Corona virus in Italy

[Montanan]

INTERNATIONAL CODE OF SIGNALS
FOR VISUAL, SOUND, AND RADIO COMMUNICATIONS

Meaning of Pratique Messages.

[Montanan]

Any and all, non-essential travel, local or distant, for pleasure or for chores and supplies, remains unwise, unwelcome and unhelpful during a pandemic.

Snipets: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt..._headlines_hed

"Italian doctors regret that a tougher line wasn't held this summer, when infections dropped. Instead of consolidating the gains, Italians headed to the beaches, setting the stage for the fall surge. Restrictions like curfews “could have been enacted earlier to try to stem the expansion of the pandemic,” said Filippo Anelli, head of the Italian Doctors' Federation. But the government waited until the upward curve was irrefutable."

"Hospitals are now struggling to find enough trained specialists — especially anesthesiologists for critical care units — and other medical personnel to cover for doctors and nurses under quarantine after falling ill or being exposed.

Health officials are especially concerned because the virus is no longer contained to northern Italy but has spread to the south, with its more fragile health care system."

As dire as Italy’s ICU situation is once again, it's not critical care that is most worrying doctors during the pandemic’s autumn resurgence. It's sub-intensive and infectious disease wards caring for less gravely ill patients, who are often younger and sometimes require care for longer periods.

The Italian doctors federation called this week for a nationwide lockdown to forestall a collapse of the medical system, marked by the closure of non-emergency procedures. The government is facing tougher criticism than in the spring, when the health crisis was met with an outpouring of solidarity.

As of Wednesday, 52% of Italy's hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, above the 40% warning threshold set by the Health Ministry. Nine of Italy’s 21 regions and autonomous provinces are already securely in the red-alert zone, above 50% virus occupancy, with Lombardy at 75%, Piedmont at 92% and South Tyrol at an astonishing 99%.

The region’s hospitals are responding by reorganizing wards in a bid to avoid shutting down ordinary care, as happened spontaneously during Italy’s first deadly coronavirus spike. Still, hospitals in Lombardy and neighboring Piedmont — designated red zones by the government last week — have closed surgical, pediatric and geriatric wards to make room for COVID patients. Veneto, still a lowest-tier yellow zone, is preparing to cancel all non-urgent procedures this week.

“We must continue to offer at least a minimum of services to all the other pathologies," Cabrini said. "If we close our emergency room, it means a population of 1 million people will be without urgent care. We cannot let that happen.”

“There are still people who don't believe that the second wave has arrived,” Dr. Cabrini said. “But I see the river of people who are arriving in the emergency room."

Those people the Dr. Cabrini is mentioning above are commonly called, Covidiots.