Lockdown in Italy, 20 March 2020

Originally posted on my Facebook page on 20 March

Italy's death toll surpasses China. 

41,000 people have tested positive and 3,405 are dead. Just 28 days ago when we arrived, there were only 4 known cases. 

We have all been standing still in Italy, hoping our inaction will make a difference. It's still too early to tell, but it's hard to watch these numbers climb knowing we can do nothing about the wave that was set in motion before the lockdown. 

During the last 3 weeks it has felt like we are jumping from one stepping stone to the next. At each stop a new reality awaits us, but it takes our eyes time to find their focus and understand what we are seeing.

It was an emotional day yesterday. An image from Bergamo, a town in northern Italy that we had visited many years ago, showed coffins lined up in a large hall. Morgues have run out of space and as of today, the Army has been called in to transport them to other regions.

Each one of these people had a lifetime of stories that cannot yet be told at their funeral, because funerals are banned. Each one of these people had loved ones who wanted to hold them again for the last time but could not, because visitors are not allowed. Each one of these people reminds us why the whole world has stopped.

As the world stands still, for the first time in our own lifetimes we share one story, a global story that reminds us there is no us and them. What affects one, affects us all. 

Now is the time to stop, to follow the rules, and to deny the coronavirus a free ride further into our communities. We must be patient and never selfish, kind and never cruel, calm and always hopeful. 

We honour these people and the many more we do not yet dare to consider, by celebrating life. Lift your faces to the sun and admire nature's ceaseless blooming. Make peace with your neighbours and be gentle with our elderly. Help a stranger and hold tight to a loved one. This is what we can do, and in the end it will be this that really matters.