You all knew this post was coming. This is going to be a very vulnerable and honest post about everything that is going on right now regarding COVID-19 or ‘coronavirus’. However, I am by no means an expert on this topic. My opinions come from my experience in Italy while the entire country is currently being quarantined to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Important to note first is that it is certainly not my intention to criticize anybody’s actions or responses to coronavirus, I am merely trying to reflect upon this situation from my own unique perspective.

To begin, I’ll talk briefly about Italy’s current experience with coronavirus, including how the country is responding, as well as how the quarantine is affecting me personally. I remember hearing about coronavirus in Italy for the first time as I was on my way home from my trip to Brussels. I arrived back to Italy from Brussels on February 23rd. To put this in perspective, this was only 3 weeks ago. When I left for Brussels on the 20th there was very little concern about the coronavirus in Italy. My point being that the coronavirus quickly exploded and escalated in Italy (predominantly in Northern Italy). Overnight, the numbers of cases and deaths began consistently rising in the North. We were keeping in mind that (as I’m sure we all know) this virus did not seem to be taking the lives of young, healthy individuals, but rather the lives of elders or those already facing poor health and/or compromised immune systems. Also worth noting is that Italy has A LOT of old people. Italians generally live a long time and Italian families often all live together as the grandparents are taken in by their children. They are the most openly loving and family driven people that I’ve ever met. Anyways, this is likely a contributing factor to how easily the virus has seemed to spread throughout the North. I will avoid discussing the facts/statistics beyond this, both because it is constantly changing, and furthermore because we should all be educating ourselves through credible news sources on our own time. No, CNN is not a reputable source. These news articles (and many, many others) tend to be quite biased and are often meant to instil fear. These articles are clickbait, meaning they will have catchy titles that force you to click on it and read the article. Ultimately, try to ensure you are obtaining your information from WHO, official government websites, and so on.

From February 23rd until the countrywide quarantine on March 10th, I did not feel much of a difference here in Rome. Rome felt like it was “safe” from all the chaos going on in Northern Italy. Meg and I both had friends/family messaging us, concerned for our wellbeing, however, we reassured them that we were completely fine and unaffected by the virus. After all, we were quite a ways from the affected and quarantined towns in the North. In this period, Meg and I went on with our lives in Rome relatively normally. We continued to go to restaurants, coffee shops and stores. In hindsight, this is not how we or the rest of people throughout Italy in the “unaffected” areas should have handled the situation. I remember thinking “it’s just the flu” and since I’m young and healthy, I will be fine. I felt I had absolutely nothing to worry about as I’ve had flus before. HOWEVER, I have come to realize that my thinking is dangerous and comes from a place of privilege and ignorance. I do not fault or shame myself in this reaction – after all, this is the first time I have been in such a position. I had been invalidating and underestimating the situation with coronavirus. The reality is that this virus is serious and has affected millions. My thinking failed to acknowledge those that are most at risk. I feel like as humans we are inherently selfish. Whether we like to believe it or not, we are most concerned about ourselves. Of course we are concerned for our loved ones as well, however, selfishly we tend to think of ourselves (our health, our plans, our personal concerns) first. Again, we need to go easy on ourselves and remember that in our lifetime we have never faced such a situation before. Everyone is going to respond in different ways, and that is okay. While the symptoms do mimic those of influenza, coronavirus should not be taken as lightly as getting the flu. It is a dangerous virus that is very easily spread, causing worldwide panic, economic hardship and long-term quarantines. It is claiming the lives of those more vulnerable. Going on with your life normally in the midst of a pandemic fails to recognize those that are less privileged. Less privileged meaning those that don’t have access to adequate healthcare, a support system in their life, and sufficient funds to tide them through this unknown period. Many cannot afford to be taking extra, unpaid time off of work to isolate themselves if they have flu like symptoms, or they may not have the funds to stock up on essentials just in case they were to be quarantined. When I say essentials, I do NOT mean buying 7 packs of toilet paper and a crap ton of bottled water (AHEM, NORTH AMERICA). Essentials such as medicines if you were to fall sick and anything that would be beneficial to your recovery. North America’s reaction to the coronavirus has been inherently selfish and greedy. It is sad. Don’t take more than is necessary. Fear does strange things to people…

Being in Quarantine/Lockdown

I believe that it is important to take this global situation as seriously as you possibly can. Not only for yourself, but for the sake of those around you that may be more vulnerable. If you are younger and healthy, you will more than likely be completely fine should you get the virus, so that should not be your main concern. The concern remains that this virus is insanely contagious and you could be unknowingly spreading it to everybody that you come into contact with. It is also important to remember that everyone responds to pandemic type situations differently. Some may be more scared than others and that is completely okay. What is not okay is invalidating someone’s feelings (if these feelings are doing no harm to others). It is normal to feel worried, anxious or afraid in this period of uncertainty. What is of concern is how we cope with these emotions. Italy’s initial reaction was to quarantine entire towns in the North, which definitely instilled more fear throughout the country, more notably in the North which caused people to flee and spread the virus even more. While I am by no means an expert (as I said before) and I have no right answers, I’m not sure that Italy initially dealt with the situation correctly. But they are not to blame, they have never experienced anything like this. Nobody was prepared for this, no government knows how to “correctly” handle this bizarre situation. They are simply trying to do what they think would be best for the entire country. That is a huge responsibility.

