by Rachana Raizada for The Saker Blog
A few days ago, I walked down the street to the supermarket to buy food past glittering skyscrapers, the seat of Lombardy’s regional government. According to an interview in the New York Times [1] with the region’s President Attilio Fontana, on the sixth floor, “two dozen epidemiologists and public health experts form the nerve center of the effort to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Italy…They track those whom infected people might have had contact with.” Really? A telephone prevents illness? Of course, contract tracing is extremely important. But once you find infected people, what preparations have you made to deal with them? Fontana forgets to mention this minor detail to the NYT.
A man sitting on a bench grumbled: “Why is everything closed?” he demanded angrily. “Do you know anyone who is ill?” Three passersby shook their heads. As we stood (one metre from each other), we agreed that we don’t know anyone who is ill, nor does anyone we know know anyone who is ill with Covid-19 (the disease) or who’s tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (the pathogen). Of course, this charming vignette is no longer possible. Now I can only go out for necessities: food, medicines, work (although all non-essential consumer-facing businesses are shut)…or cigarettes. Before I can go out, I have to download a form, copy it out (because I am not a prepper who stockpiled printer toner), provide proof etc. Just finished listening to a long legal audio explaining what to do if stopped by police. But Italian police are generally friendly. I digress.
Wait! Wasn’t it China who’s authoritarian? I’ve been stuck at home since Feb 23 with rules changing at dizzying speed and getting more draconian by the minute and red zones (now “security zones”) extending from 11 tiny towns nobody had heard of, to Lombardy and Veneto, to the whole country.
So what is the problem? Why is Italy shut down?
March 11, 2020: Italy: 827 deaths; 12,462 positive cases. 75% of deaths are in Lombardy, one of the richest regions in the world, with one of the best healthcare systems in the world: Italy’s healthcare systems are managed regionally; in Lombardy by the right wing Lega government led by Attilio Fontana. Lombardy has 16% of Italy’s population. The deaths and intensive cases are concentrated (for now), not in Milan but in a handful of hospitals in the provinces of Lodi and Bergamo. Sadly, among the hospitals which have the most intensive care beds in all of Italy. On March 8, only Lombardy and Veneto were shut down, but by March 12 all of Italy was shut down based on the fear of what could happen if the epidemics broke out in less well equipped Southern regions.
In his 2am press conference of March 9, 2020, Italy’s exhausted PM Giuseppe Conte explained the harsh measures by reminding Italians the constitution guarantees the right to healthcare for anyone on the territory. So that’s why a whole country has been shut down (at a minimum cost of €25,000,000,000 minus interest) to limit social contact among people outside hospitals so people don’t end up inside hospitals.
But! Let’s look at deaths which brought Italy to crisis point: The average age of the deceased was 81, the average number of pathologies observed in this population was 3.4 (median 3, standard deviation 2.1). The most common comorbidities for these patients included hypertension, diabetes, etc. [2] Doctors have emphasized in media interviews that while the deceased tested positive for the coronavirus before or after death; it cannot always be ascertained they died because of it.
Where did all these elderly ill patients in Italy catch the coronavirus?
“In China, human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 virus is largely occurring in families. The Joint Mission received detailed information from the investigation of clusters and some household transmission studies, which are ongoing in a number of Provinces. Among 344 clusters involving 1308 cases (of a total of 1836 cases reported) in Guangdong Province and Sichuan Province, most clusters (78%-85%) have occurred in families,” says WHO.[3]
Wait! Didn’t Fontana say that he’s tracing contacts? Have these elderly patients with diabetes been out enjoying the nightlife? Did they catch the virus from their Filippina caretakers (in Milan, “Filippina” is an occupation, not a nationality) or from family members? Interestingly, l’Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) appears clueless. After making a vague statement about a person from Iran who is not connected to anything, the Institute claims (in translation): currently it is not possible to reconstruct for all patients the chain of transmission for all patients. The majority of the cases in Italy have an epidemiological connection to the clusters observed in Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna (i.e. they are not connected epidemiologically to the first three cases treated in Rome involving persons who had travelled to China.
OK. But is it rocket science to exclude the closest contacts of the deceased who were elderly and/or deceased? Surely they must have been tested? Where do elderly, ill people spend a lot of time?
When Fontana gave his interview to the New York Times, it had been over a month since the Wuhan lockdown was announced on January 23. We saw the frightening images splashed by corporate media throughout the world. The media tell me: China lies. Ok. But do we remember what happened in 2009 with H1N1? By the time a virus is identified, the cat’s out of the bag. It’s not about open or closed borders. Venice was a global trading centre long before Columbus “discovered” the Americas.
WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, having issued testing guidelines on January 27, 2020: “A patient with severe acute respiratory infection (fever and at least one sign/symptom of respiratory disease (e.g., cough, shortness breath) AND requiring hospitalization AND with no other aetiology that fully explains the clinical presentation.”
So what emergency procedures did Lega prepare for Lombardy since the end of January? Attilio Fontana forgets to mention this minor detail to the New York Times. (Yes, I know already said this).
The initially (but no longer) presumed “patient zero” presented himself at a hospital in Codogno in mid-February for fever and respiratory issues. He’s a 38 year old soccer playing, marathon runner who can’t battle what seems like a regular flu. But with headlines screaming about coronavirus, not only is he not tested, he is put into an ICU…tragic events followed. Conte wanted to investigate the hospital, Fontana refused and the overworked doctors and nurses in the field got infected, the crisis exploded.
But not only in Codogno. Even as La Repubblica reported on February 28 [5] that oops, doctors had been noticing anomalous pneumonia cases since the middle of January 2020, the same sad story was now replicating in Bergamo in tragic and epic proportions with large numbers of medical operatives among the infected. [6]
Since January, the Lega’s Matteo Salvini has been one of the most vocal critics of China even going so far as to link African migrants to the virus. But the “China connection” proved to be a wild goose chase that allowed the virus to spread. A paper published by Rome’s Spallanzani Institute tested 126 patients primarily those with connections to “Asia” and suspicion of a viral aetiology.[7] Only three were confirmed to be infected with SARS-CoV-2 while 53.2% of the patients resulted positive for other respiratory pathogen(s).
Let’s recheck our timeline: Dec 26, 2019, Jixian Zhang notices a cluster of 4 anomalous cases of pneumonia, 3 within the same family and reports them to the local CDC the next day. By December 31, 2019 WHO reports this to the world. By January 7 China had identified the virus, by January 12 the first 2019-nCov (later renamed to SARS-CoV-2) and by January 13, the first test kits were available.
