Lockdown in Italy, 21 March 2020

Originally posted on my Facebook page on 21 March

I'm sitting in our kitchen and there is a strange sound rising from the garage below. Phil is singing with headphones on!

Yesterday the Italian government made it very clear that exercising outside the boundary of your home is forbidden. Some regions had already been enforcing this, but this particular decree was more formal because it also includes professional cyclists who had, up to this point, been allowed to continue training on the road. You might think this makes no sense, but the goal is to eliminate any other distractions for the health system.

Life is changing fast, and I share these stories from Italy not just to acknowledge what is happening here, but to offer a glimpse of the road that lays ahead for others. Each country will have its own approach and there will be differences, but there is no avoiding the fact that your first step down this path will be followed by many more.

Italy widened its lockdown decree from a few specific towns to instead cover the most affected regions on Sunday 8 March. Two days later they expanded those provisions to cover the whole country. Two days later they increased the restrictions by closing all restaurants, bars and cafes. And so it went until now we must not leave our homes for any unnecessary reason and we must have a form with all the details about why we are doing so. 

Yesterday I shared the pain being experienced in Bergamo hospital and the fact that Italy's death toll had surpassed China's. Today it is worse. The important thing to understand is that when the curve rises, nothing can slow it down except social distancing, the efforts of a medical system that has the capacity to respond to such an unprecedented emergency, and patience. 

As it turns out, Italy did this right. It acted first and refined the details as it went. This made it easy for us to stop being in close contact because we have just done what they have told us to do. Other countries got caught in planning and preparing, and all the while people have been continuing to travel, attend events, go to bars and gather. You don't have to wait for your government to tell you what to do. Act now.