In an Italian city, obituaries fill the newspaper, but survivors mourn alone
ROME — In the part of Italy hit hardest by the coronavirus, the crematorium has started operating 24 hours a day. Coffins have filled up two hospital morgues, and then a cemetery morgue, and are now being lined up inside a cemetery church. The local newspaper’s daily obituary section has grown from two or three pages to 10, sometimes listing more than 150 names, in what the top editor likens to “war bulletins.”
By death toll alone, the coronavirus has landed in the northern province of Bergamo with the force of a historic disaster.
But its alarming power goes even further, all but ensuring that death and mourning happen in isolation — a trauma in which everybody must keep to themselves.
All across Bergamo, people are being picked up in ambulances, rushed to the hospital and dying in sealed-off wards where even their closest relatives are not allowed. Many funerals are taking place with only a priest and funeral-home employee present, while family members face restrictions on gathering, remain in quarantine or are too sick themselves.
So many have died that there is a waiting list for burial and cremation.
“I think it’s worse than a war,” said Marta Testa, 43, who is in self-quarantine and whose father died Wednesday of the virus at age 85. “Dad is waiting to be buried. And we are here waiting to tell him goodbye.”
Other countries are only beginning to grapple with the pandemic’s implications and the distance it forces between even the closest people. But in Italy, death by lonely death, its full cost is becoming apparent.
More than 2,000 people in Italy have died of covid-19, the disease caused by virus — half of them over the most recent five-day stretch — and many of those cases have looked like that of Testa’s father, Renzo, a former newspaper advertising executive who felt short of breath a week ago Saturday, was taken to the hospital and did not see or talk to his family again.AD
“Grief is a phase that requires closeness, but our grief has had to come via the telephone,” said Testa, whose parents had been married for 50 years and whose mother also appears to have the virus but is recovering.
Testa’s siblings bring food to their mother. Out of precaution, they leave it on her front door.
“Right now,” Testa said, “our family is living in a suspended state.”
Even as the virus has spread around the world, it is in Italy where people are contracting the virus — and dying of it — more rapidly than anywhere else. On Sunday, the country reported 368 new deaths, a toll exceeding even the highest daily figures from China. By Monday, 349 died, bringing the total in less than one month to 2,158.
And within Italy, Bergamo, a wealthy province of 1.1 million to the east of Milan, has become the most worrying hot spot. Hospitals are at the breaking point there. Military doctors have been called in to assist. Residents describe Bergamo as a ghostly place where only ambulances and hearses are on the road at night. In the small town of Nembro, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, 70 people have died in the past 12 days. Some 120 died all of last year.ADItalian local newspaper obituary sees spike amid coronavirus outbreakGiovanni Locatelli compared the obituary sections of L’Eco di Bergamo, which increased from three pages on Feb. 9 to 10 pages on March 13. (Giovanni Locatelli via Storyful)
“It’s as if a chemical bomb has exploded,” said Daniela Taiocchi, 49, who helps handle obituaries for the local newspaper, L’Eco di Bergamo.
Bergamo also stands as a warning sign about how coronavirus cases can explode if restrictions are not quickly put in place. Italy dealt with an initial hot spot, in the province of Lodi, by placing 10 small towns under lockdown more than three weeks ago. But the government waited far longer to put similar measures in place elsewhere. Bergamo now has three times the number of coronavirus cases as Lodi.
“Morgues and health institutions are collapsing,” said Claudia Scotti, a funeral-home co-owner. “We were absolutely unprepared for an emergency of this kind.”
The people who are dying, memorialized in page after page of the L’Eco di Bergamo, are ex-politicians, electricians, emergency phone operators, priests. Most are in their 70s or 80s. Their short obituaries don’t mention the cause of death but don’t need to — 90 percent, the newspaper’s editor estimated, died because of the coronavirus. Instead, the obituaries have other clues about how much grieving has changed during the emergency. They mention “direct transport to the crematorium.” A public ceremony at a “date to be determined.” A funeral held in a “strictly private form.”AD
Across the country, funerals inside churches have been put on hold, part of the government’s absolute restriction on gatherings. For families cleared to leave their homes, some in Bergamo have been allowed to meet for small burials at the cemetery, capped at 10 people. But aside from those moments, the city has closed the cemeteries entirely, fearing that residents would take public transportation, visit the graves of those who have died and spread the virus themselves.
The mayor’s office has encouraged the cremation of people who die of covid-19. And on Wednesday, the local crematorium began operating around the clock.
