Covid, why was Italy hit first?



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Covid, why was Italy hit first?

A geographical and climatic trap: it is the Po Valley, especially in the areas of Codogno and Vo ‘. But for our country to be among the first affected by the pandemic, with more violence and speed, there were also other factors: the capillary network of motorways in the Po Valley, the high percentage of trips of the inhabitants of these areas, he air pollution rate, and last but not least, thevery high population density in Veneto and Lombardy. This is explained by ‘Why Italy first?’, A University of Trieste study published in the journal ‘Sustainability’, which examined the reasons for Italy’s vulnerability to the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Understanding these mechanisms is indeed essential to avoid a second wave. The team that carried out the investigation will talk about it on Friday 25 September in Trieste Next.

Trieste Next is the scientific and technological outreach event (completely free) to be held in Trieste from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 September. This year is the ninth edition of the festival, and the title is’ Science for the Planet. 100 proposals for life to come ‘. A series of events and conferences that investigate the scientific-technological scenarios that our society will have to face, especially after and during the Covid-19 emergency. The pandemic is at the center of other events: for example, the one starring Paola Storici is a senior researcher at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, the research center that houses the synchrotron ring of light, an infrastructure that uses “soft X-rays” Analyze the matter , like the molecules that may one day become anti-Covid drugs.


This is exactly what Paola Storici, head of the protein production laboratory, is dealing with: a vaccine (when there is one) is not enough to combat Covid-19. Effective therapies are needed more than ever. Timing is a crucial variable: how to select all candidate molecules to become anti-Covid drugs as quickly as possible? In this sense, supercomputing is a precious ally and the European Union has launched the Exscalate4cov project, managed by a consortium of international excellence. The objective is to identify useful molecules for therapy against Covid-19 by exploiting the immense computing capacity of a network of extremely powerful computers across Europe.

Paola Storici will go into details about this investigation in her speech at Trieste Next 2020, on Sunday, September 27. On Saturday 26 there will also be a round table that is inspired by the pandemic to address an issue closely linked to health and that seems to have been left a little aside due to the confinement: “After the Covid, global warming: are we ready?” In fact, the health emergency has demonstrated the need, worldwide, for strategies and operational systems capable of providing rapid and effective responses. What lessons can we draw to address the climate emergency? The speakers also look for similarities and differences between the dynamics and responses of society between the Covid-19 emergency and that of climate change.

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