Italy carries the scars of Covid-19 as re-opening begins
FEW countries have felt the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic like Italy. The world watched on in shock and awe as the country’s death toll continued to rise. However, like Ireland, Italy is in the process of taking it’s first tentative steps back towards normality.
Wexford native Diane Pianca (nee Busher of Bernadette Place) tells us what life is now like in the northern province of Treviso, where she lives in a small village in the foothills of the Alps, around 70km north of Venice with her husband Jerry and their three children.
On May 4, after eight weeks of complete lockdown, the Italian government started to ease restrictions.
‘It was a relief,’ Diane said. ‘After weeks of balancing home confinement, home-schooling and keeping my children motivated and positive, worrying about my husband who had worked throughout the pandemic and trying to stay positive myself, we finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve emerged still wary about what the future holds and the continuing task of protecting ourselves.’
‘Over the course of the last few weeks more restrictions have been lifted within our region of the Veneto,’ she explains. ‘We can move freely within our region, more retail services have re-opened, coffee shops, gyms, hairdressers, and as the weeks progress more services will also re-open complying with the strict social distancing rules. The assembling of big groups, discos, summer concerts, public and private parties are still not permitted and schools have not re-opened. At this stage we don’t have a fixed date for a return in September.’
For Diane her first trip out of the house since March 7 was to the hospital for an appointment with her youngest child.
‘As we walked from our car through the streets leading to the hospital we were faced with a sea of masks, people moving from one side of the footpath to the other in order to respect the distance – life had changed dramatically over the course of ten weeks. We were met at the entrance of the hospital by members of the Civil Protection Agency who took our temperatures and gave us a form to complete stating if we had experienced a cough or temperature in the last 7 days. My first day out was a mixture of relief, excitement but also filled with anxiety.’
However, Diane and her family are extremely grateful to be able to get outside in the sunshine again.
‘Last weekend we left our home together for the first time since March 7,’ she said. ‘We took a long walk in the sunshine, but wearing masks at all times. There were many people out, but they were all obeying the rules. From this point I felt less anxious, but as I looked at my children walking and laughing in the sunshine with their masks on, I saw our new normal that we must accept and move on to. Last Sunday we heard the sweet sound of joy from the church bells telling us that the church doors are fully opened again.’
For those working, stringent checks are in place to ensure everyone’s safety.
‘At my husband’s work, they continue to check temperatures every day and all members of staff were tested for coronavirus recently. Thankfully Jerry was negative.’
While things are moving in the right direction, Italy still clearly bears the scars of what has been a horrific couple of months.
‘All of these experiences have had a huge impact on our way of life here in Italy,’ Diane says. ‘I live in a country where embracing is part of normal daily greetings. Italian people like to be in close proximity to others when conversing and socialising. This new way of life doesn’t permit this for now and it is just one of the many things we have to get used to.’
‘In my own household the lockdown experience has left us a bit battered and weary but positive about the unexpected extra time we had with our children and even though home-schooling had some stressful moments, it did give us a wonderful insight and better understanding on how our children are at school.’
‘Italy is starting to move forward but is a country that is still reeling from the high number of deaths and we know that to re-open the country, help the economy, keep ourselves and those around us safe that we must remain vigilant, responsible and not become complacent with social distancing and respecting the rules that are keeping us safe.’