“It never closes, and still we don’t manage,” said Francesco Alleva, a spokesman for the mayor.
The top editor of the newspaper, Alberto Ceresoli, said that Italy is in the middle of a “collective tragedy” and that the virus is “decimating” the place where he lives. For a while, he wondered whether the obituaries should be bunched toward the back of the paper, to reduce the emotional toll on people reading. But he decided people needed to see what was happening: The names of the dead have been appearing in the middle of the paper, spaced out every other page.AD
“These are our great elderly who are dying,” he said. “That they should go like this, it’s deeply unjust.”
It was in Friday’s edition where Renzo Testa’s name appeared, along with a head shot and a quote from Pope Francis. Below, there were basic details about his family and several more columns with remembrances from his family, noting his dedication to the newspaper, his work with civic groups.
He had been healthy before he caught the virus, his daughter said.
“No underlying conditions,” Marta Testa said.
“We were always thinking: ‘Dad is strong. He will make it,’ ” she said. “Of course, hope is the last to go.”
The hospital called her nearly at midnight on Wednesday to say her father had not survived.
His coffin now sits in a church, waiting its turn in line to be buried. If it happens soon, he will be buried without the presence of his wife and children. Marta said the family still had plans to organize a ceremony in his honor.
“In better times,” she said.
Photo Credit: L’Eco di Bergamo
Soccer coach Francisco Garcia dies from coronavirus at age 21
A 21-year-old Spanish soccer coach was killed by the coronavirus while also battling leukemia, according to a report.
Francisco Garcia, a youth team coach at Malaga club Atletico Portada Alta, only received his cancer diagnosis after going to the hospital with symptoms of the virus, the Independent reported.
The coach had been advised to seek medical help after he began experiencing trouble breathing, Spanish newspaper Malaga Hoy reported.
Garcia was told that not only did he have both coronavirus and pneumonia, but he was also suffering from leukemia, according to the Independent.
Pep Bueno, who the club president of Atletico Portada Alta, where Garcia had previously trained, said he received a call from the hospital Sunday that Garcia was in stable condition.
But within an hour, he was informed that his health had greatly deteriorated, according to the report.
“I do not believe it. It seems impossible to me,” Bueno said, according to the Independent.
Garcia is the youngest person to die from the virus in Malaga, where the four other deaths were all patients over the age of 70, the outlet reported.
Health officials have said the majority of COVID-19 casualties across the world have been among people who are older or have underlying health conditions.
More than 6,400 people across the world have been killed by the virus that has infected at least 164,000 others.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/03/16/soccer-coach-dies-from-coronavirus-at-age-21/
Photo Credit: Atlético Portada Alta/nypost.com
Romney proposes giving $1,000 to every American adult as coronavirus response measure
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah on Monday outlined a list of proposals to address the coronavirus outbreak, including giving all American adults $1,000 in response to fallout from the spread of the disease.
Romney’s office framed the proposals as a way to ensure economic stability for working Americans.
“Every American adult should immediately receive $1,000 to help ensure families and workers can meet their short-term obligations and increase spending in the economy,” a release from Romney’s office states, adding, “Congress took similar action during the 2001 and 2008 recessions. While expansions of paid leave, unemployment insurance, and SNAP benefits are crucial, the check will help fill the gaps for Americans that may not quickly navigate different government options.”
In addition to that, Romney’s proposals call for providing grants to affected small businesses, measures aimed at easing financial burdens for students during this time and actions to bolster telehealth services amid the outbreak.
The House and Senate have already taken action to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say that more must be done for public health and welfare and for the economy amid mounting fears over the disease.
Earlier this month, Congress passed a multi-billion dollar response package. The House followed that by passing a second response package at the end of last week negotiated with the Trump administration. The Senate is expected to take up and pass that legislation this week.
In a statement, Romney said, “the House coronavirus response package contains critical measures to help families in Utah and across the nation in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, and the Senate should act swiftly on this legislation.”
He added, “We also urgently need to build on this legislation with additional action to help families and small businesses meet their short-term financial obligations, ease the financial burden on students entering the workforce, and protect health workers on the front lines and their patients by improving telehealth services. I will be pushing these measures as Senate discussions continue about an additional relief package.”
Photo Credit: kmov.com/CNN
Trump rips CDC, blames Obama for slow response to coronavirus
President Trump on Friday blasted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the agency at the forefront of the nation’s battle against the coronavirus — and blamed the Obama administration for making changes “that only complicated things further.”