But screaming media headlines didn’t mention any of this, and for doctors in Lodi and Bergamo didn’t do anything special about the strange cases they had noticed since the middle of January. To be clear: I am not blaming overworked medical staff on the ground; I am talking about the preparedness of the regional health authority of Lombardy, especially since medical staff have tested positive for the virus because they have been working without proper equipment”
While the Italian media snickered (with a touch of envy) at China’s temporary “hospitals” built in 10 days, Wuhan implemented this system: you go to special testing clinics; wait 4 hours for results. If positive you either go a) hospitals for people over 65 and/or with other complications; or b) to these temp isolation structures intended as a caring space for those who live alone but need hot soup brought to them and for those who don’t want to infect their families. They were built in 10 days because they were intended to be destroyed afterwards. Today’s Corriere reports that Italy is following the “Wuhan Model” in its famous trade centre, Milan’s Fiera. Which, presumably is not going to be destroyed afterwards.
While the national government has been firefighting a serious health crisis non-stop, Lega has been ferociously witch-hunting: demanding the quarantine of schoolchildren returning from China and wasting resources on hunting down “patient -1” a non-existent hypothetical figure with connections to China who infected our marathon man in Codogno.
It’s not a crime if an epidemic broke out in hospitals with overworked staff. It is a crime to refuse an investigation. To try and distract attention from the epidemics inside the hospitals by demanding that effectively, martial law be declared in Lombardy and parts of Veneto, Lega’s dream of Padania. By relentlessly attacking Conte’s government every day while the tragedy unfolds in Lombardy.
The New York Times noted, “Mr. Fontana is a leading member of the League party, led by the nationalist Matteo Salvini, who has not been shy about leveraging the crisis to pursue his aim of bringing down Mr. Conte’s government.” While discussions were ongoing on March 7 on how to create a delineated zone to limit social contacts without imposing on civil liberties, CNN published a leaked draft of a decree stating it came from Fontana’s office. The Region of Lombardy denied it.
Woohoo, a choice between believing CNN or the League / Lega. While the Lega was busy creating panic and chaos in Lombardy, Salvini was running around giving international interviews to the likes of El Pais to complain about the Italian government.
When this is all over, it will be Conte’s signature on all the decrees and there will billion dollar debts to be repaid. The finger pointing and blame game will start in earnest. But every cloud has a silver lining. The ever calm and rational Foreign Minister of Italy, Luigi di Maio of the Five Star Movement has been quietly working diplomatic channels in the background even as Matteo Salvini slams China in the global media. Last night, a team of medics arrived from China with 31 tons of medical equipment. Ultimately it is China, with its gift of 1,000 respirators to Italy which will allow the residents of Padana to breathe. Literally. The irony. But then again, doesn’t Venice have an airport named after Marco Polo who is connected to some Chinese noodle stories?
We are one species, our most dangerous enemies, apart from diseases and pollution, are those who live amongst us and would exploit a crisis while we battle a common threat.
The Lega Nord got their Padania for one day on March 8, 2020 and it was an absolute disaster.
About Rachana Raizada: I enjoy my day job, dancing, cycling, football, lectures on architecture, lots of things…. I was motivated to air my private views on politics in public only because I am seriously worried about how the media reports and does not report the news. I have no political affiliation.
References:
[1] “Italy, Mired in Politics Over Virus, Asks How Much Testing Is Too Much”, Jason Horowitz, February, 2020, New York Times.
[2] https://www.iss.it/en/comunicati-stampa/-/asset_publisher/fjTKmjJgSgdK/content/id/5286166
[3] https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
[4] https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/bollettino/Bollettino-sorveglianza-integrata-COVID-19_09-marzo-2020.pdf
[5] https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/02/28/news/_polmoniti_anomale_a_meta_gennaio_cosi_e_nato_il_focolaio_di_codogno_-249759796/?refresh_ce
[6] https://bergamo.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/20_marzo_12/coronavirus-focolaio-bergamo-camere-mortuarie-strapiene-sottovalutato-contagio-val-seriana-ora-ci-sono-142-morti-550a66fe-6454-11ea-90f7-c3419f46e6a5.shtml
[7] Differential diagnosis of illness in patients under investigation for the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), Italy, February 2020, Licia Bordi¹ , Emanuele Nicastri¹ , Laura Scorzolini¹ , Antonino Di Caro¹ , Maria Rosaria Capobianchi¹ , Concetta Castilletti¹ Eleonora Lalle¹ , on behalf of INMI COVID-19 study group and Collaborating Centers2 1. National Institute for Infectious Diseases ‘Lazzaro Spallanzani’ IRCCS, Rome, Italy and 2. The participating members of INMI COVID-19 study group and Collaborating Centers
Hmmm, another Salvini hit piece in order to prolong the very unpopular Conte government.
I wonder who benefits from this.
Steve Bannon, Trump and Salvini. They want Italy out of new Chinese Silk Route.
As an Italian, Salvini is not a nationalist.
It seems Conte’s mishandling of it along with the help from China means Italy will be in the Chinese Silk Route then.
Could be by design.
Exactly, this is a hit piece, 100% politics and both narratives are false.
Regarding the silk-road, the bridgehead is in Israel, Israel too has huge Chinese work-populations. Are they infected in Dec?? When Iran & Wuhan were infected like Italy? NO
Was Africa city’s ( Huge chinese populations infected ) NO
This is not about silk-road, this is about money, cash
The rich chinese tycoons get their Euros, from factorys they own in North&Central Italy, they use chinese peasant labor 30+ years, making 100’s of Chinese billionaires in Italy; Somebody is jealous, somebody just killed their goose
Now the chinese peasants will demand to go home. Fact
No more ‘made in italy’ for chinese tycoons, somebody else will fill this void? Who Israel? Mafia? Let’s wait & see
This article is about politicians doing what they do, blaming the other guy for the crisis, when in fact all the politicians are just talking-heads and not owners, they’re not even players
What I know is that from Dec-2019 when Chinese started getting sick in factory’s, nobody cared. When factory’s closed in January, the girls fell back to prostitution, then the Italians got infected. By February the shit hit the fan.
I cannot stress enough, nobody cared about the Chinese sick&dying in Dec-Jan; They don’t exist, its something that politicians don’t talk about that the Italians don’t make things in Italy, that stuff is made by Chinese in secret factorys, where everybody gets a cut, including the politicians
What If?
We know Bannon is Israel, We knows he owned by Sheldon Adelson, like Trump, and Netanyahu.
What if?
What if this entire Corona non-sense was created just to steal the Businesses ( chinese owned ) of North&Central Italy, we’re talking 100’s of Billions of Euro’s here, solid fashion stuff, the most important brands on earth, the kind of stuff that Ivanka would tell her father to steal.
What if the entire Bio-Attack on Wuhan/Iran was just cover for the real crime the infection of all the factory-city’s of Italy Chinese owned? What if the goal here was to destroy the Chinese businesses of Europe, something that by hard-work and marketing that 30+ years Chinese investors have created the most profitable brands on earth.
