This article - under the species of a political fiction - has solid scientific foundations and describes neither more nor less what is happening in many provinces of China and beyond. If you are terrapiattisti, reading it you are justified in taking it for alarmist. If not, open your eyes and mind well and continue only if you are strong spirits...
At the beginning it was the choice of political leaders not to expose themselves on the coronavirus issue: for some it would only have served to irritate the Chinese "new friends", for others a risk without returns in terms of image and polls. Then, there had been the most wicked choice to favor the quarantines of potential infected subjects in their homes, leaving an incalculable number of super pandemic diffusers free in the country. After that, the certainty that covid-2019 only affected the elderly and the disabled was rooted. Finally, on a popular level, the fatalistic belief that everything would be resolved and that the few cassandras were themselves super spreaders of fake news had been affirmed for a long time. Obviously, all of this had happened a little across the West. But for this scenario we will focus on Italy, well aware that it would not occur only here.
After the announcement by the Chinese president that the covid-2019 cases in his country were in the millions1 and that the situation "had to be brought under control", in Italy convicts were the first weeks of school in September: in Italian schools it was evident that the absence rate of students (but also of teachers) of institutes of all levels and levels was frighteningly high, in the order of two times normal. The country discovered it by chance, because the conversations in the chats of moms and teachers were collected in a dossier sent to the board and by some schools in Upper Italy, which in turn was intercepted by a newspaper. The fact that the minister of education had not raised the alarm caused the first pandemic political crisis in history: it was not clear if the prime minister understood more than others the seriousness of the situation and intended to flee - he only knew where - or if the conflicts between those who feared the emergency and those who suspected the presence of a plutocratic plot hatched by Big Pharma behind the case had reached their climax. The fact is that the head of state put everyone back in their place, rejecting the very idea of a government crisis in such a situation. And perhaps not liking the possibility of receiving delegations of potentially infected politicians!
Italy reacted for its part: with the ventilated crisis, a kind of "mini 8 September" was triggered, with the assault on supermarkets, the wild supply of antiviral drugs and antibiotics (the latter useful for bacterial infections, but pure spring water for viruses), the escape from schools, factories and universities. And from the stadiums: in their teleconferences - just to avoid too close contacts between them - the managers of Juventus, Inter, Milan, Rome and Lazio feared a net loss of almost 200 million in revenues for the football sector. By comparison, the elimination from Russia 2018 had been a walk in the park for Italian sport!
After the buriana of the first days, the same large retailers went into crisis: nobody wanted to risk being in the crowd! Thus, cinemas and theaters also emptied. The Minister of Economy, courageously arrived at Palazzo Chigi, then explained to the premier that there was a serious risk that a blockage of the country-system would cause a quarter of GDP contraction in the last quarter. "We shouldn't worry about apocalyptic scenarios!" replied the Prime Minister. To which his colleague, more expert in economics, replied: "This is the most favorable scenario: my cardiologist would not allow me to illustrate the apocalyptic one!"
Empty hotels, deserted convention centers, closed churches, crazy traffic because no one used public transport anymore and each car traveled with at most one passenger and one child ... Armed forces groups garrisoned petrol stations and banks.
The health minister then appeared on the screens of the prime minister, ministers and, extraordinarily, the head of state, in what was the first completely online council of ministers in Italian history.
"Honorable, where are we at?" A long sigh and an embarrassed silence followed.
"According to estimates, at this time the number of covid-2019 cases in Italy is around 0,2% of the population ..."
"Can I then tell the country that everything is under control and that we have limited the danger?"
"Not exactly…"
"Explain yourself better!" (cough)
“The zero point two percent of sixty million people are still 120.000 patients: we have only 240, to say the least 250 effective beds. By reopening some hospitals and wards, we exceed 300 ... "
"They're all there, aren't they?" exclaimed the Foreign Minister.
"Honorable colleague, there are ... an accident!" replied the Prime Minister, clutching his temples in his hands.
"But president ... 120 in 300 is there and ..."
