What It Means to Contain and Mitigate the Coronavirus

Source Link

On Sunday, after a frightening spike in the number of people infected and killed by covid-19, the coronavirus disease that the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared a global pandemic, the Italian government enacted a mandatory lockdown in Lombardy and fourteen other northern provinces, including the cities of Milan and Venice, and the tiny nation of San Marino. In addition to a cordon sanitaire, which halted travel into or out of the affected areas, the lockdown prohibited the sixteen million people living inside the so-called zone rosse from any movement that was not required for work, health, or other “necessary” reasons. The decree also forbade Masses and funerals, closed movie theatres and museums, and required shopping malls and supermarkets to stay closed on weekends. On Monday, a day after Italian news organizations showed videos of people running to catch the last trains out of Milan, Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s Prime Minister, extended the emergency measures to the entire country.