There is long hatred of the North & South of Italy, the North is sophisticated, the South are un-educated mobsters; The North looks down on South, and the South has complete hatred and contempt for the North ( north includes all the way to Rome ), not until you get well south say Naples do they consider ‘south’. So it would be easy to get the mob to agree to a deal, steal the factory’s from the Chinese transfer ownership to the South, the North would be broke the South would buy penny’s on the dollar.
Very important topic, is that entire political debate is hidden on Chinese ownership of Italy. The Italian people don’t want the world to know that 30+ years, that “Made in Italy” means made by Chinese peasants, this is a secret everybody in Italy wants to hide. This is why all the wiki- and everything in the last month has been scrubbed, all the history of Chinese city’s in Italy has been removed. All the narrative on ZH is that a few Chinese tourists infected Lombardi ( absolute lies )
Like a writer from a non mainstream site could influence the Italian government. Ridiculous.
Besides, many misguided people abroad think of Salvini as a sort of modern day William Wallace.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
He’s a neolibcon, corrupt as hell, and painfully incompetent stooge (guess who really really likes Salvini? Bibi Netanyahu. ’nuff said). who got high in polls by leeching off M5S, with the considerable help from major newspapers and TV stations. Just before he tried backstabbing the government he was part of and getting into an alliance with Berlusconi, he had on average three times more screen time than anyone else.
Lombardy and Veneto have been ruled by Lega for years, they pushed hard for private health care, and when tested for the first time,the Padania model collapsed immediately and ridiculously.
In short? He’s the Italian Boris Eltsin.
Sounds like pointing fingers to me.
Lega might be the regional government, but it is still Conte’s government who is in charge. If the govt was heeding Salvini’s advice on closing borders, the infection wouldn’t spread to this point.
If it’s a hit piece, is it on target? ;)
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
It’s hitting the wrong target since Salvini doesn’t hold power, Conte does.
Conte is unironically doing what Salvini advocated for (closing the borders from everyone, China, migrants and EU and proving huge aids package for health department and social security), and now he’s getting praises for what Salvini advocated for, while for his own fuckups he tries to blame on Lega Nord’s provincial government in the North.
One more proof is this: the writer says Lega Nord messed up the healthcare in the North, never mind that Northern Italy still has better healthcare than Southern Italy, in fact, the infection would have been way harder if it started in the South and Conte would have no excuse for that.
Italy is LUCKY that the infection was contained in the North, and you have to thank Lega for that, not Conte.
Thanks, I was going to explain it but you wrote the truth before me: therefore I’ll add only that until the epidemic went out of control the government insisted that there was no danger and that people could go on enjoying social life like before (included visiting chinese restaurants) while calling Salvini a racist jackal for asking quarantines since January. Suddenly they made a U turn and decided to quarantine the whole country.
Healthcare is a regional responsibility at the one ground level. Luigi di Maio can arrange for 1,000 respirators from China but Lega is in charge of making them operational to save patients. Right now social media is buzzing with agitated letters from medics and doctors regarding the utter incompetence of Lega for years with respect to wasting healthcare money. Today, March 17, Sempione News published the full text of one such appeal
We do not want to enter into controversy over the old vicissitudes and the waste of money public of in the history of our regional health system but we emphasize that right here in Legnano, not far from the fairground [the Milan hospital that the Region of Lombardy wants to convert to an isolation camp] there is the “old monobloc” and pavilions built and arranged 10 years ago with all the equipment. In fact, despite being an ugly chapter in the politics of this region, few seem to remember what today could instead be a resource to guarantee immediately, hundreds and hundreds of new beds. In fact, there are: rooms already equipped with oxygen…Riccardo Germani, Spokesperson, Portavoce ADL Cobas Lombardia – Operatore sanitario Ospedale di Legnano
It is important that people realize the difference between the national and regional governments at the implementation level. Remember that from mid February to March 13, the sarscov2 became a crisis in Lombardy due to a: nosocomial infections in 3 or 4 hospitals (including infected medics), improper equipment for medics and a fear of replication of this situation in other regions. ironically, patients had to be flown by military planes from Bergamo to Sicily and as a result they have shut down ALL movement of people to Sicily.
If anyone had paid attention to WHO’s alerts since Jan 3, this panic situation would not be necessary. Ask Taiwan and Singapore etc if you don’t believe me. Someone wanted this panic.
The Covid-19 virus has one main purpose – to justify locking down societies and limiting movement. Lombardy is a testing ground. The release of the virus is a deliberate move by the global elites to generate fear so that people will clamor to be jailed in their immediate districts. The media is controlled by the global elite, which is why we are seeing the fear mongering in the news. Generally, people are fearful and stupid so will accept their loss of freedom meekly. Even with people that can see through the illusions, there will always be the little voice at the back of their minds saying, ‘But what if this virus is as bad as they say?” The Covid-19 event marks the beginning of the end for freedom, and the beginning of a world wide feudal order in which the global financial elite are the aristocracy.
There is no fear mongering in MSM in Holland, they downplay it.
Another person thinking it only affects the old, remember when the hospitals get overwhelmed it will affect non-covid patients too, they will also die.
Ah, but that’s all part of the plan! You see… oh never mind.
Holland is irrelevant because Holland is small, easy to lockdown and already firmly under the control of global elite in any event. The main targets are the unruly countries, which still have people with the potential to defeat the plans of the global elite.
Holland is indeed a loyal follower of the elites’s directives as you say and given its location it will no doubt soon get its share of COVID-19, if only for the sake of appearances.
As for the unruly that would certainly include Italy, which the elites have always viewed with suspicion. It’s not that much of a stretch, to wonder whether Italy’s early and disproportionately harsh outbreak of coronavirus, is just another arm of operation GLADIO at work.
Great point. Holland has long been a loyal member of the masonic club (the murder of Pim Fortuyn prevented any chance of a revolt). Include Ireland in that list of unruly countries, but not for long! The media and Gov. are crushing what’s left of our rebellious spirit (which was tested when the Gov bailed out billionaires at public expense in the Credit Crunch – the majority went along with the betrayal).
Jason
Do you think this might be just one of those “little voices” too?…this message came via Facebook this morning…
“From a Kiwi Daddy in Italy
I am a Kiwi father living in Milano Italy and i can assure you that the corona virus is not a common flue. The media is not exaggerating anything. For a father it is our worst nightmare as we can do very little to protect our family’s. Please take this seriously.
This is the English translation of a post of an ICU physician in Bergamo, Dr. Daniele Macchini. Read until the end.
“After much thought about whether and what to write about what is happening to us, I felt that silence was not responsible.
I will therefore try to convey to people far from our reality what we are living in Bergamo in these days of Covid-19 pandemic. I understand the need not to create panic, but when the message of the dangerousness of what is happening does not reach people I shudder.
