Coronavirus: best practices

The current global situation

It’s been a while since the last article (posted on 2020-03-4) and the situation has totally (and tragically) evolved. Let’s take a look at the current number of cases in the world and in Italy, which has placed as the second country.

Italy, with over 12k cases is truly offended by coronavirus. The number of cases has raised by 3 times since one week ago.

Nothing to do: the situation is everywhere serious.

USA, Europe and China: bad and good news

Over 100 countries are harmed by the new coronavirus, many governments have taken strict measures in order to limitate groupings and possible transmissions. Trump initially expressed his total apathy, but as the situation got much more serious, with over 1000 cases, he took all the actions needed. Two days ago (2020-03-12) he decided to suspend all flights from Europe, in response to the declaration of a global pandemic, by WHO (the World Health Organization). Additionally, he earmarked 8.3 billion dollar funding bill to help CDC and government agencies in order to fight the virus, search for a vaccine and support the distribution of medical supplies. In Italy, the first minister Conte has earmarked up to 25 billion to support research and to deal with the emergency of the virus. In Europe, a new clime of share and solidarity is being defined, since the emergency has been globally declared. The situation in Europe is everywhere pretty much critical: there are over 1000 cases in most of the countries, even though the number of deaths is generally low. While the virus is sweeping across the World, the epicentre of the pandemic is now recovering. Recently the Chinese Minister has come to visit Wuhan and to encourage the inhabitants to keep fighting. He expressed his total sympathy: “The virus is almost off”. Bad news for the World, good news for China.

The best practices according to Safecast

• Wash your hands frequently (every time you come back home) and correctly (about 2 minutes).
• Be aware that physical contact is the primary route of transmission: do not shake hands and do not kiss others on their cheeks etc.
• Do not share utensils.
• Many experts, such as the WHO, advise against using face masks for a general usage unless you are ill or taking care of sick people. This is partly due to doubts about their real efficacy but is mainly driven by the current global shortage. The situation is pretty serious in Japan, where the current shortage of face masks does mean physicians and other authorities who have to take care of sicks and protect themselves.
• Recommendations may vary from place to place. Please understand your local situation, which is far more important than taking a look at the global scene.
• Regardless of the current situation in your area, you should prepare to stay at home for at least two weeks if that becomes advisable at some point, depending on the situation etc.

-> click here to see the complete list

Coronavirus: how Italy became the new China

Coronavirus has tragically spread out all over Italy, causing serious turmoils both in the economical and social sides. Today, 4/03/2020 the Italian government compelled to close schools, in order to prevent massive groupings. Let’s find out more about the complete scenario.

The mystery of patient 0

A 38-year-old sporty man has been identified as the patient 1, who had probably contracted coronavirus after meeting with a Chinese manager. The man tested positive for the virus 2 weeks ago, but, before the outcome, he moved among Lombardia and Veneto (North Italy). This lead to a first expansion of the virus through friends and relatives, he got in contact with. As first simptoms started to appear, he decided to go to the ER for some checks, finding out that he had coronavirus. The main question now regards patient 0, who was originally identified with the Chinese manager, returning from China. Many checks have been excedeed, but the man tested negative, which is still a total mystery.

By the way, it’s no use crying over spilled milk. Let’s analyze the consequences in Italy and the current situation.

The current situation in Italy

2706 tested positive, 276 total recovered, 107 is the number of deaths, 3089 is the number of tortal cases

The number of cases is quite dramatic: 3089. The number started to rise 2 weeks ago, as the 38-year-old moved to other regions in Northern Italy. Eventually Coronavirus also started to appear in Southern regions. Alarmism swept accross the Italians: masks and detergents sold out, people stocked up as if there was World War III. Many others simply keep calm and do not rely on Tv news and reckon that the situation is overrated.

Italy has now placed as the third country in the world for number of cases.

The most perturbing fact is that the rate at which the virus expands has lately doubled, overcoming China in the last few days. Many decrees have been released since 2 weeks ago, when the scenario seemed to be much more calm. Cities in North Italy have been isolated and totally closed, such as Codogno, which is the main epicenter.

Lombardia is truly harmed by covid19: since the beginning, the famous fashion festivals in Milan had been delayed and postponed, as well as football matches. The city was isolated as well, when the number of cases started to rise. As being the most important economical and productive city, this has inexorably had a great impact for the whole country.

The economical growth reduced quite heavily. These are the graphs showing the Exchange Index, over the last few hours (left) and the last years (right).

The economic indexes become more perturbing when we move to PIL levels and, more specifically to SPREAD values.

PIL indixes dropped to -0.3%, in the last trimester, the lowest value since 2013.

The graph show the evolution of SPREAD levels, over the last trimester. The values are slightly rising, as you can see in the right side.

The latest decree of the government

After some initial doubts, the government decided to close every school. Yesterday, the first minister Conte signed the official decree, after discussing with scientists and epidemiologists. Schools and Universities will be closed for 10 days, from 5/03 to 15/03. Until now, nobody spoke about online classes.

Discrimination: corona pizza

Some weeks ago, Chinese people living in Italy would be injured, as “transmissing the virus”. The scene has now completely reversed: some days ago an Italian man was beated up in Tenerife, by two local men. Some memes started to sweep accross social medias. The recent one is a video, showing an Italian man preparing the famous pizza and then sneezing on it. The video ends with the text: corona pizza. The italian reactions were immediate and brutal against the French who made the ironical meme.