“For decades the @CDCgov looked at, and studied, its testing system, but did nothing about it. It would always be inadequate and slow for a large scale pandemic, but a pandemic would never happen, they hoped,” the president said in a tweet.
“President Obama made changes that only complicated things further,” he continued. “Their response to H1N1 Swine Flu was a full scale disaster, with thousands dying, and nothing meaningful done to fix the testing problem, until now. The changes have been made and testing will soon happen on a very large scale basis. All Red Tape has been cut, ready to go!”
The president, who has been in office for more than three years, has previously blamed Obama for a slow start to coronavirus testing — and hailed himself for casting aside an “Obama rule” to speed testing for the virus.
He said it was his predecessor’s fault amid criticism of the slow US COVID-19 testing rollout compared to other countries.
Reps for the White House and Vice President Mike Pence — Trump’s point person on the pandemic — have not provided additional information on the “Obama rule.”
On Thursday, CDC chief Dr. Robert Redfield testified on Capitol Hill that public health officials discussed coronavirus information in classified rooms on occasions “too numerous to count,” though he said the information wasn’t treated as classified.
Reuters reported Wednesday that the White House ordered federal health officials at the Department of Health and Human Services to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, citing four Trump administration officials.
National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot later emailed Reuters, saying, “The White House has never ordered any agency ‘to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified,’” as the story alleged.
“This story is fake news,” he wrote.
Asked about the Reuters report, Redfield told the House Oversight and Reform Committee of the meetings, “We’re holding them in a classified room, the nature and the content of those conversations are not classified.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers Thursday that the nation’s testing record to date was “a failing.”
“The idea of anybody getting it easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that. Do I think we should be? Yes. But we’re not,” Fauci testified.
Trump on Thursday defended the country’s progress testing people for the virus.
“They had a million tests up now over the next few days. They’ll have 4 million — if you go to the right area, you will get the tests. With that being said, millions are being produced. It is a brand new thing that is happening, millions are being produced,” he said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/03/13/trump-rips-cdc-blames-obama-for-slow-response-to-coronavirus/
Photo Credit: metro.co.uk
Fake coronavirus test kits seized at LAX
Officers seized counterfeit coronavirus test kits at Los Angeles International Airport Saturday, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A package arrived at LAX from the United Kingdom and was labeled “Purified Water Vials,” according to a CBP news release.
Officers found six plastic bags containing vials filled with a white liquid and labeled “Corona Virus 2019nconv (COVID-19)” and “Virus1 Test Kit” inside.
CBP director of field operations in L.A. Carlos Martel said it was a “significant interception, at a time when the U.S. is in the midst of a National Emergency.”
Authorities did not provide information on where the vials were headed.
The shipment was turned over to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for analysis.
Testing for the novel coronavirus can only be conducted at verified laboratories across the United States and the kits would not be available for purchase online or at brick and mortar shops.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide COVID-19 test kits to public health laboratories across the country and the FDA provides them to commercial labs, according to the CDC.
“The American public should be aware of bogus home testing kits for sale either online or in informal direct to consumer settings,” CBP said in the news release.
On Friday Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer and county District Attorney Jackie Lacey warned residents of false advertisements for fake coronavirus cures, treatments and vaccines.
The officials promised to crack down on scams and close down fraudulent businesses.
L.A. County residents were encouraged to call 213-978-8340 to report scams or price gouging.
via: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/fake-coronavirus-test-kits-seized-at-lax/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Drinking bleach will not prevent coronavirus, poison control center warns
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Nexstar Media Wire) – A Virginia poison control center is reminding residents that they should never drink bleach – and that doing so will certainly not prevent coronavirus.
The Blue Ridge Poison Center said in a letter obtained by WCAV, “There is a lot of confusing, incomplete, and just plain inaccurate information circulating about how to prevent the COVID-19 virus (“coronavirus”) from spreading. Some advice measures simply won’t help, and some could be downright dangerous. The Blue Ridge Poison Center at UVA Health warns that drinking bleach will not prevent COVID-19 infections and could cause serious injury.”
While bleach is an effective tool for disinfecting car handles, desktops and other surfaces, the BRPC warns that the cleaning agent can burn one’s mouth, throat and stomach. It can also cause skin irritations, breathing difficulty and vomiting.
When used correctly, however, bleach can play an effective role in killing coronavirus germs outside the body, however.
For cleaning surfaces, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests making a diluted bleach solution with five tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water.