I myself watched with some amazement the reorganization of the entire hospital in the past week, when our current enemy was still in the shadows: the wards slowly “emptied”, elective activitieswere interrupted, intensive care were freed up to create as many beds as possible.
All this rapid transformation brought an atmosphere of silence and surreal emptiness to the corridors of the hospital that we did not yet understand, waiting for a war that was yet to begin and that many (including me) were not so sure would ever come with such ferocity.
I still remember my night call a week ago when I was waiting for the results of a swab. When I think about it, my anxiety over one possible case seems almost ridiculous and unjustified, now that I’ve seen what’s happening. Well, the situation now is dramatic to say the least.
The war has literally exploded and battles are uninterrupted day and night. But now that need for beds has arrived in all its drama. One after the other the departments that had been emptied fill up at an impressive pace.
The boards with the names of the patients, of different colours depending on the operating unit, are now all red and instead of surgery you see the diagnosis, which is always the damned same: bilateral interstitial pneumonia.
Now, explain to me which flu virus causes such a rapid drama. [post continues comparing covid19 to flu]. And while there are still people who boast of not being afraid by ignoring directions, protesting because their normal routine is”temporarily” put in crisis, the epidemiological disaster is taking place. And there are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us.
Cases are multiplying, we arrive at a rate of 15-20 admissions per day all for the same reason. The results of the swabs now come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the E.R. is collapsing. Reasons for the access is always the same: fever and breathing difficulties, fever and cough, respiratory failure. Radiology reports always the same: bilateral interstitial pneumonia, bilateral interstitial pneumonia, bilateral interstitial pneumonia. All to be hospitalized.
Someone already to be intubated and go to intensive care. For others it’s too late… Every ventilator becomes like gold: those in operating theatres that have now suspended their non-urgent activity become intensive care places that did not exist before. The staff is exhausted. I saw the tiredness on faces that didn’t know what it was despite the already exhausting workloads they had. I saw a solidarity of all of us, who never failed to go to our internist colleagues to ask “what can I do for you now?”
Doctors who move beds and transfer patients, who administer therapies instead of nurses. Nurses with tears in their eyes because we can’t save everyone, and the vital parameters of several patients at the same time reveal an already marked destiny.
There are no more shifts, no more hours. Social life is suspended for us. We no longer see our families for fear of infecting them. Some of us have already become infected despite the protocols.
Some of our colleagues who are infected also have infected relatives and some of their relatives are already struggling between life and death. So be patient, you can’t go to the theatre, museums or the gym. Try to have pity on the myriad of old people you could exterminate.
We just try to make ourselves useful. You should do the same: we influence the life and death of a few dozen people. You with yours, many more. Please share this message. We must spread the word to prevent what is happening here from happening all over Italy.”
I finish by saying that I really don’t understand this war on panic. The only reason I see is mask shortages, but there’s no mask on sale anymore. We don’t have a lot of studies, but is it panic really worse than neglect and carelessness during an epidemic of this sort?”
The regular flu kills many more people every year but does not garner the same reaction. Automobile accidents kill many more people every year and are shrugged off. American made bombs kill many more people every year and are accepted as necessary.
The Covid-19 virus may kill many people, but it is not going to exterminate humanity. The biggest problem with Covid-19 is its use to remove the last vestiges of freedom people have, which WILL immiserate many many more people than the Covid-19 virus kills.
You said…
“American made bombs kill many more people every year and are accepted as necessary.”
What a truly mind-numbing observation…no further comment… this ‘bombshell’ simply doesn’t warrant a polite reply. Pompeo and Bolton would be most impressed, however.
I am totally Gobsmacked so I will just STFU like a good the little commenter I try to be
Col
I did not say I accept American made bombs killing people as necessary. But walk out into the streets of Western countries, especially the U.S.A. and talk to people about the little adventures in the Middle East and you will find that a majority of the people believe that the ‘rag heads’ should be exterminated.
‘The regular flu kills many more people every year but does not garner the same reaction’
Question has been asked, are those flu, some of us are so programmed to accept as ‘natural’, is not indeed a bioweaponize-virus released on the populations for decades now? Certain agencies are known to released experimental virus on the population through many declassification papers.
Is this one, another one of those?
***Of the ten of thousands or even millions of American who died from flu (so they say), if we were to test 10% of them and see if there be a match to covid-19, how many who turn up as positive?
Thats the question we need to ask now…
We must now assume EVERYTHING they tell us, through their western-flavoured science and medicine, is skewed to their profitable agenda and their full spectrum dominance. If one examine the flu cycles in and throughout human history, we would see a dramatics change of pattern. Is that due to the food quality? air quality? stress (due to damaging work/relationship stressor)? Whatever that is NOT suppose to be part of our BEING and NOT for human, which then we need to examine the current pyramid structure of EVERYTHING!
Point is, they control the food, the air and stressors (via money and law).
And now the virus is ‘natural’?
Just asking questions here…
What if nobody should die by ‘flu’?
And its nothing natural about it?
This does not mean we can live in a virus free world
…but it means this current world order has utterly failed
and needs to be destroyed and buried with the covid-19 virus, bioengineerd or natural.
‘They’ failed you and me!
Be safe there
As an an American I can say with firmness most Americans do not care what happens in other parts of the world. If our government drops bombs on other nations they do not care. They only care what happens here. Then the old saying “what goes around comes around.” Now the weeping will be great.
Hey Col, thanks so much for sharing this experience. I think it is important to provide a much-needed reality check. I’ve been asking a question amidst all this confusion and I’ve yet to receive an answer: If this is just another run of the mill virus, why are extreme measures being taken all over this planet to contain it? I’ve just turned 66 and have never seen anything like it. I live off a dirt side road in a rural community in Haliburton Highlands with small hamlets and towns within an hour’s drive. Everything is shutting down.
I’m not in a panic. I’ve not seen anyone who is acting like they are in a panic. But people are taking precautions which seems prudent to me. And then we have the other sort you mention who is on a crusade ‘fight against this fake pandemic’. After all, look at how many people die from the ‘flu’ each year. The researcher at nomorefakenews.com has some serious objections to these so-called flu deaths. I do feel some sadness and it rankles me to hear people say those mainly at risk are only older people. That would be me. Thus, it appears I (we) no longer have value. We are disposable, useless eaters. Don’t worry. It’s only older people who are dying. At least the one case in Italy of the fit 38-year-old shows that this is not necessarily so. And since they have not had adequate, widespread testing in the U.S. for example, how many deaths over the past few months, attributed to another cause may have been caused by this virus? What about those 200 or so who suddenly gove pneumonia-like symptoms and died and it was claimed they died from vaping? I think this means this virus is already widespread but some think that if they are not tested for it, they don’t exist.
My personal opinion is that none of this is an accident and will be used for other agendas. The tanking of the economy for example. What comes after that will not be pleasant either.
