Who is to blame for so many people who die in Lombardy?

Of the European countries, Italy was the least successful, being the first to be affected by the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

As for the number of deaths of infected people (more than 26,000), Italy is only lagging behind the United States.

The first outbreak in Italy occurred on February 21, when the World Health Organization (WHO) had not yet confirmed that the virus was under control and that it was certainly not as contagious as seasonal flu.

A deadly combination of mistakes.

It is now known to be wrong with the heap, but there are also signs that so many deaths are to blame for the deadly combination. It is made up of factors such as a very old society and political and commercial interests.

This combination has affected the 10 million people in Lombardy, and especially the most vulnerable people in nursing homes.

Virologists and epidemiologists say that all errors will be analyzed in the coming years, especially since Lombardy considers the healthcare system to be one of the most advanced in Europe. In the neighboring Veneto region, the outbreak has been better managed.

At the same time, prosecutors are already considering whether to prosecute someone for hundreds of deaths in a nursing home. Many of these victims were not even included in the general lists of the dead.

Italy, for its part, thanks and calls the heroes and nurses who worked on the front line of the Lombardy heroes. They risked their own health, suffered a lot of stress, were completely exhausted and lived in fear for many weeks.

A WHO official recently said that the rescue of so many people in Lombardy is a “miracle”.

Prosecutors are already considering whether to prosecute someone for hundreds of deaths in a nursing home.

The AP tried to find out why the situation in Lombardy was so tragic. Journalists interacted with doctors, union leaders, mayors, virologists, and discussed various statistics.

Caught without preparation

Italy was the first European country to suspend ties with China on January 31. Airports even had scanners installed to check if arriving passengers have a fever.

But by January 31 it was too late. Epidemiologists now announce that the new coronavirus has been roaming the region freely since early January, if not since last year.

Doctors who cared for patients with pneumonia apparently in January and February did not know that they actually had COVID-19. The symptoms are now very similar, and at the time the new coronavirus was thought to be still only in China.

Even after Italy confirmed the country’s first infection on February 21, doctors were unaware that the new infection could strike in an extremely insidious manner. Some patients suddenly lose the ability to breathe.

“There was a stabilization phase, but then many patients deteriorated in an instant. We did not have this information. There was nothing in the medical literature, “admitted Maurizio Marvisi, a pulmonologist who works at a private clinic in the city of Cremona.

Epidemiologists now announce that the new coronavirus has been roaming the region freely since early January, if not since last year.

Furthermore, as the intensive care units in Lombardy hospitals clogged at the start of the outbreak, many doctors attempted to monitor and care for patients in their homes. Some of them received oxygen.

This practice is common in Italy to care for people at home. However, the strategy cost a particularly large number of lives: Hundreds of people died at home, waiting too long and in no rush to call an ambulance.

“Dependence on the nursing home seems to be the main reason why death rates are so high in Italy,” said Martisi.

Doctors name administration errors

It is true that the choice of patients in nursing homes was also forced in Italy due to the fact that the country does not have many beds in intensive care units. For many years, health care funding was reduced, so the crisis entered with 8.6 beds per 100,000. people

In countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the average is 15.9 beds, and in Germany, 100,000. the population is as high as 33.9 beds.

In any case, this situation meant that many common family doctors, primary care professionals, entered the front line when working with people infected with coronavirus. They all work outside the network of Italian regional hospitals.

And because of the lack of capacity in the labs, only people with symptoms of serious illness were screened first, and these doctors didn’t know for a long time whether they were infected, let alone their patients.

Many ordinary family doctors, primary care professionals, came into the front line while working with people infected with the coronavirus.

“Finally, the doctors had no guidelines on when to admit patients and when to refer them to specialists. And because they do not belong to the hospital system, these doctors were unable to obtain sufficient protective masks and other means, ”writes AP.

“The region has lagged behind in providing us with protective equipment. Additionally, we received ten surgical masks and gloves for the first time. We interact with patients very closely, so obviously we do not protect ourselves,” said Dr. Laura Turetta, who works in Varese.

In an open letter to the regional administration on April 7, the Lombardy Medical Association listed seven “mistakes” in crisis management: doctors lacked evidence, protective measures and, of course, more detailed information on the spread of the virus.

The authorities argue that they have done what they could, but there are already officials who admit that at the beginning of the crisis, Italy depended on imported and donated measures, and these were not enough.

In Italy, around 20,000 people became infected with the virus. doctors and 150 infected doctors died.

Missed weeks

Two days after the first COVID-19 infection was confirmed in the province of Lodz, another case was reported in Alzane, in the province of Bergamo, an hour away.

However, although the reception at the Lodz Hospital was closed immediately, the ward in Alzano was operational for a few hours and soon became a major source of infection.

Furthermore, the documents show that several cases of pneumonia reported in Alzane in early February were likely COVID-19 infection.

And at that time, the Italian Ministry of Health officially recommended detection only to those who came from China or who had contact with people who suspected or had already confirmed the infection.

As early as March 2, experts recommended the “closure” of Alzana and the neighboring town of Nembdro, as was done with the settlements in Łódź.

However, the Bergamo administration did not follow this recommendation, so the virus spread for another week, until March 7, when quarantine was announced throughout Lombardy.

In Lombardy, people over 65 are mainly found throughout Italy. The region is also home to up to 20 percent. All nursing homes in the country. These two factors become a delayed action demographic bomb.

