Italy: Bergamo commemorates the victims of Covid-19
Bergamo, hard hit by the coronavirus epidemic, is now trying to learn to live again, especially with its football team, Atalanta.
AFP - MIGUEL MEDINA
Text by: Anne Le Nir Follow
6 mins
The head of the Italian government, Mario Draghi, is expected Thursday, March 18 in the martyred city of Bergamo to inaugurate the "wood of memory", a green space where hundreds of lime trees will be planted.
Lombardy being part of the strictly reconfined regions, the ceremony will take place in privacy, but will be broadcast live by Rai, the public broadcasting company.
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From our correspondent
,
The Italian Parliament has chosen a very symbolic date to institute the Day in memory of the victims of the coronavirus: March 18.
On this day, in 2020, Italy records the record figure of 3,405 deaths.
The images of the first columns of military trucks transporting bodies from Bergamo to other cities in the North, for lack of space in its crematoriums, are touring the world.
“
These trucks with camouflage-colored tarpaulins haunt my nights.
I will not be able to forget the dread I felt when the funeral directors told me that my mother's corpse was part of one of the convoys.
She was cremated in Bologna and we have not yet been able to celebrate her funeral,
”says Diego Federici.
The story of this 37-year-old worker illustrates the pain of thousands of Italians.
His mother and father, aged 73 and 72 respectively, lived in Martinengo, a village on the outskirts of Bergamo.
“
They were healthy and still in love!
On March 18, Diego and his brother learned that their parents had contracted the virus.
“
They were admitted to two different hospitals.
We never heard the sound of their voices again.
My father died on March 21, my mother four days later
.
"
So many bodies wrapped in a plastic bag
Subsequently, Diego discovers that his father had been used "like
a guinea pig
" to test treatments.
“
His body did not withstand these tests.
There weren't enough coffins.
He was wrapped in a plastic bag, like so many others, and then buried in the village cemetery, alone, because we were confined.
As for her mother, she was immediately placed on morphine, without an oxygen mask.
“
It is impossible to elaborate such mourning.
For me, my parents were victims of government failures.
Everything should have been closed on January 31 when the state of emergency was declared.
But in the name of the economy-queen, the regional authorities were content to close schools, theaters, museums and cinemas, from February 14.
We had to wait until March 9 for the general containment of the country!
», This young man gets carried away.
►
To read also:
"In Bergamo, families say goodbye to the ambulance"
Ten obituaries on
L'Eco di Bergamo
Since then, he has found a little happiness by meeting Sara, his new fiancée, through the “
Noi denunceremo
” (“
We will denounce
”
) committee.
Born on Facebook on March 22, 2020, eight days after the publication of ten obituaries by the daily
Eco di Bergamo
, it brings together hundreds of families of Covid-19 victims.
“
Sara lost her father in the same circumstances as mine, which brings us very close.
Together, we are stronger to demand truth and justice, in the name of the dignity our parents were deprived of.
In fact, several judicial inquiries have been opened to understand what happened.
According to the National Institute of Statistics, in the province of Bergamo the number of deaths between March and April 2020 (6,205) quintupled compared to the same period in 2019.
Atalanta-Valencia, the coronavirus match
Among the hypotheses raised, we point out
the Atalanta-Valencia match in the final first leg of the Champions League
which was played in front of 45,800
tifosi
, including 40,000 Bergamasques, at the San Siro stadium in Milan, on February 19.
"
This is part of the explanations concerning our sad record
" concedes Giorgio Gori, mayor of Bergamo.
In addition, trade unionist Andrea Agazzi recalls that in the highly industrialized province, “a
number of businesses have never ceased to operate.
Just like the airport of Orio al Serio, one of the largest hubs in the country.
This allowed the virus to circulate intensely
”.
But, like other regions, the fight against the invisible enemy has been made even more difficult because of the "pandemic plan" not updated since 2006 and drastic cuts in public health.
The cruelty of forced choice for intensive therapy
Maria G., doctor at Lodi hospital, near that of Codogno where the virus was detected for the first time on a 38-year-old Italian, on February 21, 2020, remembers her fears shared with her colleagues.
"
We immediately feared the arrival of a real tsunami which would not allow us to manage all the sick
".
In fact, hospitals were quickly overwhelmed.
“
Here, at the time of the peak, patients were on the floor in the emergency department.
We lacked everything: ambulances, beds, doctors, nurses, devices for resuscitation,
”laments this infectious disease specialist.
What will remain anchored forever in his memory is the forced choice for intensive therapy.
“
So many times, in Lodi and elsewhere, it has been necessary to give up intubating patients to treat others, younger or without comorbidity.
This traumatic situation lasted until mid April,
”she says, on the verge of tears.
Italians no longer call doctors heroes
She believes that Italy needs a strengthened and centralized health system to stop the cacophony of the regions, but also a better territorial network of care.
“
We are better prepared to face the third wave.
However, there are still thousands of doctors and nurses missing.
How would we cope with a powerful earthquake in a seismic region?
For her part, Valentina Strappa, psychotherapist at the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo, observes that the Italians have ceased to qualify caregivers as heroes.
"
The virus has already cost the lives of 341 doctors, but we have moved to a form of indifference vis-à-vis white coats on the front line
".
►
Also to listen:
Bergamo: bitter lessons from the first wave of Covid-19
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