Follow reasonable precautions. Avoid large crowds. Care about others. Read and pray Psalm 90/91.
I may go to the little grocery store in town today for a few items. I wonder if they have toilet paper? If there was one package left and somebody else really needed it more than me, I would let them have it. I better not find it costing twice what it is worth. This has started happening, in true capitalist, supply and demand fashion, to have extra of a needed item and in an emergency ramp up the price. That is exactly the opposite of what I mean by helping each other. This shall all pass eventually.
No problem Craig…take care!
Cheers
Col
@ Jason
Yep, people have become inured to the inconvenience of the security theatre face of the “War on Tourism” so a more visceral fear of strangers has been enabled and used as the MSM message of choice
The AU government has gone in to overdrive shutting down public events, and there’s no toilet paper left in the shops
The Covid-19 virus has one main purpose – to justify locking down societies and limiting movement. Lombardy is a testing ground. The release of the virus is a deliberate move by the global elites to generate fear so that people will clamor to be jailed in their immediate districts.
Prove it.
Ask me again a year from now.
My family is there, I talk daily with them.
What is ignored here is the Chinese city’s in Lombardi, Milan, and Florence are huge. They are all Chinese owned these days.
The richest brands on earth are “Made in Italy” by chinese peasants, and they have been there in these factorys for 30+ years.
My family didn’t care in Dec/Jan, only Chinese were getting sick. They didn’t care until Februrary when Italians started getting sick.
Then came the lockdowns, then came the swarms trying to head south.
Nobody talks about who or why the Chinese factors of Italy were infected, or who may gain? Who is going to buy these factorys?? The Chinese will go home now, no reason to die in Europe, besides with China containing the virus, they’ll get better treatment at home.
So the golden goose that made 100’s of Chinese tycoon’s billionaires in Italy, over night their wealth evaporates, no more Euros for China.
Who ordered this hit? Who destroyed Italy?
The logical mafia don is Trump&Bibi, IMHO Israel tycoons will now step in and buy the factory’s and fill them with low-paid MENA labor.
So if all these Chinese people got sick 2 months ago, are they all gone/dead now?
Where are all the Chinese people in Italy currently – in the hospitals, quarantine, recovered, gone home, what…?
This is a psyops and a globalist government agenda against the citizens. Apparently, even law-abiding good citizens are not controlled enough, and so they are testing their ability to “shut down” everything and control what people do over claims of stopping the spread of some illness which has allegedly killed Americans at a rate of about 4 per day since March 1, while flu deaths were about 1500 per week since October.
Right wing governments doing what they do best, deflecting and bumbling around like fools instead of learning from their mistakes. Stick a fork in the league and Salvini they are finished. Except the same scenario to unfold in the United States where neo-confederates in charge of the federal govt’ are now talking about a foreign virus instead of taking appropriate measure to defeat the coronavirus. In the land of the slave costs for tests can go as high as 1500$ while the same test in South Korea, western Europe and Canada are performed for less than 60$. The Orange grifter says they have the best, greatest and powerful private healhcare system in the world. In a few weeks, deplorables will get to taste some more of that winning.
Just heard an exact number quoted on an inet show today: cost for mere test kit by Gilead, a MPIC company for sure: $300; cost to manufacture said kit: $3;
Also, FWIW a notorious ‘truther’ goes by name Ben Fulford aka Ben Full-of-it, says reaon for the heavily clustered italy “outbreaks”, since no connections to any person-person transmission by friends, etc. is it was special air-mail delivered by drones.
Right wing governments all over the world (Russia, China, all asian countries, Central and Eastern Europe) are the ones handing this well though.
Italy and Spain are under left wing government that take no precautions, same for Western Europe and America.
This will cut the wheat from the chaff.
My concern is not Covid-19 but the actions of the Governments of the Alligned Nations (and thier subordonate nations) during this “crisis”.
I am an acute observer and notice patterns, and I have been watching a significant pattern develop – a pattern of real concern to me – the WAR PREPARATIONS being undertaken within NATO, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China since at least 2014.
The most obvious of these preps are,
China has been producing and deploying warships, planes, and weapons on a scale not seen since WW2 (whilst also militarising rocks, islands, and reefs, and setting up logist hubs throughout Asia and Africa).
Russia has been pushing thier advanced military programs (and modernisation) so fast and so hard that their have been several accidents (and even explosions at classified facilities).
North Korea have been testing missiles (and even “unknown” missile types and other projectiles) at a rate not seen before (and had already restarted Plutonium production),
Iran has been deploying advanced missiles, radars, and spec ops personnel throughout the middle east faster than the combined forces of Israel, the UK, the US, and Saudi Arabia can track/intercept/destroy them (and have demonstrated thier highly advanced GLOSNAS integrated and LIDAR equiped missiles against adversaries directly and by proxy).
And as for NATO,
well, what can I say without writing an essay? For starters, modifications to ALL major platforms to accept nuclear munitions in various forms – especially so called ‘mini-nukes’,
then the deployment of warships to ‘check’ the deployments of all Russian, Chinese, and Iranian warships (everywhere – including even the Arctic),
then the deployment of air-defence systems, Agis support systems, and Thadd around both Russia and China (especially in vulnerable areas such as the Black Sea and South Korea),
then 10s of thousands of troops moved to Europe, including heavy and light armour, advanced aircraft, “live” nuclear gravity bombs and “live” nuclear cruise missiles,
and that was just for starters.
Now what we see is the whole of the World effectively putting thier citizens on a genuine but undeclared ‘war footing’.
To me there are 3 main possibilities why this clearly coordinated action is being taken:
1) That Covid-19 (or a bioweapon being called Covid-19) is actually very dangerous and requires such unpresidented wartime measures to protect the nations,
2) That East and West really are preparing for a major confrontation – perhaps even a limited “mini-nuke” exchange (so sought after by certain characters in the US and UK regimes),
3) That there is a Global Economic Collapse currently underway – and the control of populations and resources (especially “Human Resources”) is required to mitigate the shock / damage / chaos resulting from the collapse (of the Dollar based global economy) and the revaluation of global trade and comerce in other currencies, etc.
For what it is worth, I believe there is actually a combination of all of the above currently taking place – the “West” are thretening scorched earth (or at the very least a war with Iran and / or North Korea which will drag in Russia and China) if they are impoverished too much by the collapse of the system thier empire is based upon, and especially the subsequent ‘reset’ which is likely to favour eastern nations – particualrly Russia, China, and Iran. In such a case the Covid-19 pandemic is ideal cover for the much bigger global events behind the scenes.
I have no way of knowing if I am correct of course, I am simply specualting based on the observation of patterns, however I feel that we (“we” as a global community) will not have to wait too long to find out what is really going on.
Whatever the truth I ask that you all stay safe and take care of your family.
