with S Korea, Italy is the first democracy (+ EU member) swept by the epidemic. Its figures give indications about how the problem is transparently addressed in a non-authoritarian context. Dilemmas regarding public health capacity, people's mobility, etc
Italy #COVID2019 lethality % vis-à-vis diagnosed infection cases is higher than Korea. Many refer to Italy's aging population as a key factor, but remember also that at the end of February Italy changed its testing policy, limiting tampons to symptomatic cases (strictly speaking)
after creating red zones and closing schools (north first, country-wide after), numbers (based on that choice) are still relatively elusive. While public hospitals (esp. intensive care) in the North go through severe stress, there are doubts that Southern hospitals could make it
like elsewhere, in Italy we saw some panicking and denial ('just a flue, deaths are *with covid-19, not *by it'). Negationism is fueled by economic fear. Also, a populist variant of 'health sovereignism' appeared ('we're being cordoned off, how dare they not help with masks' etc)
Italy's gradualistic and transparent approach to #COVID19 so far has relied on public regulation and social acceptance, not on criminalisation of individual behavior. However as measures become stricter and painful, 'superficial behavior' is now being exposed on (social) media
the expected shift in tones: Italy’s public tv announces that according to Min of Interior those who violate #COVID2019 quarantine imperatives may face 3 months of prison 
high tension in Italy’s overcrowded prisons over #covid19 measures: inmate dies during revolt in Modena
protests and revolts in Italy's overcrowded prisons facing #COVID2019 emergency measures. One dead in Modena, agents being held in Pavia (both in lockdown zone)
