Lockdown!

They Work Today

Today my province in the Red Zone is locked down.  What does that mean?  It means that pretty much all of the Veneto has closed the exits and entrance to itself.  No one can enter or exit unless their employment is important.   As of yesterday there have been more than 5,800 cases of the corona virus with 1200 new cases reported in one day.  Sadly 230 people have died.  You can see why Italy has gotten serious with this problem.  So the Italian Prime Minister signed a decree ordering the closing of the zones in an attempt to slow down the virus.  Over 16 million people are affected by this quarantine.

I am in the upper right, in Padova

There  are other large zones that are locked down in Italy, most of them near Milano.   In total all these Red Zone areas involve more than a quarter of the population of Italy.  I have seen fotos posted by the news media on the situation, but I must admit to you that they have been sensationalized a bit.  By taking a close look at many of them you will see that they were taken early in the morning, so naturally  there would be fewer people on the streets.  The shadows reveal this.  Today I went out to my local large grocery store to buy food and I found fewer customers than normal and no panic buying.  I have promised a few readers to relate how that went.  Read on.

Today is Monday, First day of the lockdown.  I must go out to buy food in the big store called ALI  which is 10 from my home.  I have my shopping list, and my rubber gloves. I will not wear a mask.  I have put the money I will use in plastic bag so that I do not have to touch my wallet or reach for change.  I plan to go in at 8:30, early in the morning so that fewer shoppers will be there.  

Pasta Aisle

In the parking lot I open the trunk to get my two shopping bags, and put on my gloves.  The parking is not crowded today, with fewer cars than normal.  I use a euro coin to get a cart  and proceed into the store.  I notice some shoppers moving and a lot of clerks are restocking the shelves.  I buy my vegetables and weigh each to get a tag of the cost to place on the bags.  There are 5 people alone pushing carts in this section.  None of them are wearing masks or wearing gloves.  I move past to other aisles.  I am looking to see any shortages of food or items, but in the whole store I only see less pasta than normal.  Pasta here takes a whole lot of shelves, as you would imagine, but there are still all the types available.  The meat section is full, 3 butchers can be seen through the window, and there seems to be no shortages of workers.  ALI has set their store up like most, putting non essential food items in the middle, a psychology to make you buy more on the way to the other aisles  of food selections.  I stop near a worker and ask her where to find the alcohol.  She has a hard time understand my American accented Italian, but finally she throws her arm over her shoulder and points to the far area of the store.  She seems not to want to get turned around to face me.  Oh well.  Later, at the far end of the store I realize that she pointed to the booze section of the store, which is quite humorous.  This happens a lot here.

I finally make it to the water section and load up, two packages of natural and two packages of fizzy.  Water here is 30 cents a bottle, how does this compare to America?  Another rip off, another story.  My cart is full and I move on, looking for a few things I missed on the way to the water.  When I pass people who are pushing carts they steer as far as possible from me, good idea, I think since the virus is airborne.  I also  notice that when I pass people I am without thinking much slowly breathing out.  

Time to check out which in Italy always seems to be some sort of race.  The clerk can make one feel like you are ruining their day be packing your things too slowly.  I miss the days when we had packing teenagers, etc.  I grab a bag and start throwing the heavy things in first as the items begin to get crammed in the small area.  I notice the clerk has heavy rubber gloves, not the cheap thin ones I am wearing.  As I am packing away I notice a lady in line nearby wearing a home made mask.  I finish up my two bags, lift them in the cart and reach in my pocket to bring out my plastic bag of cash.  This bag will receive my change and be thrown into my bag not back in my pocket.  I head for my car and along the way a Nigerian guy comes along practicing his English.  He knows that I will let him take the cart after in trade for loading my car.  I don’t need the help, but I know this guy is hungry because he cannot have a job in Italy.  So here he is taking carts for the euro in return at the cart cage.  I know that he will be getting less of these now because people will be shopping less.  Not everyone helps these guys (lots of them at many markets) but I feel I should help, as my country caused a lot of this condition we find in which we find ourselves.  

Food in the car, I remind him to stay back from people and he says he knew already.  I take off my gloves and leave them in the trunk.  My hands are as clean as I can make them and I will now drive home.  I can tell you that there are just about the  same number of cars on the street as normal.  I have seen no panic.  People are going to work, and as they say in Great Britain, carrying on.  

Reaching my home, I take out a new pair of gloves and remove my bags and carry them to  my home.  At the door I take one glove off and reach for my house key with that hand.  I carry the bags in one at a time with the gloved hand and take them to my terrace.  I will leave them outside for over two hours because I read a doctor’s message saying that the virus cannot survive more than two hours exposed to air and the environment.  This, I am hoping will help, but at least I am trying to use common sense with science.  I know it sounds silly but what have a got to lose?

  

Meanwhile we read about oil prices collapsing and stocks fall because of virus panic.  I am here to tell you that there is little panic here and I am at ground zero talking to you.  However, it won’t be stocks or oil, but the common shop keeper, hotel owner, restaurant owner, dentist, or salespeople who will be hurt more.  Give this some thought.

coffee americano

Lastly, I want to say that stockpiling because you think food won’t be available is not a good plan.  Adding food to your cupboard because you might have to stay at home is a good idea.  Make a plan.  Take a hard look at things that you are needing, things that can help you stretch out the time until you venture out to get more food in case this Red  Zone concept hits your city.  

My day was just about normal, quite boring in a way, but you can see how I am doing what I can to not catch the virus.   Being older makes me more cautious.  That is all I can do.  Carry on!

Ciao!