“There was an army that could have completely closed the city, and if it had been done immediately, we could have stopped the spread to the rest of Lombardy. But the restrictions were soft, and that allowed the virus to spread, ”explained Guido Marinoni, director of the Bergamo Provincial Medical Association.

When asked why Bergamo had not been isolated in the past, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the regional government could have taken the initiative without waiting. But Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana said: “All sides were wrong. I don’t think anyone can be blamed. “

Lombardy is home to one sixth of the 60 million people. Italian population. This region is the most densely populated, with the country’s commercial capital, Milan, as the main industry.

In addition, Lombardy has the highest number of people over 65 in all of Italy. The region is also home to up to 20 percent. All nursing homes in the country. These two factors become a delayed action demographic bomb.

“It is clear today that we had to completely close Lombardy. Everyone is at home, nobody is moving,” said Andrea Crisanti, a microbiologist and virologist who advises the Veneto regional government.

However, he also recognized how difficult it was to do: Lombardy played a very important role in the Italian economy, and even before the pandemic there was talk of a recession: “Probably for political reasons this was not done.”

Large-scale industrial lobbying

Therefore, it is no coincidence that the mayors of the unions and the most affected cities in Lombardy now affirm that the main regional and individual authorities of the country have been pressured by the main Italian industry pressure group, Confindustria, to oppose the closing.

On February 28, a week after the start of the outbreak in the country, when a hundred infections had already been confirmed in Bergamo, the province’s Confindustria branch launched an English social media campaign. #Bergamoisrunning. The goal is to reassure customers.

Campaign after campaign ensured that the outbreak in Lombardy was no more terrible than anywhere else. There was also talk of “deceptive sensationalism”: there are many infections, because the tests are very aggressive and the work in steel and other factories does not really stop.

Confindustria has also launched a broader campaign across Lombardy: #Yeswework. The Mayor of Milan declared: “Milan does not stop”.

Although Italy will start a partial opening from May 4, the process will start in the south and Lombardy, where 70 percent. of all infections in the country will reach the latter.

Marco Bonometti, head of the organization’s branch in Lombardy, acknowledged that “drastic measures” were needed in Łódź, but assured him: “People need to know that they can live the way they lived, just to protect their health.”

Even after quarantine was announced across Lombardy on March 7, the factories were allowed to continue operating. Many workers immediately went on strike; they were outraged that their health was being sacrificed to maintain the engine of the industry.

“It just caught our eye then. Measures had to be taken as soon as the first chimney was found. The opening of the factories only worsened the situation,” said Giambattista Morali, head of the Union of Metalworkers in the Dalmatian city of Bergamo.

Finally, on March 26, almost everything except essential production stopped across the country. But all this time, Carlo Bonomi, head of Confindustria, is calling for the industry to be allowed to operate again, albeit safely.

“The paradigm has changed. Italians won’t be safer if we don’t open factories. But how can factories work safely to protect Italians? Bonomi asked.

Selling such deals will not be easy, as almost 1,000 people still register in Lombardy every day. new infections

And although Italy will start a partial opening from May 4, the process will start in the south and Lombardy, where it registers 70 percent. of all infections in the country will reach the latter.

Expensive outdoor hospital

Probably no other initiative illustrates the chaotic Italian response to the new coronavirus outbreak as well as the 200-bed field hospital established in Milan in less than two weeks.

The hospital opened loudly on March 31. The Lombardy governor, who belongs to the radical right-wing League, boasted of having raised 21 million. and that it will be possible to reduce the pressure on the intensive care units of normal hospitals.

It is true that the Italian National Civil Protection Agency has always opposed the idea, which has explained that this outdoor hospital will not be able to deliver a fan on time or simply personally. The agency argued that smaller rooms in hospitals were better.

Finally, the services of the new field hospital in Milan were almost unnecessary, with only a few dozen patients seen here.

And the workload of hospital intensive care units has been drastically reduced: today only 700 people in the region need that care.

Nursing home “Skerdynė”

However, at the same time that the regional administration was raising money for an open-air hospital, infection controls stalled and many people died in Lombardy nursing homes. The latter basically had to deal with the crisis themselves.

There are more nursing homes in Lombardy than in any other region of Italy, with at least 24,000 people living in them. ancestors It was in these institutions that most people died.

Hundreds of older people have died in nursing homes in Lombardy and other regions of Italy, and a WHO spokesman has even spoken of “massacres”. Prosecutors are already investigating what happened and what actions officials may have exacerbated.

There are more nursing homes in Lombardy than in any other region of Italy, with at least 24,000 people living in them. ancestors It was in these institutions that most people died.

The decision made by regional authorities on March 8 to allow recovering COVID-19 patients to remain in a nursing home is now particularly cursed so that hospitals do not interfere.

The regional administration now claims that a nursing home was required to provide a guarantee that patients would be isolated. However, even today it is unclear who had to deal with this and who had to verify compliance.

However, some nursing home staff members have said in the past that management did not allow them to wear masks, allegedly unnecessarily intimidating the elderly.

In addition, on March 30, the region ordered nursing home managers not to even provide special assistance to people over the age of 75 or older if they have other health problems. This would have reduced the risk of the person’s condition deteriorating further during transport to the hospital.

For the elders, in one of the Nembro city nursing homes, that order was a death sentence, as were subsequent orders not to allow the elders to visit to protect them.

At that time, one after another, 37 of 87 people died at the institution in February and March, both the nursing home doctor and its former director died.