Posted on 03/15/2020 1:09:56 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy on Sunday reported a one-day record death toll and leaders warned of a bed and artificial respirator shortage in the European epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
Official data showed the number of fatalities shooting up by 368 to 1,809 — more than half of all the cases recorded outside China.
The Vatican took the drastic step of cancelling Easter week celebrations that were set to begin on April 5 as the country of 60 million braced for an extended crisis.
Only occasional joggers and a few locals carrying grocery bags could be seen on the streets of Rome on a sunny afternoon of Italy’s first weekend under effective lockdown.
“I am not really interested in what people tell us about religion,” pensioner Roman said after the Vatican announced that its Easter observances “will take place without the physical presence of the faithful.”
“I’m interested in what people tell us about our health.”
Milan’s Lombardy region governor Attilio Fontana said the situation in areas around Italy’s financial capital was “getting worse.”
“We are close to the point where we will no longer be able to resuscitate people because we will be out of intensive care unit beds,” Fontana told Italy’s Sky TG24 channel.
“We need those machines (doctors) use to ventilate lungs, artificial respirators that unfortunately we cannot find,” Fontana said.
“As soon as those respirators arrive from abroad, we will be ready to go on the attack.”
The Lombardy region has recorded 1,218 of the deaths officially attributed to COVID-19 over the past three weeks — more than the rest of Europe combined.
The region of 10 million — slightly smaller but more economically productive than neighboring Switzerland to the north — also has 13,272 reported infections and 767 people in intensive care.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
Italy’s experience suggests that the rumors about Chinese crematoriums running 24 hours a day are accurate - the Chinese death toll is likely in the tens of thousands. We should prepare for the deluge.
Not sure I buy this prima facia.
Not sure I’ve seen enough evidence that these statistics coming out of Ital aren’t confusing seasonal flu cases and deaths with COVID 19 SARS thing.
I read elsewhere that the median age of victims was 82
A perfect storm for urban/modern Italy: one of the demographically oldest societies in the world, with many elderly living alone or connected only with other elderly, urban density, and a disease that seems to target the elderly.
That’s socialized medicine for ya.
[Not sure I buy this prima facia.
Not sure I’ve seen enough evidence that these statistics coming out of Ital aren’t confusing seasonal flu cases and deaths with COVID 19 SARS thing.]
Think people; it’s straight forward logic and simple math.
What data will be used to make the decision to go back to normal?
Who will make that decision?
Italy’s outbreak has also marked some of the first reported cases of coronavirus being imported back to China. Qingtian, a small county in China’s southeastern Zhejiang province, confirmed eight new cases of coronavirus on March 2 from Chinese nationals living in Italy’s Lombardy region. There are more than 300,000 Chinese nationals living in Italy, and roughly 90% of them in the Zhejiang Province; the garment industry there has attracted Chinese workers.Fortune Magazine - March 6th
Where’s Israel on that chart?
[And we need to stop trying to minimize the impact by saying that this virus only attacks the elderly. ]
I can’t answer that as I’m not an expert or in charge of the response. What I do know is that the faster we can get this over with, the faster we can get back to normal. Given the economic impact of what is happening currently, it is dead obvious that the right approach is to take ANY measures necessary to stamp this thing out before it gets worse in order to limit the long-term damage. Taking extreme measures for a relatively short time is infinitely better than taking half-measures and thereby creating a situation in which we will have to impose draconian measures for a far longer period of time.
When the new cases per day in the US peaks and turns down to
half of the peak.
“...but more economically productive than neighboring Switzerland to the north”
Now there is an interesting dig.
Italy has a national health plan (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale), which provides for hospital and medical benefits. In Italy, healthcare is considered a right and the national health plan is designed to provide for all Italian citizens and residents, including U.S. and Canadian citizens who are legal residents of Italy.
https://internationalliving.com/countries/italy/health-care-in-italy/
Good point.
Wouldn’t there be a lot of people with both flu and Corona? If they die, how do they decide which to attribute as the cause?
I predict it will come the day after the Nov 2020 US Presidential election, and will be coordinated with an announcement by President-Elect Joseph R. Biden.
Convenient all these deaths are attributed to C19 and we aren’t told the demographics
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