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The city of Naples, in southern Italy, prepared today for new coronavirus restrictions, as hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed by new cases, and doctors are forced to treat patients in their cars.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza was expected tonight to sign a new ordinance designating Campania, the region around Naples, as a “red zone” for the virus, with the additional health rules that it entails.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Naples, Luigi de Magistris, called for financial relief for his city, where protests broke out last month after more modest initial restrictions.
Outside the Cotugno hospital in Naples, doctors pulled out oxygen tanks to treat people parked in their cars outside the crowded emergency room, while others in full protective gear waited for ambulances to bring in new Covid patients.
“We hardly have any more beds available,” Rodolfo Punzi, head of the hospital’s infectious diseases department, told AFP.
“Unfortunately, the disease requires long hospitalizations and therefore there is little turnover. The emergency room … fills up with people who need to be hospitalized, but also with people who could be cared for locally in their homes ”.
He said he was “proud” to see nurses rushing outside “to care for patients with oxygen tanks.”
‘They were afraid’
But such scenes have sparked fear among many in Campania, which was spared the worst of the coronavirus outbreak that struck northern Italy earlier this year.
A video showing a dead man on the bathroom floor of the emergency room at Naples Cardarelli hospital went viral this week, despite uncertainty about exactly how he died.
“That video unmasked the many lies that are told and repeated about health care in Campania. We are afraid. We are asking for help, ”said Don Maurizio Patriciello, a priest and long-time health activist in the region.
“We are told not to clog hospitals, to stay home when the first symptoms of contagion appear. We obeyed, we got sick, we called for the hyssop (virus test), but it took hours, days, before we had the slightest response ”.
Italy imposed a national lockdown earlier this year that controlled the outbreak, but has been seeking an alternative approach to the recent surge in cases, with little apparent success so far.
Infections passed the million mark this week, while cases increased by more than 40,000 today. In recent days, the daily death toll has surpassed 600 to reach more than 43,000 since the crisis began, and the burden threatens to overwhelm health services.
Towards the red zone?
Campania is particularly at risk. In a 2018 study published earlier this year, it was ranked second after Calabria in having the worst quality of care in Italy.
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The government of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has proposed sending the army to help, including to establish field hospitals, while also encouraging the use of hotel rooms for recovering patients.
Last week it introduced a nationwide night curfew and a system of regional restrictions with the toughest measures in the highest risk areas.
Campania was originally assessed as medium risk “yellow”, but the data was later questioned and the government sent its own inspectors on Thursday.
In the red zone regions of Italy, mostly centered in the north, bars, restaurants and most shops are closed and the movements of residents are restricted.
Health Ministry coronavirus consultant Walter Ricciardi said yesterday that he would have turned Naples into a red zone three weeks ago, warning of “war scenes” in hospitals.
Many health experts say that stricter restrictions are now urgently needed across Italy.
“We call for an immediate closure of the entire country,” said Filippo Anelli, director of the national federation of surgeons.
– © AFP 2020
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