Hassan
For what it is worth I see the situation almost exactly as you do…this is multiples more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis with largely a bunch of crazed lunatics at the helm this time…of course, there is one notable exception…one single brilliant and patient Statesman, however, is nowhere near enough to save our backsides in a situation this serious and with so many flashpoints.
See also my comment Cafe March 13, 2020 5:37 on the same vein.
Stay safe and very best regards
Col
My advise where possible is to take Vitamin C powder multiple times a day in small doses 30 minutes apart the moment you see or feel symptoms. (From 1G to 4G (small teaspoon) per pose per dose)
You can buy a 5KG bag very cheaply.
I would combine this with Ginger and Garlic consumption (preferably fresh although powdered is not too bad).
Good luck.
As time goes on, people will realize the great sacrifices China has made for the world. Unfortunately, no one cares now.
Article linked at end here is 24 hours old now, maybe it’s already posted pages back, but note key sentence here what happened today—Billy Baphomet has just today resigned from not 1 but 2 top director posts at 2 household name MIC connected companies.
Going into hiding, huh Billy Boy!
here’s the “controversy” msm is claiming is one reason for him disappearing—all in the public record in the film & hundreds of articles, ironically most in the msm like this since:
n a 2019 Netflix documentary, billionaire Bill Gates predicted a killer virus could originate in China’s wet markets to rapidly infect the world
In what now appears to be an eerie premonition of future events, the Microsoft tycoon warned in an episode of the Netflix ‘Explained’ series that the world was ill-prepared to deal with a global pandemic.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7951293/Bill-Gates-Predicted-Coronavirus-Like-Outbreak-2019-Netflix-Documentary.html
https://www.globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-causes-effects-real-danger-agenda-id2020/5706153
WHO has most likely received orders from “above”, from those people who also manage Trump and the “leaders” (sic) of the European Union and her member countries, those who aim to control the world with force – the One World Order.
This has been on the drawing board for years. The final decision to go ahead NOW, was taken in January 2020 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos – behind very much closed doors, of course. The Gates, GAVI (an association of vaccination-promoting pharmaceuticals), Rockefellers, Rothschilds et al, they are all behind this decision – the implementation of Agenda ID2020 – see below.
I look at a website every day that tracks COVID-19 statistics.
See: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.
I record the total number of cases since the first case reported for China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, France, USA and Japan as a control group and calculate the ADRI (Average Daily Rate of Infection) for each country. After the 100th day, the ADRI has dropped significantly for China while it has risen gradually for the other countries.as they approach their respective 100 day mark.
Italy.is an anomaly as far the ratio of reported deaths to total cases showing a mortality rate of over 14 percent.
It appears the majority of infected patients require hospitalization in an ICU and are being treated for pneumonia, which is usually and end stage for elderly patients.
it would be interesting to know which type of microorganism is causing the pneumonia infection because it could be bacterial, viral or fungal. If it is viral then perhaps an argument can be made this strain of coronavirus is a more virulent pathogen than what we witness in the rest of the control group.
If so, how did a different strain of COVID-19 wind up in Italy given all other contagion factors being equal across the control group (e.g., patient age, speed of diagnosis, quality of heath care, etc.)?
I think the Italian COVID-19 strain should be compared to samples taken from the other countries. It may lead to a conclusion that more than one strain of coronavirus exists somewhere else, a much more deadly strain than what originated at ground zero in Wuhan, China.
That has already happened. Here is a well supported article from Global Research.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/covid-19-further-evidence-virus-originated-us/5706078
There are 5 strains, all of which are apparently found in the USA, but not all of which appear anywhere else.
Talked about i’ve seen stories well over a decade now, so that would be after that 1st deadly 2003 SARS attack, that ‘they’ would tinker with whatever variants they were cooking up at the time & since, to get the next mark release to behave as 1/2 of a true binary bioweapon, the other 1/2 being the chem-trail chemicals, already in everyone’s system built up. those started in the truly ramped up levels seen since only ca 1999.
Would explain how the age of mortality one cluster mentioned yesterday radio show was 81 YOA, yet claimed zero children not affected nor infected with any symptoms, thus those not even tested no need to.
Children haven’t by definition had the many years of toxic garbage build-up yet in their lungs.
Explains also this very weird & nasty after-effect of damage of “the virus” many stories out but new, past few days only including that radio show that something is producing a “crystalline glitter” in the damaged lungs of these aged, seriously ill patients, clearly showing in the radiologist & pulmonologist x-rays.
This would also maybe, maybe not, explain how/why those very suspicious clusters of cases in just those few italian locales. Maybe those already has the 5G wi-fi turned on shortly before, but were quickly shut down, as rumor/stories possibly just dis-info after the fact to cover tracks came out of Wuhan claiming that since Wuhan was the first test locale for the 5G rollout/activation, this nasty synergistic effect originally happened there.
There are many, many strains of the virus. It’s too early to say where it originated. In Wuhan they were merely the first to notice the weird cases and sequence the genome. Posthusmous testing of “flu” samples from November/December/January is beginning to reveal that many of those were sarscov2. Not only in China, but in US and Italy. Probably elsewhere. If you are interested, go to to nextstrain which offers data visualizations of the virus strains. At virological.org there are interesting papers. I am not providing references because right now the sample size is too small and the data is changing daily as more people upload genomes from around the world.
Michael Osterholm in a very revealing interview… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZFhjMQrVts&fbclid=IwAR1xRKNF66yKLXWHChE0O8u1vjLUY8wgBuxWbtf3JOgUw1qztfgScOZpBCE
…that is very much in line with Chris Martenson’s work.
Cheers
Col
A most illuminating account of Italy against the backdrop of pandemics; thank you, Rachana Raizada.
”On March 8, only Lombardy and Veneto were shut down, but by March 12 all of Italy was shut down based on the fear of what could happen if the epidemics broke out in less well equipped Southern regions.”
It makes me recall Italy in the fall of 2005 when the buffoon Silvio Berlusconi wreaked utter chaos in the capital by staging an ill-conceived, hyped-up ’exercise’ on the subject of a terrorist attack. The subway was closed down just as the rush hours in the morning were about to start. It was my first working day at a site on the city’s outskirts and the public transportation alternative was by metro followed by a bus ride. As I finally was able to find a taxi — imagine the chaos and the accidents during the rush hours that day — the driver mocked the whole thing, saying that Berlusconi seemed to be yearning for the role as the terrorists’ biggest laughing stock: ”Hey, look at these idiotic Italians! Happily bringing violent chaos onto themselves without us having to lift a single finger”. As I was to find out later, some of my Italian colleagues had a favourable opinion of Berlusconi and his ”will-power”.
So here we have Lega Nord, ’democratic’ Italy, and the corporate presstitutes pointing fingers at ’authoritarian’ China while their own societies rot and decay, now including outright travel bans. Lord the Almighty works in strange and wondrous ways.
