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I am writing to you from Bergamo, Italy, at the heart of the
coronavirus crisis. The news media in the US has not captured the
severity of what is happening here. I am writing this post because each
of you, today, not the government, not the school district, not the
mayor, each individual citizen has the chance, today to take actions
that will deter the Italian situation from becoming your own country’s
reality. The only way to stop this virus is to limit contagion. And the
only way to limit contagion is for millions of people to change their
behavior today.
If you are in Europe or the US you are weeks away from where we are today in Italy.
I can hear you now. “It’s just a flu. It only affects old people with preconditions”
There are 2 reasons why Coronavirus has brought Italy to it’s knees.
First it is a flu is devastating when people get really sick they need
weeks of ICU – and, second, because of how fast and effectively it
spreads. There is 2 week incubation period and many who have it never
show symptoms.
When Prime Minister Conte announced last night
that the entire country, 60 million people, would go on lock down, the
line that struck me most was “there is no more time.” Because to be
clear, this national lock down, is a hail mary. What he means is that if
the numbers of contagion do not start to go down, the system, Italy,
will collapse.
Why? Today the ICUs in Lombardy are at capacity –
more than capacity. They have begun to put ICU units in the hallways.
If the numbers do not go down, the growth rate of contagion tells us
that there will be thousands of people who in a matter of a week? two
weeks? who will need care. What will happen when there are 100, or a
1000 people who need the hospital and only a few ICU places left?
On Monday a doctor wrote in the paper that they have begun to have to
decide who lives and who dies when the patients show up in the emergency
room, like what is done in war. This will only get worse.
There
are a finite number of drs, nurses, medical staff and they are getting
the virus. They have also been working non-stop, non-stop for days and
days. What happens when the drs, nurses and medical staff are simply not
able to care for the patients, when they are not there?
And
finally for those who say that this is just something that happens to
old people, starting yesterday the hospitals are reporting that younger
and younger patients – 40, 45, 18, are coming in for treatment.
You have a chance to make a difference and stop the spread in your
country. Push for the entire office to work at home today, cancel
birthday parties, and other gatherings, stay home as much as you can. If
you have a fever, any fever, stay home. Push for school closures, now.
Anything you can do to stop the spread, because it is spreading in your
communities – there is a two week incubation period – and if you do
these things now you can buy your medical system time.
And for
those who say it is not possible to close the schools, and do all these
other things, locking down Italy was beyond anyone’s imagination a week
ago.
Soon you will not have a choice, so do what you can now.
Please share.
