
Italy's call for urgent help was ignored as coronavirus swept through Europe - simonebrunozzi
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/15/revealed-the-inside-story-of-europes-divided-coronavirus-response
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lbeltrame
Some of the quotes here kind of cause cognitive dissonance with those who
actually saw the crisis unfold from the ground, like myself.

1\. The Italian government and many experts downplayed the issue at first: on
January 31st, Giuseppe Conte declared "we're fully prepared", but it wasn't
so: he was far more worried about his unstable coalition.

2\. The ban on China flights was so only for direct flights: passengers coming
from China through other Schengen areas were not screened at all.

3\. Testing policy was inconsistent: at first, test everyone, then only those
with symptoms, and it took months to increase testing capacity (also
privately-owned labs were forbidden from performing tests)

4\. Forbidding autopsies and thus delaying findings that were found to be
useful later on (when first thrombosis was found in dead patients' lungs and
use of heparin suggested, some experts called the finding "colossal idiocy")

5\. Procurement of PPE and ventilators was done in the most inefficient, over-
bureaucratic way possible. Disclaimer: it would've been _objectively_
difficult given the shortages, but one could've done better. The appointed
person to handle the job went through all the complex bureaucratic steps to do
the calls to procure tests and masks, failing to get them in time. Then, when
some companies converted themselves to producing masks, the price was
arbitrarily fixed at lower-than-cost (and subsequently raised for obvious
reasons). The first shipments of masks to some of the hardest-hit regions
weren't even close to being PPE (they looked like dust towels). The way the
government also paid, 30 days after invoice, made it slower than others who
were willing to pay cash immediately. In short, a lot of initiatives were
delayed for, to be frank, fear of being then accused of "corruption".

6\. The coordination of the emergency response teams was, for a good while,
largely inefficient. Some donated masks took a while to go to the hospitals
due to bureaucratic reasons.

7\. Lockdown was unnecessarily harsh, shutting down stuff that could've been
kept running (some factories), and totally blanket, locking both regions with
lots of positive cases and regions without significant signs of community
spread

8\. Inconsistent mask policy (granted, there aren't clear cut data even now)

9\. At first reopening, a "secret" (and not signed by anyone) report full of
epidemiological errors was leaked, warning of "150,000 Italians needing ICU
care" by June if activity would resume (it was then torn apart by other
experts)

10\. There wasn't even a clear plan of reopening. No one even mentioned it,
until a politician from the majority raised the issue and then the debate
started.

11\. Little to no financial aid to the sectors impacted by the lockdown, and
extreme delays in providing it. OTOH, massive promises were and are still
being made with plenty of numbers.

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simonebrunozzi
Thanks Luca, super useful comments.

As always, reality is far more complicated than a single article, and behind
most articles there's an agenda that is not necessarily "truth at all costs".