See more on the CDC website.
via: https://fox2now.com/news/drinking-bleach-will-not-prevent-coronavirus-poison-control-center-warns/
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Here’s what this US coronavirus survivor in Seattle learned when she was sick
(CNN) — A Seattle woman who says she had the coronavirus and is recovering has one “big takeaway” to share: Don’t panic.
Elizabeth Schneider, 37, believes she contracted the virus at a house party because a few days later, several friends who were at the party became ill at the same time she did.
Three days after the February 22 party, Schneider says, she was at work when she started feeling unwell.
She was “feeling tired, body aches, getting a headache, feeling a little bit feverish,” so she decided to go home, Schneider told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
She woke up from a nap with a 101 degree fever, and “by the time I went to bed, it had soared to 103 degrees,” Schneider said.
Schneider said she thought she had a nasty flu. It didn’t occur to her that it could be the coronavirus because the symptoms didn’t fit — she didn’t have a cough, no shortness of breath, no respiratory symptoms at all.
The “aha” moment didn’t come until she found out that about a dozen friends who’d been to the same party got sick “at the exact same day, roughly around the same time in the evening, with very similar symptoms.”
The Seattle area is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US. Of the 1,635 cases reported in the country since the Covid-19 first appeared in January, 457 of them are in Washington, including 41 deaths.
Still, Schneider and her friends weren’t tested for the coronavirus, she said. Their doctors thought they had the flu, but the flu tests were negative.Take Control of Cold and Flu SymptomsA Warm Wave of Relief in Every CupAd By TherafluSee More
“At this point, we were all getting a little frustrated that they weren’t allowed to be tested for coronavirus, or the doctor wasn’t even suggesting” they be tested for it, Schneider said.
So, one of her friends told her about a Seattle flu study. Participants sign up online and send in a nasal swab from a kit that’s part of the study. Recently, she said, they started testing for coronavirus, too, and “that’s how I ultimately found out.”
Schneider said she recovered after staying home, resting and taking over-the-counter medications.
“I think the big takeaway I want to tell everyone is: Please don’t panic,” Schneider said. “If you are healthy, if you are younger, if you take good care of yourself when you’re sick, you will recover, I believe. And I’m living proof of that.”
Schneider, though, had age and otherwise good health on her side. For the elderly or people with underlying health conditions, such as heart disease or diabetes, Covid-19 can be — and has been — deadly, health officials say.
“The grim reality is that, for the elderly, Covid-19 is almost a perfect killing machine,” American Health Care Association President Mark Parkinson told CNN this week.
Some states are restricting visits to nursing homes and assisted living facilities in an effort to stem the spread of the disease to that vulnerable population. Nursing homes in Washington state, for example, have been instructed to limit visitors as coronavirus cases spread across 11 facilities in the state.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/CNN
Toilet paper rolls found dumped alongside interstate in Arkansas amid nationwide shortage
ARKANSAS (KFSM) — Dozens of toilet paper rolls were found dumped alongside I-49 in Arkansas this morning.
The toilet paper was on both sides of the highway.
Toilet paper is a hot commodity right now as fears of coronavirus are clearing store shelves.
It is unclear where the toilet paper came from.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
THE DIVINE AWAKENING’S SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES AND CANNED AND DRIED GOOD FOOD GUIDE
This file is from Facebook group’s ‘Divine Awakening’.
Good luck to everyone!
Student suspended from school for selling ‘squirts’ of hand sanitizer to classmates
As coronavirus panic reaches a fever pitch – and the World Health Organization officially calling it a pandemic – some people have taken advantage of people’s anxiety for a quick buck.
That includes one teenager in the United Kingdom, who was suspended from school for the day for selling “squirts” of hand sanitizer to his friends at Dixons Unity Academy in Leeds.
Jenny Tompkins posted her son’s moneymaking schemes on Facebook Wednesday, where it amassed nearly 198,000 reactions and 98,000 comments – much of which praised his entrepreneurial savvy.
“Very hard to discipline this behaviour when his dad phones him from work to call him a (expletive) legend,” Tompkins wrote on Facebook.
One poster called him a “very enterprising lad.”
In all, he made just over $11 from his little grift – after selling each squirt for 64 cents.
What are the proceeds going to be used for? Tompkins said he purchased a bag of Doritos – and plans to buy a kebab with the rest of his cash.
A reminder: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prefers plain-old hand washing with soap and water, which eradicates all germs, over hand sanitizer.
Photo Credit: indianatimes