
Good Covid-19 News from Italy and Sweden - pseudolus
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-04/italy-and-sweden-are-taming-the-coronavirus-s-potential-second-wave
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lbeltrame
Interestingly, the perspective from an Italian citizen (myself) is quite
different.

\- The media does not mention success _anywhere_ : they only scream loud where
positive people are found, regardless of trends

\- Relaxing rules about train occupancy for long-haul trains (currently forced
at 50% capacity) was bound to happen last weekend. However, the health
minister reversed the decision _mere hours_ before it went into effect. Train
companies, which had been preparing for the change in the past 15 days
(including negotiating protocols) were forced to refund thousands of tickets

\- The shutdown was unnecessarily harsh, there is still no clear evidence
(aside modeling, so lots of caveats apply) that deaths were spared by the
lockdown, and the economy was hit pretty hard

\- The Italian government is also one which did the least to mitigate the
economic damage of the lockdown, a clear contrast with its public statements
("we will", "we plan", etc.)

\- Schools were never reopened, talks about the "safety" in schools are
reaching honestly hard to believe proposals (like wheeled desks). One month or
so left before reopening them, there is no policy nor clear indication on what
to do.

\- Government models on the epidemic were completely off: the worst-case
scenario predicted 150,000 Italians needing ICU care by the end of June, and
while it was widely publicized, the actual report was secret, was somehow
leaked around, and was full of large epidemiological errors

\- A state of emergency was continued despite the absence of one (ICU use and
hospitalization are in the lower figures)

\- Thousands of people that recovered are still being held by the fact that
they require two consecutive negative tests, and sometimes the delays are up
to months

\- Italy voted with Europe in allowing certain countries to enter the Schengen
area with no quarantine, yet immediately reversed the decision locally,
forbidding anyone from entering without "proper reasons" and with a quarantine
of 14 days. At the same time, "special flights" carrying citizens from
Bangladesh arrived without quarantining (I'm guessing it was part of some
agreement on workers), and guess what, some of those people tested positive
afterwards

\- There's quite a lot of debate on how to consider a person positive to the
test. At this point, people positive to IgG tests are counted as having the
virus (however, evidence shows that IgG appear at least one week after symptom
onset and peak much later, hence these people are not infectious)

\- The scientific committee often makes "threats" to the population in case
the advice isn't followed, despite having no authority to do so (that belongs
to the government: they are only advisors).

