Los Angeles Times - 11.03.2020

(Steven Felgate) #1

A4 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020 WSCE LATIMES.COM


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Political music: In the
March 10 Calendar section,
an article about political
music said that a Walt Dis-
ney Concert Hall singalong
led by Imani Uzuri was
based on the Joan Baez song
“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody
Turn Me Around.” The sing-
along was based on the Afri-
can American spiritual
“Don’t You Let Nobody Turn
You Around,” a version of
which Baez popularized.


FOR THE


RECORD


MOSCOW — Russian
President Vladimir Putin
says he supports a proposed
constitutional amendment
that would allow him to seek
another term and remain in
power until 2036.
Putin gave his support
Tuesday to the amendment
put forward by lawmaker
Valentina Tereshkova, the
first female cosmonaut to fly
to space. Tereshkova pro-
posed either scrapping pres-
idential term limits or
amending the Russian Con-
stitution to let Putin run
again. A series of constitu-
tional amendments is going
to a nationwide vote April 22.
The Russian president
spoke against scrapping
term limits, but backed the
idea of revising the ceiling.
The current law limits him to
two consecutive terms.
Putin’s current six-year term
expires in 2024.
The 67-year-old Putin has
been in power for more than
20 years, becoming Russia’s
longest-serving leader since
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
He addressed lawmakers
during a divisive debate on
constitutional amendments
he proposed earlier. The
amendments are up for a
second reading.
The Kremlin-controlled
lower house, the State
Duma, is set to quickly en-
dorse Putin’s proposals.
Tereshkova, a ruling
party lawmaker, broached
the idea during the second
reading of constitutional
amendments Putin intro-
duced to the parliament in
January.
“The very existence of an
opportunity for the current
president [to get reelected],
given his major gravitas,
would be a stabilizing factor
for our society,” Tereshkova
told the lower house on
Tuesday.
Tereshkova’s proposal
contradicts what Putin said
earlier about the possibility
of remaining president — he
rejected the idea of scrap-
ping term limits just last
week, saying it’s important
to guarantee government
rotation in Russia in the fu-
ture.
“Why don’t I want to
scrap limits? It’s not that I
fear myself: I’m not going to
lose my mind, it’s not about
me,” Putin said Friday dur-
ing a meeting with workers
and activists in Ivanovo, a
city northeast of Moscow fa-
mous for its textile indus-
tries.
“Stability, calm devel-
opment of the country may
be more important now, but
later when the country be-
comes more confident and
gets richer it will definitely
be necessary to ensure gov-
ernment rotation.”

Putin


OKs bid


to extend


tenure


associated press

“The police came by this
morning with the order to
put down the lines,” said
Luigi, noting that the marks
on the floor were a yard
apart to keep his patrons a
safe distance from one an-
other. “We have only seen a
few customers today, but in
two days I bet they will be
back.”
That is not likely. Since
Prime Minister Giuseppe
Conte ordered unprecedent-
ed peacetime travel restric-
tions on Monday, Italians
have been forced to edit their
impulses and rearrange
their inclinations. The num-
ber of coronavirus cases has
soared, reaching 10,149 on
Tuesday after a daily in-
crease of 977 cases, confirm-
ing Italy as the worst-hit
country outside Asia. More
than 630 Italians have died.
The effects have been
startling; a city of clamor has


been hushed. St. Peter’s
Square and the Trevi Foun-
tain have been closed to pil-
grims and visitors. Rome
feels as if an unexpected vigil
has suddenly descended.
Barricades have gone up. Al-
leys are empty of the whine
of motorini; the snapping
banners of tour guides have
fallen silent. Traffic along
the Tiber is as light as an er-
rant snowfall.
One woman described it
on Facebook as a beautiful
prison.
The same is true in Milan,
the nation’s northern econo-
mic engine and the epicen-
ter of the virus outbreak.
The Lombardy region, as it
is known, accounts for more
than half of Italy’s 10,000 in-
fection cases and most of its
877 intensive care cases. It
was the first to close schools,
gyms, churches, museums
and soccer pitches. Resi-
dents can leave the house
only for work, health reasons
or “other necessities” such
as buying groceries or get-
ting exercise.
“This virus doesn’t stop,”
Attilio Fontana, president of
the Lombardy region, said
during a televised news con-
ference. “The only way to
beat the virus is to stop its
spread.” He called on Ital-
ians to quit going to cafes,
saying, “It can’t be consid-
ered a limitation on our free-
dom, but a necessity for pub-
lic health.”
Many are abiding by
those warnings, recognizing
the danger of a mysterious
illness that has spread and
killed quickly. But there’s

