In just over a month, the death toll in Italy from the coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 10,000 and Italy’s total number of COVID-19 cases has topped 100,000. The epicenter of the crisis has been the northern region of Lombardy, where nearly 6,000 people have died. In one 24 hour period, between the Lombard cities of Bergamo, Brescia and Milan, there were 542 new deaths. The doctors and nurses on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy are real heroes fighting daily with masks goggles and gowns their only barrier against the contagion. So far, more than 7,100 healthcare workers around the country have been infected with Covid19. They are sorely missed, and their absence brings more work for those still standing. More than 50 doctors never recovered and are counted among the victims. These heroes of Italy’s pandemic are not just treating the sick with respirators and oxygen. They are standing in for sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, who under normal circumstances would be able to visit, hold the hands of sick loved ones and offer a word of encouragement. Giacomo Ghilardi, the mayor of Cinisello a small town outside Milan, and hard-hit by the pandemic said ‘Today is like many other days over the past month, days where I find myself mourning our fellow citizens. We will remember everybody. All our loved ones, friends, family, acquaintances…. But soon, we will wipe away our tears, we will get up, we will smile again and we will remember. That I promise you.”
Photographer Credits © Carlo Cozzoli, Napoli/Giacomino, Alessandro Moggi, Matteo Biatta, Beppe Bedolis, Filippo Venezia, Errebi, Passaro
Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & CEO, ZUMA Press