We have here the same misinformation received from china. Information on Lombardy should be requested from Lombard citizens, not from a foreigner passing through Milan with a clear political orientation against those who govern that region.
The sad reality about Italian politicians (all the parties!) it that they follow every “dictat” from Bruxelles regarding economy and from Washington regarding foreign politics. If they protest against Euro, Europe or whatever, is only to gain votes at the next elections. But, if they win, they simply cannot maintain the promises, and even if they would like to do, there is an entire systems stopping them, starting from magistrates down to public functionaries, both in Italy and in Europe and more on.
Do you remember Salvini protesting against sanctions on Russia? What they did at the government? Constantly aligning with Trump and Netanyao..
Back to the virus, why nobody is complaining that in the last twenty years Italy lost beds in the hospitals? Every government accepted this stupid austerity rules, cutting research, school and healthcare. No surprise if hospital collapses due to this new epidemics! Doctors are doing their best, but it is like Italian soldiers during the WW2:
great bravery and self-sacrifice, but lacking organization and decent generals.
By closing their borders early, the Russians are showing people how to prevent this infection from spreading. The Chinese were not happy – but they would have done the same had the infection started in Vladivostok.
The European Union has demonstrated once again in the most convincing way possible that it is a redundant institution.. Politicians who oppose the close of airports and borders are advocating the reduction of the life expectancy of their populations.
Forgotten in all of this is that those who recover from the ICU have permanently damaged lungs and possibly damaged organs as well. Their life expectancy has been reduced. Just wait for life assurance premiums to rise dramatically in the near future.
The European Union has demonstrated once again in the most convincing way possible that it is a redundant institution. Politicians who oppose the close of airports and borders are advocating the reduction of the life expectancy of their populations.”
Yes, and that does give quite some credence to Trump’s notion ”shithole countries” along with mine about ”Euro-trash”, LOL. Russia should close the border to the EU right away.
Thanks for all comments on this article. Want to clarify: .
1. Biggest typos (my bad): By January 7 China had identified the virus, by January 12 the first 2019-nCov genome sequence (later renamed to SARS-CoV-2) and by January 13, the first test kits were available. There’s 1 sentence where Dec 31, 2020 obviously refers to 2019.
2. I’m aware I sound anti-Salvini. This does not = “pro-Conte”. I am not “pro” anyone. The Conte “government” is a fragile coalition of individuals who suddenly have to work together in a major health crisis. It’s not going well, evidently.
3. I think the economic fallout from the virus is underestimated and entirely unnecessary, not only in Italy but everywhere. I am not “pro-China”. I don’t kick someone when they’re down. I want neutral & nuanced information beyond: China is authoritarian, lies, and does awful things. I was horrified at the chortling in global media about “made in China” hospitals built in 10 days, batsoup, coverups and other nonsense. How quickly can your country drum up hundreds of thousands of spacesuits for all medical personnel if you’re not sure whether the exact transmission system of a newly identified virus is saliva, snot, eye mucus, blood or other stuff?
4. I wrote this article because I am very upset about unnecessary deaths and contagion in Italy. China gave them 45 days time to prepare: WHO issued a global alert on Dec 31, 2019. Western governments took the attitude: this only happens in China. But Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan hit the ground running. It was a hot topic in virological circles in January. For weeks Italian media shows images of doctors without goggles.
I stand by my assertion that the bulk of the Italian coronavirus crisis between February 18-March 13 was concentrated in a handful of hospitals in Lombardy (Lodi, Bergamo) with infection spreading rapidly inside the hospital including 70 medics infected in Bergamo. That’s why all those agitated letters from Bergamo. I got a mystery audio on whatsapp of someone claiming to be a nurse in Bergamo. Last night a friend went to an emergency room in Monza, Lombardy for a heart issue. He texted me to say the doc was not wearing glasses. I am sad for the infected medics and the deaths. That’s all.
The last sentence alone is worth the whole article. And the facts brought up will help correct the unfounded positive image conservatives have of Salvini. Grazie di cuore per aver colto l’occasione e metter su carta la cruda realtà come la stanno vivendo e vedendo tanti italiani. Dal Ticino, vi siamo vicini
Grazie, ti potrebbe interessare: https://ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/sempionenews/2020/03/documentocobasriutilizzoospedalelegnano-sempionenews.pdf
We do not want to enter into controversy over the old vicissitudes and the waste of money public of in the history of our regional health system but we emphasize that right here in Legnano, not far from the fairground [the Milan hospital that the Region of Lombardy wants to convert to an isolation camp] there is the “old monobloc” and pavilions built and arranged 10 years ago with all the equipment. In fact, despite being an ugly chapter in the politics of this region, few seem to remember what today could instead be a resource to guarantee immediately, hundreds and hundreds of new beds. In fact, there are: rooms already equipped with oxygen…Riccardo Germani, Spokesperson, Portavoce ADL Cobas Lombardia – Operatore sanitario Ospedale di Legnano Published on March 17 in the Sempione News
Stay safe!
There may be some people dying of the virus, I am not in a position to dispute that. However, the primary remedy seems to be to “shut down” all the businesses for two weeks or more and make everyone stay home. I confess that I didn’t do well in economics in school, but isn’t this a recipe for an economic collapse? Then what would follow? If true, then not long afterward everyone and their brother will soon be begging the powers that be for an end to their suffering. Lo and behold, the governments would soon step forward calling for a reset of the economy! Whatever we have in our bank accounts would be reduced by about 75%, as well as our pay checks. Any country owed money by those in the west would likely lose everything that they thought was going to be paid back. Yet, the amount of taxes to be paid by the citizens would almost certainly remain untouched. The rich would be come MUCH richer and the poor would become extremely poor! Haven’t we seen this “movie” before? The governments introduce a problem, the people suffer, the people complain to their governments for relief, the governments offer a solution to the people that they would NEVER have accepted in the past.
COVID-19 cure: drink sufficiently (citronella + little citrus juice, or citronella + some honey) tea, if you do not have citronella, use pure (unmixed) green tea instead. Your lungs and all internal organs will be cleansed of that COVID-19 stuff.
The very rapid spread of Covid-19 in NE Italy may have a cause in the extensive Roman Catholic use of “holy water”. RC churches have little containers, called in English “stoups”, much like a larger version of a built-in soap tray, containing water which has been blessed by a priest. On entering, worshippers dip their fingers in the water, and cross themselves, touching forehead and lips. The water will be rarely replaced, and maybe hundreds of not-too-clean fingers will have been dipped in the stoup.
A week ago there were only about 100 cases in he UK, but the Church of England altered its rituals so that no wine from a common cup was given at communion, and there was no shaking of hands, even at the Peace, let alone kissing . Holy water could be used only for one baptism before it was discarded – stoups in the few Anglo-Catholic churches that had them were emptied. English Roman Catholicism followed rapid suite, and a couple of days later even the stoups in the Vatican were observed to be empty.
