American in Italy since 1984. #LiveTweetingthePandemic from Italy and talking about life during #COVIDWinter. @patrickhopkins@mastodon.world
Apr 4, 2020 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
I went shopping today in Italy under Lockdown 3.5.
I have a lot of practical advice to share with you as you all start adjusting to your new lives in #COVIDWinter. /1
- Your new life in #COVIDWinter is much more accessorized than before. Mask, 2 pairs of gloves (always carry extra), pen (to fill in police forms), form, wallet w/ ID, phone, keys etc. I thought I had solved this problem by wearing a jacket with big pockets, but it's warmer... /2
Mar 20, 2020 • 18 tweets • 5 min read
1/ So I went food shopping today in Italy. It was my first time really since Lockdown 2.0 was enacted. I must say it was quite an adventure and therefore I think very useful for you as we all enter full #COVIDWinter.
Stay with me, this is going to be a longish thread with video!
2/ I went shopping alone because we saw on the store's website that only one family member was allowed at a time (no kids).
As I was driving I ended up behind a police car that was going in the same direction. Near the entrance to the small town where the store is, we passed...
Mar 19, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Ok everybody, here's a report on what I saw as I traveled into Bologna for the first time since I left 3 wks ago for #COVIDWinter.
The trip is about 1 hr and I didn't see a single police car or checkpoint. The traffic was certainly less, but the roads were not empty.
2/ As I suspected, most traffic is commercial (trucks, vans etc) but there were more cars than I expected. We saw one ambulance with siren blaring.
Mar 12, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
1/ Since I have so many new followers as I'm #LiveTweetingthePandemic, I thought I'd go over where things stand in Italy and how we got here.
I think it will give you a good roadmap of what to expect in your near future.
2/ Over the course of just a few weeks the Italian govt has gradually put in place measures to reduce contact between people. Why gradually? Because people and govts want to maintain the status quo and this thing is so different that they can't comprehend that it requires...
Mar 9, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/ So here I am, #LiveTweetingthePandemic of #COVID2019 from Italy which as of tomorrow morning is one big, honkin' Red Zone until April 3rd.
If nothing else it resolves a lot of the questions my family had to deal with for the past few days, i.e....
2/ can I move from RED to YELLOW since I was right on the border of the RED but we had things to do in the YELLOW? Now it's all RED so we're all free to move around where we like, except we're asked to do that ONLY if it's really necessary.
How does this all work?
Feb 27, 2020 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
Ok people it’s time for some tough love. Please RETWEET THIS because everybody needs to hear it.
Like it or not, your life is about to be affected by #COVID2019. Take it from me – I’m in the middle of a yellow zone in Italy with my family. /1
#COVID2019#LiveTweetingthePandemic
Setting aside whether the virus is dangerous or not (that’s not my area), the fact remains that institutions are taking measures to fight it and so your life is likely to be affected in some manner, whether you like it or not, whether you get sick or not. /2
Feb 25, 2020 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
@juliebosman@CDCgov@DrNancyM_CDC Don't I know it. Friday I thought the virus would reach in Italy this summer. Sunday I was fleeing the city of Bologna where I live, roadblocks in other cities, schools shut down for at least a week, probably more. Supermarkets empty. PLAN AHEAD, it moves fast.
@juliebosman@CDCgov@DrNancyM_CDC And what people don't get is that it's a game of whack-a-mole. If you avoid it successfully you're not vaccinated or inoculated. So even if you avoid it THIS time, it can return in a few months and you have to shut everything down AGAIN. Until there's a vaccine or we all get it.