"They are fucking INFECTED patients! Do you want to put them in the midst of pregnant women and cancer patients ?! And where are they right now? I'm afraid to hear the answer ... "
The health minister sighed again: “One third are in barracks and gyms run by civil protection, which is not trained for a similar emergency but is doing heroic work. Not a thousand are in the infectious disease departments, with serious risk for those who were already hospitalized for other reasons and cannot be moved. About two thousand have been transported and for the moment remain in the emergency room (which is therefore collapsing and unusable for other patients ... and with medical and paramedical staff at serious risk ...) and the rest ... well, do you want me to tell you? "
"Please ... Anyway, the Minister of Economy is not here with us at the request of the cardiologist!"
"They are still in their homes, awaiting our intervention, served by their family members and by the volunteers who for this reason are potential coronavirus diffusers and should be quarantined immediately ... In short, each patient accompanies 2-3 family members who we will still have to Attention ... We are talking about 300.000 people, including patients at home, family members and volunteers! "
The Minister of Defense then intervened: “Since yesterday I have quarantined the crew of two patrollers who have intercepted potentially infected illegal immigrants. It is the fourth case in a week: either we are very unlucky or someone does it on purpose, to load individuals with clear symptoms on the boats to mow our men. Moreover, I have already lost several police patrols that I had to remove from service to isolate them, as they intervened for emergencies in premises occupied by full-blown patients ... "
"Pure organized crime ..."
"They quickly adapted to the emergency: from the bank robbery done using a highly symptomatic patient as a weapon to the neutralization of the police force with the same means ... I can't send the military with a diving suit on a mission!"
The foreign minister with tears in his eyes: “Speaking of missions, today we will have to discuss the return of diplomatic personnel and the soldiers engaged in the Middle East and the Balkans. Not to mention the citizens stuck abroad, given the cancellation of many flights ... "
“It will be done shortly, during the conference of the Supreme Defense Council! Before that, however, we will have to finish listening to what the colleague of Health has to tell us "
Meanwhile, the Minister of the Interior also brought his testimony: “We have all the police personnel and protection volunteers involved. I had to not only cancel the licenses and recall all the auxiliaries, but also prepare, let me pass the term, a new 'batch' of volunteers trained just enough, because we lose every day women and men who contract the disease ".
“The same is true for medical and paramedical staff. Licenses suspended. Recall of postgraduates and retirees. Keep in mind that we are trying not to transform nosocomes into infected sponges and we intend to accumulate the patients in temporary or makeshift structures like earthquake victims in the past ... We want cancer patients, orthopedic patients, dialysis patients, women giving birth etc. everyone gets urgent services. "
"My department is working to use some hotels and holiday centers for the hospitalization of suspected cases ..."
"Very well ... We will have to create a national database of the available structures and have the plans: we need single and double rooms with private services, not the dormitories where the virus would spread faster ... and we must give priority to structures with catering services internal. "
"It's a nightmare ... Mr. Minister of Health, do you have anything else to add, in conclusion?"
“Yes, the worst, unfortunately. A tenth of of the cases developed a severe form of pneumonia that prevents them from breathing independently! "
The head of state stunned: "Are you telling me that we have twelve thousand patients with severe respiratory syndrome undergoing assisted ventilation?"
"No. Simply because ventilation is not needed when the lungs are no longer able to exchange oxygen with carbon dioxide. We have just ordered a thousand machines for the filtering of gas in the blood ... The colleague of the Economy will find in the e-mail today a request for spending of almost a billion. And this only for machines and staff training ".
"One last question, Minister ... What if the virus strikes not zero point two ... but two or even twenty percent of the population?"
“President, you are a religious man, I often read it in your interviews: pray that it won't happen! I don't even have this comfort and I refuse to answer you now. "
The owner of the Interior with a sigh: “I understand. We will provide for a seizure order for crematoria across the country. "
To which the President of the Republic: “Let's update every six hours, even at night and on holidays. I will shortly have a conference call with some of you and other members of the Supreme Defense Council. I am terrified to hear the next advice after what I learned. "
1 Hidden in official statistics because they are treated at home and not hospitalized or using very strict classification criteria.
Photo by the author (sign displayed by Chinese associations in the city of Prato)