Salvini is not just a right-wing nationalist, he is part of an ultraconservative movement in the RC church, which has been trying to thwart Pope Francis: the undead Benny the Rat (aka “papa emeritus”) has taken to making public pronouncements differing little from those he made when really pope. To such people the idea that holy water could be a source of contagion is unthinkable: when the evidence is otherwise they have hissy fits and blame anybody else. They are incapable of recognising that reckless idolatry has spread a plague.
Still a lot people blaming Salvini and ironically Silvio Berlusconi when neither of them is not the head of the government.
Face it, reality remains is that if Salvini was the head of the current government, he would declare close borders from both China and the EU and likely prevent the infection from getting this bad in the first place.
This article seems like it’s Conte government trying to shuffle responsibility back into Lega Nord, even when Chinese medics are praising Italian hospitals are doing their best.
“They were built in 10 days because they were intended to be destroyed afterwards. Today’s Corriere reports that Italy is following the “Wuhan Model” in its famous trade centre, Milan’s Fiera. Which, presumably is not going to be destroyed afterwards.”
Back during Cold War I a Western journalist, I think his name was Edward something, spent a lot of time in the People’s Republic and wrote and filmed about it. One of his films shows how a community worked together to build a dam. You might call is Socialist Realism by a Yankee, but this was a truly inspiring documentary. Obviously, I have never forgotten some of the seminal images of how this community managed with basically hand labor to dam a sizable torrent with rocks. I guess someone in the village or the prefecture must have been directing this effort—I do not recall this at this great distance in time.
If anyone knows of this film and and can provide details, I would love to view it again and check my recollections. I had in mind the name Edward White, but googling this, or just Edward, with various combos of China, Damming a River, documentary on China, etc. brought nothing relevant.
I continue to believe that American communities have the ability to pull together in one direction, if they are given some direction by someone—by a member of the community, or by political leadership. I believe this would in fact be a very therapeutic situation, for individuals, communities, and the nation.
I believe that the UNGA should call an emergency session with a call to “turn swords into plowshares” worldwide, to combat not only this illness and its spread but, more important, the generally unhealthy condition on the planet for the whole planet.
Although I do not believe there is a goddess named Gaia, I do believe that the name is a handy shortcut to stand in for the dynamic balance of Earth’s systems, and their inherent dispassionate morality, which are currently being disrupted too fast by humans for the systems to respond gently and gradually.
Again, if anyone recognizes the film I described above, please share that info.
Katherine
If it’s a hit piece, is it on target? ;)
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
“The initially (but no longer) presumed “patient zero” presented himself at a hospital in Codogno in mid-February for fever and respiratory issues. He’s a 38 year old soccer playing, marathon runner who can’t battle what seems like a regular flu. But with headlines screaming about coronavirus, not only is he not tested, he is put into an ICU…tragic events followed.”
So what is his name? Did he die? Why isn’t he named and more investigation into his background and where he was before allegedly coming down with this illness?
Is there a picture of him?
So what is his name? called “Mattia” to protect his anonymity
Did he die? He is recovering. His pregnant wife also got covid19 but had a mild case.
Why isn’t he named and more investigation into his background and where he was before allegedly coming down with this illness? Believe me, the health authorities investigated his movements thoroughly because a whole bunch of people (are thought) to have caught it from him.
Is there a picture of him? No. Anonymity to preserve his identity. He is the famous patient ever in Italy at this moment.
“So what is his name? called “Mattia” to protect his anonymity”
So how do we know he is even real? This could all be concocted propaganda. No one should believe what media’s stories without proof. He is not famous if he is not real &/or the story behind him is made up.
On October 18, 2019 there was a “Pandemic 201” exercise/conference at John Hopkins University which laid out pretty much what has happened since. They had the graphs, fear-mongering and speeches about how it (this made-up scenario) was spreading fast. It discussed closing borders, quarantine and how the economy and stock markets would suffer. Videos of that conference are on youtube. Bill Gates was involved and he has been talking about making a vaccine for a future pandemic virus for years.
This conference was on the exact same day as the World Military Games started in Wuhan China. Just coincidence? Yeah right.
My point of view.
At this point , net of errors, if any, of leadership of the Lombardy’s Region, the central government probably has failed to take action to:
1. .raise awareness of national security services (CISR, DIS, AISE, AISI), alternatively changing their strategic direction/activities;
2. .activate article 117 number 2 letters d) state security and q) protection of national borders and international prophylaxis, of the Constitution, to impose central safeguard policies;
3. .take action to make up for the obvious lack of personal protective equipment for:
1. medical staff;
2. security forces (police / army);
3. public officials of all levels necessary for the rapid implementation of policies to combat COVID 19;
4. workers of strategic industries (and there was already the example of China; it was enough to follow at least that);
4. .take action to establish a geographical limit line, between the North and South of the country, for the potential spread of the possible contagion area. In this way it would have obtained four results:
a. maintain an area of strategic depth with respect to the disease in which ordinary activities can continue in relative tranquillity;
b. build / redirect industrial production towards immediate needs, also through the recruitment of figures such as the ‘technology broker / dual technology expert;
c. guarantee a continuous supply of technological resources and possibly staff to the Northern Italy’s area;
d. do not increase the stress for the health facilities of the South and instead create swaps for the excessive loads of those in the North.
I. . Immediately replace all of the strategic tasks of the Superior Health Council; (eventually some members);
II. . activate the Army battalions specialized in biological warfare;
III. . immediately activate the Military Chemical-Pharmaceutical Institute of Florence.
IV. . Activate central controls on airports and ports so as to limit potential outgoing and incoming contagions.
I have not seen all of these activities carried out immediately by the central government.
We will evaluate the numbers at the end of the circus. If.
I fully agree with many if not most of your excellent suggestions:.
“take action to establish a geographical limit line, between the North and South…maintain an area of strategic depth…which ordinary activities can continue in relative tranquillity;”
“do not increase the stress for the health facilities of the South and instead create swaps for the excessive loads of those in the North”
In fact some patients were sent from Bergamo to Palermo. Then they stopped ALL movement of people to Sicily.
I have asked myself often: what could the national government have done differntly? In principle the national government should have taken many of your suggested actions.In fact there was a big fight between Conte and Fontana in late February in which he threatened to take away the powers from the regional government.
I wish he had, BUT I don’t know how this would work in practice. The region is in charge at the implementation level. For so many months the coalition government has been fighting for its very existence. I believe bad as the situation is, it would be even worse if:
a) the government had been toppled and Italians were preparing for an election when the crisis broke out
and / or
b) Meloni / Renzi / Fontana were heading the national government at the time of the crisis