On March 10th (speculation arose the night of March 9th) the Italian prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, announced that the entire country would be under lockdown/quarantine until April 3rd (as of right now). My interpretation of the “rules” that were imposed in reference to the lockdown are as follows. Everybody is advised to stay in their homes. Travel is only permitted for work or family emergency reasons. These reasons are verified by filling out a document stating your reason for movement and carrying it around with you should you be approached by an officer. This is confusing as we are unsure if we need this form with us even if we are just walking to go pick up some groceries. The only businesses permitted to be open during this time period are grocery stores, pharmacies and medical offices/buildings. You must remain 1 metre from others and there is no traveling in groups. As a result of this quarantine being in effect, many airlines have chosen to not fly into any Italian airports for an extended period of time. RyanAir (a budget airline that is well-known and used throughout Europe) has suspended all their flights to/from Italy and Air Canada has cancelled theirs into May. While all of this may seem extreme, it is being done in an effort to curb the influx of people contracting corona. The healthcare system in Italy is more than adequate to provide effective care for sick individuals, but it is being overloaded. If the trends were to continue, the healthcare system here would NOT be able to handle it. The hospitals would have to start choosing who they would like to treat, and this is something that the Italian government wants to completely avoid.

Anyways, I’m writing this post on day 6 and 7 of the lockdown and up until now there have been many highs and lows. First off, I want to say how thankful I am to have my friend Megan with me in our apartment. Without her I really don’t think I would be able to get through this. I appreciate and love her so much. The first couple of days were not bad at all, we were remaining positive and we watched a lot of Sex and the City, worked out, and wrote in our journals. I think that I initially thought that this experience would be weirdly fun, even though I knew that I would rather be out exploring Rome. I was trying SO hard to be positive, despite the unfortunate circumstances. However, I feel like within the last couple of days all of the realities have begun to really sink in and it has gotten a lot more difficult. I think that the scariest part of our current situation is all the uncertainties that surround it. I have a flight booked from Rome to Toronto (direct) on April 11th and while the lockdown is scheduled to be finished by then, I still find myself worrying that Air Transat is going to cancel the flight. We don’t know that April 3rd will 100% be the last day of the countrywide lockdown. The Italian government could decide that extending the lockdown is necessary for the country’s health & safety. I know that I have the love and support of my parents (thanks for answering my FaceTime calls everyday😅), but I can’t help but feel anxious. I have never been a fan of uncertainty. I am a planner and I think that is why this situation is starting to stress me out more and more with each day that I’m stuck inside my apartment. However, I know I will get through this and one day I will have a crazy story to tell. I’m trying to maintain a routine everyday to help keep me positive and distracted. To fill my days, I’ve been writing in my journal, doing at home workouts with YouTube channel that I like, writing blog posts that I have fallen behind on, attempting to learn Yoga (this is embarrassing – I am the least flexible/coordinated person ever), meditation, watching lots of Netflix, reading a book, sitting on our balcony, dancing to Just Dance videos with Meg (her favourite is ‘Mr. Saxobeat’), cooking lots of food & trying to figure out what I want to do with my life once I am finally back home in Canada. A highlight of this period has been how each night at 6:00p.m., everyone comes out to their balconies and windows to enjoy music together. This consists of music playing loudly on speakers, live instruments being played, singing, dancing, clapping, waving and smiling to our neighbours, and ultimately coming together in a moment of joy. Overall, only 7 days in (still 24 more days left to go) and I will admit that it is not easy. It is a unique and unsettling experience that’s hard to imagine unless you’ve been in it. I appreciate every single person that has reached out to me over the last couple of weeks, even if it’s just to say “I’m thinking of you” or “I’m here for you” -these words truly mean the world to me. Also to my group of friends back home, I appreciate them so much for being there for me even though I know that I haven’t made it easy recently. I appreciate everything that they have offered me in an effort to support and understand what I’m going through. ❤️

So to everyone in North America, please do not make the same mistakes that we did. Don’t start to take action only once it has an effect on you. Do your research, try to recognize that coronavirus -even though it is just a strain of the flu- should not be taken lightly. Everybody has to be proactive and take necessary steps in order to protect those that are more vulnerable in our society. Most of these are very simple and are being bombarded at us in the media. Simple things such as, washing your hands frequently, staying home if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, avoiding any non-essential travel and practicing social distancing. Being inconvenienced now is well worth it if it will make a difference in controlling the spread around the world. With that being said, Canada and the United States are definitely on the right track with implementing preventative measures before the situation gets unmanageable. Italy did not begin to do this until it was too late. Learn from the mistakes that Italy has made to ensure that there will not be a strict countrywide quarantine in your country.

If you got through this extremely long blog post, thank you for reading! I will write another post with an update on my experience closer to the end of the quarantine period. But in between this, I will post some more blogs about my travels, because writing about the beautiful places that I’ve been so privileged to visit is what truly makes me happy. ❤️