date with current travel advice on Gov.uk. We have been surprised by the differences in the tone of reporting that we were accessing with a lot of UK news articles on social media having overtones of panic and fear. I was amazed to see an article from Sky News and other British tabloids reporting everyone returning from Italy had to put themselves in self-quarantine. A quick check of gov.uk at the time confirmed what I thought, this advice was only if you were returning from one of the hot spots or if you had any symptoms. While we knew of the international reputation (infamy) of the British Press these events have really highlighted the stark difference between keeping people informed and acting in public interests and trying to sell copy, distract and manipulate the public agenda. Unfortunately, almost without exception the British reporting has fallen into the latter rather than the former.

Even the stories from the region published in the British press seem to be the more hysterical ones. They do not chime with my experience at all. Is this because people like me don’t contact the UK press to provide comment, or because our stories are not exciting enough?  I have seen quiet calm and dignity. I have heard stories of panic buying, but I haven’t seen any for myself and the shops here have plenty of toilet roll.

I will admit that, with hindsight, we might not have thought this as serious as we perhaps should. We continued to go to our favourite bars and restaurants, although they were quieter. We continued to meet with friends and discuss the situation. We were not feeling ill and not overly concerned as although we knew the Corona Virus would eventually come here, it was not really here yet. We were even still encouraging people to come here and have a relatively crowd free experience.

What a difference a week makes

Last Thursday we were advised that the schools nationwide would be closed for 10 days, so we knew our schools would not be opening here. We knew people who had been forced to take holidays as local, small businesses began taking efforts to restrict the financial impacts. After that things moved quickly. On Saturday the Red sites or hot spots were extended to include Modena 23 miles to our North and Rimini 70 miles to our south. Although we were not in lock down, we were surrounded by areas that were. On Sunday Al went to work to be told his workplace would be closing until 3^rd April. As he had the night off and it was the anniversary of our arrival in Bologna we decided to go out for dinner. We went to a restaurant on Via Pescherie Vecchie. The centre was not as lively as a typical Sunday night, but it was a little livelier than we were expecting so we felt more hopeful that this time would pass soon enough. On Monday we went to the vegetable shop and bought more food than normal because Al usually eats at work but now, we would both be having our meals at home. We focused on fruit and vegetables to ensure we ate healthily and as a boost to our immune systems.  Late on Monday night we got the news that all of Italy would be put into lockdown, there were no such things as red sites anymore.

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The Corona Virus

I have heard many things about the Corona Virus ranging from its no worse than Flu to it’s the end of the world. I just wanted to unpack some of the things from either end and the middle. The flu is not like a cold. If you think it is, then be thankful you have never had the flu. I cannot count the colds of varying severity I’ve had but I know I have had flu twice. It is a horrible illness and I would be happy never to have it again. Flu does kill every year and while the happy majority manage to rest it out at home, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I don’t want Corona virus anymore than I want another dose of flu thanks very much.

The odds might well be that like 80% of people (source WHO) I would not have a bad case and that I would be able to recover at home. It’s not really me I’m concerned about. It’s who I might come into contact with, who I might unwittingly infect. It’s the old lady in the street who I might have exchanged pleasantries with, it’s the shop worker who has to work so people can eat. I am more aware than ever before of the people whose lives I touch, even if it is just in passing. You can have this virus for up to two weeks before you develop any symptoms. Can you remember everywhere you have been in the last fortnight? Everyone you spoke to, everything you touched? It’s people who are coming into contact with friends and family with asthma, with diabetes, with compromised immune systems and any other number of health issues who would not be able to manage an infection so nonchalantly that concern me and so we all need to take responsibility.

We owe it to our friends, families and the wider communities in which we live to take this seriously and make sure that we are taking the precautions that we can. We are not able to stop the transmission of the flu (although actually the same measures would help) but there is still time to contain this virus and we should all make every effort to do that so that those in our communities who are vulnerable are not put at risk by our cavalier attitudes because we think we would be able to handle the sickness.

In Europe and the US the weather is starting to get warmer and we can hope the increase in temperatures will help to kill off this virus in the same way the flu is reduced in the summer months. However, we can’t know if that’s the case and the other half of the world is in the opposite situation, getting colder and with their flu season about to start.

Let’s all try not to panic and inflict pain and misery on others; hoarding goods we don’t need; reducing the supplies of gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, medical support and medicines from those that really need them. Let’s stop thinking only of ourselves and what the impact is, or could be, on us. Let’s demonstrate the best of humanity by washing our hands especially after we have been in public places; minimising unnecessary contact with others; minimising travel; checking in on our family, friends and neighbours and only buying what we actually need to get through this period.

It’s not all doom and gloom

So here we are, in day 2 of the Italian lockdown. Food shops are still open and people are still free to move in their towns and streets, going to work etc. They are advised to minimise contact with other people and of course the ubiquitous hand washing advice. We weren’t planning on going anywhere else and we’re in the city so we don’t feel too restricted. Yesterday we went to the butchers and I waited outside while Al ordered because they had a two customers at a time restriction. We went to a large supermarket, where shelves were stacked and no one appeared to be panicking. Shop staff wear masks and gloves.

The school I work for is making plans to extend online lessons. Al is making bread and pasta. It was 19 degrees and sunny today so we had lunch in our garden while reading. I don’t know what will happen next, no one does, but I look forward to giving you an update next week.