Life inside Italy's quarantine zone
Reported today on City AM
For the full article visit: https://www.cityam.com/life-inside-it...
I was at home with my family when we learned that our town was one of those being put into the so-called red zone, quarantined to battle coronavirus. We had discussed how nursery closures were affecting our ability to work. But then a leaked draft of the government decree made us realise things were about to get much worse. Areas home to 16m people are on lockdown, while the quarantine will presumably be enforced by police checkpoints. In Padua, a busy university town of 250,000 people, shopping centres will be closed during weekends. Cinemas, museums, libraries, community centres, sport centres, gyms are all to be shut. Events, public or private, are to be cancelled. My next work trip to London is postponed indefinitely. Such a severe restriction of my freedom of movement feels disturbing, perhaps more than the thought of the virus itself. Trying to keep some semblance of normality, I went for a run yesterday morning in training for the Padua Marathon, still scheduled for next month. I saw plenty of other joggers and walkers enjoying the sunshine, cars coming in and out of town. But behind the scenes, people are trying to make sense of what it means for them. A friend owns a small business with a factory in Vicenza, outside the red zone. Half of his team live in Padua while the rest live in Vicenza. His task for the rest of the day was finding out whether his employees could get to work the next morning. If they cannot, he will have to shut production.He is one of thousands of small business owners in the area. The whole of northern Italy - and Veneto in particular - relies on small and medium-sized enterprises. The economic impact of the epidemic restrictions will be felt for months, if not years. Before the latest move, restaurants were already bare.People were
