A ‘Tsunami That Has Overwhelmed Us’: Italian Doctor Paints Grim Picture Of A Country Under Siege

Huffington Post: Doctor In Italy’s Coronavirus Epicenter Tells Chilling Details In Plea For Action
Dr. Daniele Macchini, a doctor treating COVID-19 patients in a hospital located in the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus outbreak, has detailed the distressing conditions he’s witnessing and his deep concern about the spread of the virus. In a now-viral Facebook post, Macchini sought to convey the situation in Bergamo, a city near Milan in northern Italy. He likened the outbreak to a “war” and a “tsunami that has overwhelmed us.” The 16 million people in the northern region of the country were the first to be locked down on Sunday before a nationwide lockdown on the country’s 60 million residents was enforced Tuesday in an effort to slow the spread. …“The media in Europe are reassuring, politicians are reassuring, while there’s little to be reassured of,” the epidemiologist wrote. “After much thought about whether and what to write about what is happening to us, I felt that silence was not responsible,” Macchini’s translated post begins. (Harvey, 3/11)

ABC News: Coronavirus Outbreak In Europe Has Many Asking, ‘Why Italy?’: Reporter’s Notebook 
It’s among the most clichéd journalistic tropes: to speak to the taxi driver en route to the airport and use those comments as some kind of gauge for the national sentiment. But at just after 5 a.m. on Tuesday, my cab driver cried as we drove to Rome’s Fiumicino airport. (Longman, 3/10)

The New York Times: Message Received: Italians Are Staying Home
Italy got the message. On the first day of Europe’s first nationwide restriction on movement and public gatherings to stem the rampant spread of the coronavirus, Italians steered clear of their streets, shops, churches and soccer fields. They obeyed the government’s “I Stay Home” decree, announced on Monday night by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte with a plea for common sacrifice to safeguard the country’s elderly population and to save the health system from collapse. (Horowitz, 3/10)

CNN: Italy Coronavirus Sparks Total Lockdown And Alarm In The US As Cases Rise Globally 
The novel coronavirus outbreak continues to spread globally, sparking a total lockdown across Italy and emergency measures worldwide, as markets recover from Monday’s historic rout. The virus, known as Covid-19, has now infected close to 113,000 people worldwide and resulted in more than 4,000 deaths. The majority of these cases are in mainland China, where the outbreak first emerged — but the rate of infection has been slowing in the country, and the situation stabilizing, even as the virus wreaks havoc elsewhere. (Yeung, 3/10)

CNN: Coronavirus Outbreak Worsens In Italy And Japan, As Situation Stabilizes In China 
The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus has surpassed 115,000, with the death toll reaching more than 4,200, as countries around the world continue to grapple with the challenges of containing the pandemic. On Wednesday, China reported a slight increase in new daily cases, overturning several consecutive days of fewer new infections. The rise, from 19 on Monday to 24 on Tuesday, has been attributed to individuals returning from overseas, underscoring the difficulties faced by governments as the virus continues to spread rapidly across multiple continents. (Yeung, 3/11)

The Associated Press: Italy Passes 10,000 Infections As Clusters Spur Worry In US
Expanding clusters of the new coronavirus were eyed warily Wednesday as the outbreak upended daily life and reshaped everything from the United States presidential race to Pope Francis’ travel. In the U.S., the caseload passed 1,000, and outbreaks on both sides of the country were stirring alarm, while in Europe, an increasingly locked-down Italy counted more than 10,000 infections and recorded soaring deaths among its aging population. (3/11)