46 TheEconomistMarch 14th 2020
1G
iovambattista presti, a psychologist
at the Kore University of Enna in Sicily,
is an adviser to the Policlinico, Milan’s old-
est hospital, which is at the centre of Italy’s
covid-19 epidemic. Of great concern now,
says Mr Presti, is staff burnout. He is partic-
ularly worried about post-traumatic stress
disorder among some medics. If hospitals
reach the point at which they no longer
have the capacity to treat every patient,
some of them “will be forced to decide who
should go into intensive care and who
should be left to die”.
Similar accounts are emerging else-
where. Daniele Macchini is a doctor at the
Humanitas Gavazzeni hospital in nearby
Bergamo. It has been overwhelmed by co-
vid-19 patients. “Cases are multiplying. We
are getting 15-20 admissions a day,” he
wrote on Facebook. “The results of the
swabs come in one after another: positive,
positive, positive. All of a sudden, accident
and emergency is collapsing.” Nurses, he
added, have been reduced to tears “because
we cannot save everyone”.These reports are coming out of Lom-
bardy, a wealthy region whose health ser-
vice is judged to be among the best in a
country that last year came second in Eu-
rope in a health-care efficiency ranking by
Bloomberg. On March 10th Antonio Pe-
senti, the intensive-care co-ordinator for
Lombardy’s crisis unit, told journalists that
the region’s health system was “one step
from collapse”.
Italy’s epidemic, which is still concen-
trated in Lombardy, spread rapidly. On Feb-
ruary 25th the country’s health authorities
had detected 322 cases of covid-19. Two
weeks later that number had passed
10,000. Deaths have risen even more steep-
ly as the virus, which is disproportionally
lethal to the elderly, has attacked Europe’s
oldest population. By March 11th, more
than 800 of those infected had died.The crisis in Italy is sending shivers
down spines in Europe and America. In
many countries the number of cases being
detected is rising on a trajectory that will
soon bring them to the point at which Italy
currently finds itself (see chart on final
page). Governments elsewhere are watch-
ing to see whether Italy’s efforts slow its
epidemic, spreading infections out over
time and giving its hospitals some breath-
ing room.
On March 8th the Italian government
imposed nationwide curbs on large gather-
ings. Big weddings and funerals were
banned; museums, cinemas and theatres
were closed. Nationwide travel restrictions
followed a day later. Italians are not al-
lowed to leave—or travel within—the cities
and towns where they live, except for work
or emergencies. Restaurants, bars and all
shops except foodstores and pharmacies
were told to close entirely from March 12th.
Europe has not seen controls on this scale
since the second world war.
Other European countries have, for the
moment, opted for less restrictive mea-
sures. Like Italy, several countries includ-
ing France, Spain and Greece have closed
schools and universities. Some have
banned big public gatherings. In America
variations on these themes are being im-
posed at county or state level. A growing
number of universities, including Harvard
and Princeton, are switching to remote
teaching or simply sending their studentsCovid-19All’italiana
ROME AND SEOUL
Italy has imposed a nationwide lockdown. Should other countries copy it?International
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