Temper Fear with Reason

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The epidemic of the new coronavirus has forced the world to take unprecedented action, which is slowly producing results. Fighting another virus – disinformation and the subsequent panic – is much more difficult.

“I am physically and mentally exhausted,” a friend living in northern Italy recently wrote to me. Working as a doctor at a local hospital, she is on the front line of the fight against the coronavirus, which killed almost 2,000 people in Italy alone until last Sunday. “Many of the sick are young people. We can’t cure everyone,” I read in a message that ends “Pray for us.”

When the number of SARS-CoV-2 (also known as COVID-19) infected people in Italy increased by 1,700 in just one day, the government decided to introduce traffic restrictions for 60 million citizens. Italians have heard that they must stay in their homes and go out only for urgent health and professional reasons. Schools, universities, cinemas and theatres have been closed.

“There will be no more red zones. There will be Italy, Italy as a protected zone” – said the head of the government, Giuseppe Conte. A few days later, bars, restaurants and cafes were also closed, a move which surprisingly was not considered at first.