talk and scheming among
others about how to sneak
past the Carabinieri para-
military police and get
around the new restrictions,
which will be in place nation-
wide until April 3. Italians —
by nature, design and expe-
rience — look for the hole in
the loop, the fine tear in the
fabric.
“Italians just don’t like to
follow rules,” said Anna
Kraczyna, 52, an Italian pro-
fessor of language and cul-
ture based in Florence. “It’s
like it’s embedded in our
DNA because we’ve had to
obey so many rules through-
out the centuries.”
Italians lived under some
form of occupation from the
fall of the Roman Empire un-
til the country’s unification
in 1861, Kraczyna said. A trait
called furbizia, a type of cle-
verness and subtle enjoy-
ment derived from breaking
the rules, developed as a sur-
vival mechanism against the
country’s many occupiers.
Simona Romano, a 28-
year-old cafe owner, noticed
that some stores were still
open and people still out:
“All day I’ve been seeing peo-
ple on public transportation
going who knows where,”
she said, looking out the win-
dow onto a major shopping
street near the Duomo. Doz-
ens of people, many wearing
masks, were walking around
even as the 6 p.m. closing
time approached.
After videos emerged of
students drinking in piazzas
despite the pubs being
closed, the government
launched a social media

campaign called #iorestoa-
casa, or #i’mstayinghome,
with Italian celebrities try-
ing to persuade young peo-
ple to rein themselves in.
“Young people think that
being immune from the
virus they don’t need to stay
home, but they don’t realize
they can be vectors,” said a
source with the Health Min-
istry. “Now we’re asking art-
ists, musicians, influencers,
athletes to say, ‘You need to
stay home.’ ”
Thousands of southern
Italians working in the north
rushed home over the week-
end to avoid being stuck by
the quarantine. They were
criticized by Giovanni
Rezza, an official at Italy’s
national health institute,
who called them “biological
bombs.” At the same time,
hospital beds were filling up
in Lombardy with virus
cases while patients with
other serious conditions
such as strokes were being
evacuated to other regions.
Some doctors wonder if that
strategy is wise.
“If we take in a weak 80-
year-old and maybe keep
them alive for two weeks, it is
possible they will then die
and we will not have treated
many other people who had
a much higher chance of sur-
viving,” Dr. Marco Vergano,
an anesthetist at Turin’s
San Giovanni Bosco Hospi-
tal, told the daily La
Stampa.
As the virus spread
south, residents in Rome
were donning masks and lin-
ing up outside supermar-
kets as staff let in a few at a

time to minimize contact.
The shoppers were asked to
line up a yard apart from one
another. There was no es-
cape from such predica-
ments: The government has
banned open-air assemblies
and sporting events while
closing swimming pools,
spas, ski resorts, museums,
cinemas and theaters and
barring church funerals.
Italians must fill in a form
to show to police if they wish
to leave their town, but de-
spite being encouraged to
stay at home, they are still al-
lowed to go to work. To less-
en the economic blow — re-
ports suggest Italy may dip
into a recession — of com-
pany and shop closures, the
government said it was con-
sidering suspending mort-
gage payments for families
and small firms.
Across Rome, parents
who were able to work from
home were sharing band-
width with children partici-
pating in videoconference
lessons with their school-
teachers. After suspending
Masses across the country,
the Roman Catholic Church
continued to respond to the
crisis this week as the Vati-
can ordered the closure of
St. Peter’s Square and St.
Peter’s Basilica.
The government told
tourists it was time to go.
But many couldn’t find
flights as airlines canceled
connections to Italy.

Special correspondents
Kington and Brancolini
reported from Rome and
Milan, respectively.

IN ROME, the Spanish Steps are empty but for two police officers. Italy’s nationwide quarantine to stem the coronavirus’ spread has
closed tourist spots, and in the capital city, where the daily bustle has diminished, it feels as if an unexpected vigil has descended.


Marco Di LauroGetty Images

Quarantine disrupts rhythm of life


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