Why Is Italy Still Getting Thousands Of Coronavirus Cases Per Day If They Are Locked Down For Weeks?

This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Natalie Voy, Translator, currently living in Italy.



Italian here. I'm near the epicenter of this pandemonium.

The virus has a 14 days incubation period so people who are getting sick now were infected 2 weeks ago. The problem is: as soon as the lockdown has started people didn't really take it seriously. Young people in Milan were making tiktok videos about how cool they were to go out during a lockdown. Plus it was difficult for Italians to give up on their habitual “aperitivo”. People were thinking what now some Americans and Dutch think: “It's just a flu. I'm young, it won't affect me”.

The last week of February all schools and museums closed down so lots of students saw it as a way to go out and have fun.

In March government closed all shops except pharmacies, and food- and newspaper shops. People started to realise how serious it was, but there still were lots of people around without certificate or masks.

Last week we went on a complete lockdown, so no work or jogging. You can walk your dog only if you stay far away from other people. There's a € 5000 fine if police sees you around without a certificate.

This is the certificate you need. You can download it from government website, print it and fill it with info such as your personal info, Id number and why you are outside. Options are:

• Important work reasons (for healthcare professionals and people who work at pharmacies and food shops);
• Primary necessity (like going to the pharmacy, buying groceries or walking your dog);
• Health reasons (if you go to the hospital);
• Returning home.

If you don't have a printer at home you can go to newspaper shops where they can print it for you.

All parks and public gardens are closed. Well, when I went to buy groceries yesterday I saw this:



You can see the red banner on the ground and a guy walking without a mask. There were also two guys playing basketball in the park and two ladies talking, seated on a bench.

What I mean by this is: you can't quarantine the whole country completely. What the government is trying to accomplish is diminish the infection so we can handle the sick with proper equipment and enough doctors. But people still do interact somehow.

The cases are already diminishing slightly and should diminish more by the first week of April. They won't disappear completely since there are asymptomatic people who don't know they're infected and pass it on.

The good part is: nature is taking back its space. I saw a hedgehog in a park where not even birds would go to before. There are deer at night and pollution plummeted significantly. We can actually feel the difference when breathing the air.




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