COVID-19 Reality Check: Warning from the Lock Down in Italy

COVID-19 Reality Check: Warning from the Lock Down in Italy
By Army Ranger Joe Lynch

I can’t believe how many naysayers and nonbelievers there still are about this whole pandemic. Yes, at the beginning mistakes were made. But I guarantee there would’ve been an incredible outcry if at the start they’d locked everything down—the very thing that would have stalled this. Here’s the ongoing picture in Italy.

March 21, 2020: Rome, Italy—“Stay home or we’ll take other tough measures,” Di Maio. Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Friday urged Italians to stay home, saying the government would take “even tougher” measures against those who flout a nationwide lockdown that only exempts those travelling for food, medicine or work. “I reiterate yet again: we must stay at home. We must respect the rules and the more some people are irresponsible, the more we will introduce more ironclad and stringent norms,” Maio said on Facebook. “When the health out our fellow citizens comes into it, we must be categorical. I ask for the maximum commitment from all Italians, bar none. Let’s not stop. Let’s not drop our guard. The State has the right to react to the irresponsibility of some citizens.”

If you plan on still going for that run or to hang out with friends because you’re all “healthy”—keep in mind that the penalties could range from hundreds of euros in fines, to charges of attempted homicide. And the police are now using drones to look for violators.

March 24, 2020:This picture is our current situation in Italy.

• Coronavirus Cases: 69,176
• Currently Infected Patients: 54,030
• Closed Cases: 15,145
• Cases in Mild Condition: 50,637 (94%)
• Cases in Serious or Critical Condition: 3,393 (6%)
• Recovered/Discharged: 8326 (55%)
• Deaths: 6,820 (45%)

Look at this picture. Everyone quotes the stats of deaths versus infected, which is good-ish for moral, but look at the closed cases here in Italy: 55% recovered and 45% died. Many of those almost 7K people have been cremated, without a funeral or family near them when they passed. Many have been hauled off in military cargo trucks to crematoriums that can’t even keep up with the burning. Really!?

The deaths in Italy keep pouring in at a rate the incinerators can’t even keep up with. Yet there are still those that have to go see their girlfriend, shop at their favorite store, which is in the town over, or go for a ride on their sport bike. I have friends on Facebook from whom I’ve heard the most insane denier theories; or that “They can’t stop them from their god-given right to go outside.”

You know what’s a god-given right? Putting an axe through someone’s face because they tried to harm your family. Yet . . . we refrain because we choose to live in a social world, even though you are a threat to those around you.

March 27, 2020: 1,000 people. We lost almost a thousand in the last 24 hours. When will some people stop pretending this is nothing? I’ve written some long posts recently and I thank you guys for listening to me, but right now this is it. I’m just going to be silent and feel for the people who can’t properly mourn their family, because they’re being carried in military transports to be frozen in ice rinks, until the crematoriums can catch up. Ugh!

Please, I ask my friends to extend a hand to your neighbors (2 meters away, of course) and help each other. It’s not the time for divisiveness or your agendas. One day we will all be filled with hope again, even though it may be impossible to imagine it now during our darkest days. Today, I choose joy and I wish with all that is in me that those who are saving the world right now could have the same luxury, if only for a few seconds.

Thanks for listening—if you got this far. As someone who still has to work, I see those who need to work. When their families are ripped apart by unneeded deaths, it angers me. Please react as if it were your family that depended on it!

I generally try to keep a professional and civil online presence, but since some can only understand when more blunt: STOP BEING SELFISH A—H—- & STAY THE F— INSIDE YOU INSENSITIVE PRICKS!

Reality Check Update: March 27, 2020

• Coronavirus Cases: 86,498—Three days ago:69,176
• Currently Infected Patients: 66,414—Three days ago:54,030
• Cases in Mild Condition: 62,682—Three days ago:50,637 (94%)
• Cases in Serious or Critical Condition: 3,732—Three days ago:3,393 (6%)
• Closed Cases: 20,084—Three days ago:15,145
• Recovered/Discharged: 10,950—Three days ago:8326 (55%)
• Deaths: 9,134—Three days ago:6,820 (45%)