Corporate pressure has a major influence on the coronavirus crisis in Lombardy and is hampering the decision to paralyse the activity of the economic sectors. Luca Radaelli (Bergamo, 1974), journalist of the independent digital portal Bgreport, talked about the "impotence" of the government and the "collapse" of the health system in Spain.

What is the situation at the moment in Bergamon?

Pretty hard. In Lombardy, which began the crisis on 21 February, there is official talk of almost a thousand deaths in the city of Bergamo, but the figures are distorted.

Aren't they real data?

The number of patients is much higher, as they don't do tests. The COVID-19 test is performed only to those who arrive at the hospital and not to everyone, only to those who are in serious condition. And in nursing homes, a lot of older people are dying, and they're not going to have any tests, they're not going to know if they've died of the virus. Although I think I have coronavirus, I have symptoms, they don't test me. And that's a big problem, because nobody realizes whether they're sick or not; you can relate to the people around you, your family, and when you realize you're already contaminated. The number of deaths is higher, but the number of patients is even higher.

 

 

 

 

What kind of accommodation have you set up in the county?

You can barely get out of shopping and work. Yesterday (Monday), the Prime Minister ordered the immediate closure of all non-essential economic sectors of the country ' s economy. The decree will come into force from tomorrow, Wednesday, but the entrepreneurs are squeezing the government and it seems that the interpretation given for its implementation will be favourable to the entrepreneurs. They have also called for a general strike, in defence of the closure of the workplaces.

Is the accommodation respected?

Throughout Italy, there have been 60,000 complaints of gender-based violence. However, from Bergamo the perspective is totally different, only because here there are many deaths and people come out because of need, and be careful, not close to others. In Italy there has been a campaign against the people who are going to run to accuse the people who are responsible for the pandemic; and in Bergamo, people are going to run, but they are not coming close to others. Here people don't say anything, because they know you go running because you need it, because you live on a 40-square-meter floor. There's a lot of pain, but there's not much nervousness.

What's the situation in hospitals?

We bring to the website a document signed by 30 doctors from the hospital in Bergamo that has published the journal New England Journal of Medicine, very hard. They say that the situation is completely out of control, that they have no protocols, that they are not prepared for the epidemic and that no one knows how to manage them. All the doctors are getting infected and there's no place, people are dying at home, no oxygen, so there's no choice. It is said that three people die at home from a death in the hospital. That's the proportion. We have 3,500 doctors infected and can't manage them.

How has Lombardy come to this situation?

The hospital of Alzano is the main focus of the province, and they waited for days to decide whether or not to close the town. After the positive of the two patients, the emergency room of the hospital was closed immediately, but after a few hours it was reopened. Meanwhile, the province of Lodi and Veneto were closed immediately, which gave a positive result, paralyzing the spread of the virus, but in Alzano it was not closed because the businessmen put a lot of pressure on the mayors of La Lega. Therefore, according to official figures, Italy records the highest mortality rate of contagion, at 17%. In addition, two out of ten people who get infected die.

Did the Government not react in time?

There is a problem of mismanagement, of disability. We're in a global world, and if something happens in China, the Italian government can't do anything, it has to send epidemiologists, make reflections and put resources in place. When there is a real situation of public need and there is a real need for a government, the government is not prepared, it does not know what to do, there is no protocol. Now the situation is amazing, the army is taking dead people out to burn them out, because the city's crematory furnace can't burn all the corpses. For once, the military is helping the civilian population in the earthquake zone.

 

 

 

 

What health care system does Lombardia have?

In Lombardy, we have a corrupt healthcare system, it's the goose for the golden eggs, which take a lot of money out of healthcare. The region has been managed by the Lega that has ruled for the last twenty years and by right-wing Catholics, privatizing many aspects of health. Public spending has dropped by 30 billion since 2007, which also accounted for a 7% cut in doctors’ seats. Now they have had to ask ayuda.Los doctors from Cuba and China have come to Lombardy and Russia is sending aid. It is interesting that a region managed by the right, which has carried out policies against immigrants, is now asking for help from Cuba; and Cuba has given it without any problem. Doctors have come to do their work because of their extensive experience with the Ebola epidemic.

What's the reaction of people?

People are very angry, and the goal is mostly entrepreneurs; they're told they have to stay at home and then they're sent to work. It's harder to clarify political responsibility, because the ball is happening between the central government, the regional government and the mayors, and also between the left and the right.

How have rights restrictions been taken?

The debate on the reduction of rights in the Basque Country is now a second-rate debate. It is true that there are rights cuts, but confinement is a health need. The first problem with isolation has been the lack of political responsibility, people were told it was like the flu, conflicting opinions were opened and people have not come home, but when people know what's going on, they have their heads and they know how to organize as a society.

The idea of the plot has also spread in different sectors.

We cannot think that this is a plot to experiment with new forms of social control. They're experiencing new ways of controlling society, power is going to use this experience to do things in the future, but you can also use it. It's a fight, but I don't think it's organized ... There's a different practice, and that different practice is going to be used by power, that's clear, but we, too, have to fight.