Real time 31 days. Time perceived many more. The red bubble in which Italy ended up with the coronavirus emergency was born a month ago. It is the evening of March 9 and Giuseppe Conte announces to the Italians that "unfortunately there is no time". Too many sick, too many dead (the victims were 463, over 17 thousand now). So from March 10, a new decree and lockdown. Hard sounding word to say that the country closes and stops, except for essential services. The day after the World Health Organization ruled: it is a pandemic. Italy chooses a forced double quarantine until April 3, then extended to 13.
Suddenly 'we are all Codogno' and like the 16 thousand of the Lombard municipality we stay home to curb the infections. They have been there since February 23. Since 8 March all of Lombardy has been armored, including Alzano and Nembro which are the Chinese Wuhan in the Bergamo area and which some would have liked to close earlier. It is one of the hottest controversies, along with that on unobtainable masks (almost 82 million those distributed so far, according to Civil Protection). In announcing the lockdown, Conte does not speak of a red zone but of a "protected zone".
And thus protected for 31 days, through 5 Prime Minister's decrees, 80 between Civil Protection ordinances, the Arcuri emergency commissioner and ministers' regulations, 4 different self-certification forms to exit, Italy changes. Outside and Inside. The full tank remains in hospitals, in homes, in prison. The void spans the street. Assemblies are prohibited and the mantra becomes "at least one meter away".
Here is a month of news at the time of the coronavirus:
SCHOOL - Closed all over Italy from March 5th. The stop applies from kindergartens to universities and is a rarity in a country where even the Second World War did not stop lessons, while cholera in the south delayed the start of the school year in '73. Now distance lessons, university exams and streaming degrees. No third grade test, the final exam will be oral online and the other students promoted by default.
EXPENSE - 'Resistant' in supermarkets, discount stores, shops. Out in line and never close. Inside, a mandatory distance and often gloves and masks. Times have changed: after the Dpcm of 22 March, the doors close at 7pm during the week and on Sundays at 3pm. With some exceptions such as supermarkets in Sicily, open until Saturday. In the local markets the food stalls survive and you enter a little at a time.
'OPEN FOR VIRUSES' - Pharmacies, newsagents, tobacconists and petrol stations remain open. The Dpcm of 11 March specifies it, including opticians, hardware stores, electronics stores, laundries and funeral homes. Guaranteed the services of banks, post offices and insurance companies and from 21 March those of bars that are in airports and hospitals. The nurseries have recently reopened, but only for home and flower deliveries.
'CLOSED FOR VIRUS' - From March 12 shutters down for beauticians, hairdressers, barbers but also clothing stores, bookstores. The coffee at the bar, the dinner at the restaurant or the ice cream outside becomes a memory. The premises survive with home deliveries, others with online sales. Hair adjusts in its own way. A tuft also rebels against President Mattarella. His spokesman pointed this out before recording a video message and the head of state replied: "Eh Giovanni, I'm not going to the barber either!". The movie airs by mistake and Mattarella acclaimed by the Italians in quarantine.
FACTORIES AT A MINIMUM - From 22 March the country's production engine is in hibernation. "But let's not stop him," assures Conte in another videoconference. In reality, the stop is generalized and the exceptions enclosed in 80 items attached to the decree (from agriculture to the food industry, from the chemical-pharmaceutical industry to waste to coal).
CINEMA AND THEATERS, MUSEUMS AND CONCERTS - At national level, the closure takes place in a few days, passing from the glimpse of the shows with remote seats or ribbed entrances provided by the Dpcm of 4 March, up to the total suspension with the decree of 8.
SPORT - Before, competitions behind closed doors or in the open without an audience and save the training of the professionals indoors.cc Instead, lock the gyms. All sports stop on March 10th and workouts on April 4th. So for example no basketball or football: the last Serie A goal is the Sassuolo-Brescia 3-0 on 9 March. Stop tennis until his majesty Wimbledon and even cycling. After lengthy push and pull, the 22nd Olympics in Japan cancel on 22 March. So far only the war has stopped them, the virus postpones them to summer 2021. The debate remains about the outdoor movement and running. The answers in an ordinance of the Minister of Health in force since March 21: yes to physical activity as long as alone and close to home. The same rule is definitive on parks: closed all and everywhere, thus remedying autonomous decisions of Municipalities and Regions.
GOODBYE TRIPS - Before the lockdown, it was possible to move if "strictly necessary". It is no coincidence that the night between 7 and 8 March there was an assault on trains to Lombardy which was about to close. Then, the appeals of southern politicians against the return home of potential "greasers". Since March 23 the squeeze: everyone remains where he is, even if he was born or lives elsewhere. To move, only demonstrable work needs, health and absolute urgency apply. Traveling by motorbike is forbidden. Super armored Sicily and Sardinia. Only freight transport continues.xExceptions for passengers "due to urgent needs" and only from Cagliari, Palermo and Catania airports (only open).
CHURCHES FOR A FEW - They remain open but the masses are without faithful. You can get married only with celebrant and witnesses, while funerals are suspended. The pandemic imposes loneliness: alone in the hospital, death is lonely and farewell too.