One Year Later and A Fresh New Lockdown

A year ago we thought we were going to stay at home for two weeks in an effort to help our healthcare systems deal with the new Covid-19 virus that became a pandemic.  Today, Italy is entering another lockdown in over half of the country.  

Due to rising contagion and cases, mainly from the new strains of the virus, and an unanticipatedly slow vaccine rollout, Italy’s health professionals and new PM Mario Draghi have changed most of the regions in the country to red and orange zones, with only Sardegna remaining in the new fewest restrictions white zone, and no regions are lucky enough to be in the lower restriction yellow zone.  

With over half of the country in the red zone, people must stay home unless for reasons of health and work, carry the auto declaration if you must go out, and all stores, shops restaurants, bars, hairdressers and museums are closed with the exception of pharmacies, supermarkets, tabacchi and essential services.  For those of us in this red zone, which will last a minimum of three weeks, this feels exactly like one year ago when we went into our homes and did not emerge for more than two months.  We can only hope that this does not last that long, but the mood is dispiritedly similar on this last day before the restrictions kick in.