By Giulio D'Ercole
Information on the Corona Virus situation in Italy
Dear Rome Photo Fun Tours' readers and potential clients,
As you might know, the Italian government has escalated the health alert level in Italy and extremely draconian resolutions have been issued to stop the contagion in our country: The red areas have been extended to many municipalities in Italy and although the rest of the peninsula is still considered a yellow zone, museums, cinemas, discos, many gyms and other entertainment venues have been closed all over the territory. The government strongly recommends staying at home and avoiding unnecessary travel. A health social media campaign for behavioral change, called #iorestoacasa, has been launched, and many show business artists and entertainers are participating to it.
So, please read throughout this blog, even if it might appear to be too long and boring. It contains not only updates on Rome Photo Fun Tours way to cope with Corona Virus, but also very valuable medical information and guidelines on an anti-corona virus behavioral to take in order to safeguard our health.
I hope my words will help you taking aware and wise decisions about your choices regarding traveling to Italy or elsewhere it's not safe to go... or even for your everyday life at home in case your country has been already hit by the virus.
What it means to be a responsible World Citizen I am sharing this info with you because as much as my choice can damage my business, that represents the economic survival of me and my family, at this moment I give absolute priority to my health, the one of my loved ones, my fellow-citizens, and to the wellbeing of the tourists wishing to come to Italy. Those are my potential customers, the ones that actually put food on my table by booking my tours.
As a matter of fact, never as in this period, I have being against populistic sovereignty ideas and never as in these days, I felt the responsibility of being a citizen of the world. For this reason, I refuse to be or even to be vaguely perceived as a greaser or as one of those HIV-positive people who, in spite of the fact they knew to be positive, they went around infecting other people. Sadly in these months, I will not work, I know it! But I am a resilient, creative, smart professional and so I can reassure you that in the meantime, I will study, specialize, improve, prepare new tours and marketing communication campaigns.
Yes, you bet, you can be sure that I will keep myself ready, hoping to see the light at the end of the tunnel, hoping to see you when all this unfortunate situation will be over.
A true update from a cardiologist working in an ICU ward in Milan
If you want to know how dangerous this virus is read this message from a medical doctor on the frontline. It will give you the right perspective on what is happening: "I am Martina, I am a cardiologist in an intensive care unit in a hospital in Milan. The situation is very serious, in the sense that this virus is extremely contagious.
It is true that many do not show symptoms, it is true that many get by without too many problems, but it is also true that many people develop what is called bilateral interstitial pneumonia that, basically, needs respiratory support. We don't have drugs because it's a virus and therefore antibiotics don't work. We are giving a cocktail of drugs that are used in viruses such as AIDS but on a completely experimental basis. We don't know if they will work or not. The only thing that can be done is to intubate the patient and then let him/her breathe through the machine, resting the lungs, waiting for the immune system to defeat the virus. It is true that those who die are often elderly and with co-pathologies, but there are many young people in intensive care. Our youngest patient is 38 years old and had no other problems. The real problem is that many people need ventilatory assistance and there are no fans for everyone. Already yesterday in my hospital they called me, I am in cardiology intensive care, asking me to give them one of our fans. We only have two left. I gave it to her and a patient whose tubes had been removed for the respiration helped the day before, normally in these cases, the ventilator is kept nearby because sometimes patients go into crisis and must be intubated, if this patient goes in crisis the fan is not there. Basically they told us that in these days we will have to choose who to intubate, so we favor young people and those without other pathologies. In Niguarda, which is another hospital, they no longer intubate patients over the age of 60, that is, truly young people. So the situation is really very serious. The virus is really very contagious. It has 14 days of incubation, so even if one person has been infected, that person is completely symptom-free for 14 days and can infect an incredible number of people. So the concept is that the only way not to have a massacre is to ensure that there are as few contagions as possible and if there should be, that they are spread over time. This is because if I have 10,000 sick people all at the same time and we have 3000 fans in Italy (as it is), and if all those 10,000 need to be ventilated and intubated, 7000 dies. If, on the other hand, I manage to move the infection further and reduce the speed of infection, when the new ones get sick, the old ones who are already intubated will probably be healed and have freed the fan. The only things to do are what they are already saying around, so it's true, staying at home, no cinema, no exhibitions, no walking around, shops as little as possible, closed schools, football in the afternoon closed, no dinners outside, avoid staying in contact with other people and washing your hands as much as possible. Soap and alcoholic solutions such as Amuchina work well. The virus on surfaces remains, but it only lasts 30-40 minutes. The only way to make sure it goes away is to wash with bleach and leave the bleach in contact for 40 minutes. You in Rome are in the same situation we were in Milan ten days ago and I assure you that in ten days there has been an incredible escalation of the thing. Lombardy is collapsing and it is the Region that is doing better in terms of health so I cannot think what could happen if the problem extends to the less efficient regions. For children, there are no serious cases. Some children are positive but, potentially, as with all viruses such as chickenpox measles and others, basically even if they infect them, the viruses are developed in their body with a much less aggressive form than in adults. But they children are very dangerous unaware and unsuspected greasers. The reason is that if the child is infected, he/she does not show symptoms and when he/she goes to visit grandparents ... basically the child might unwillingly infect them, killing them. So, too try to limit the contact between children and grandparents. Without panicking, keep in mind that the Corona Virus is not something that should be underestimated and those who can stay in the house as much as possible, without seeing anybody, they should. If you have questions, doubts, perplexities, I am here, I keep going to the hospital. "
These are very serious words regarding our present life. Let's listen to them.
