St Mark’s Square in
the heart of Venice.
Usually, this place is teeming with
thousands of tourists gathered here.
Now there’s
no one. No one.
A deathly hush has descended on
the city with its world-famous canals.
Everything is closed —
for the foreseeable future.
The tourists have left and Venice’s
residents are heeding the strict lockdown
imposed on Italy
since March 8th.
Most of the time cameraman Marco
Polo and I find ourselves completely alone
in the city’s maze
of alleyways.
Normally, the crowds here make
it difficult to cross the Rialto Bridge.
Now, I stand alone by the Grand
Canal — the city’s main thoroughfare.
We can tell from the packaging that these
are boxes of medicines being unloaded here.
The supply chain for the pharmacies
appears to be working. They are still open.
The delivery workers let us film them, but
don’t want to be interviewed. We move on.
The few others we come
across give us a wide berth.
Somehow, in this
difficult situation,
it doesn’t seem appropriate to confront
them with a camera and a microphone.
What we’re experiencing
is extraordinary...
Fascinating, but a bit
frightening at the same time.
We’ve obtained special permits from the
mayor and completed self-declaration forms
required of all Italians when they travel -
otherwise, we wouldn’t be allowed here.
Luckily, our encounter with the
Carabinieri passes off without incident.
We’re filming it
secretly with a cellphone.
Do you have
a film permit?
Yes, we’ve got approval
from the mayor’s office.
Here are the documents. The
press office has also been informed.
And that’s your
self-declaration form?
Yes.
Ok, then you
can carry on ...
Close to the Rialto Bridge
is the city’s fish market.
Normally it’s packed with
vendors. Now there are just a few.
Many fishmongers worry about surviving
economically, as sales have collapsed.
The few customers who do come
here buy two or three fish, if that.
The fish sellers earn their money from the
restaurants and hotels that buy in bulk —
but they are
all closed.
I haven’t experienced anything like it in
the last 35 years that I’ve worked here.
We have never been hit so hard —
not by the floods or other catastrophes.
We Venetians are tough. But we
have never seen anything like this.
You just don’t know how to
react — and how to stay healthy.
Many people lost their jobs, are at home
without work. These are difficult times.
We head for Bergamo in the region
of Lombardy, 230 km west of Venice,
an epicenter of the
Coronavirus in Europe.
We want to know why Covid-19 has infected
and killed so many people in Lombardy.
For us, too, it’s hazardous
to enter this quarantined area.
We decide not to take any risks. We have
our disinfectant, masks and gloves ready.
At the time we filmed, in mid- to
late- March, close to 10,000 people
had already been admitted for treatment
to hospital in the province of Lombardy.
By the first week of April,
the number of reported cases in
the region would reach nearly 55,000.
With its population of 120,000, the city
of Bergamo, along with its outlying areas,
is Lombardy’s most important
commercial center after Milan.
Our journey takes us to the
historic center of Bergamo,
which is perched on a
hill called Bergamo Alta.
Here, too, most of the
businesses and stores are closed.
The alleys are deserted,
as they were in Venice.
There are just a few people, standing
a safe distance away from one another,
waiting patiently
outside the pharmacy.
In the Piazza Vecchia, the
square at the heart of the old town,
we meet Marcello Menaudi,
who runs the Cafè del Tasso.
The cafe dates
back to 1476.
And the only time that it has had to close
for such long periods was during wartime.
But Marcello
is an optimist.
He says now the main thing is to be
there for one another and pull together.
We'll open the cafe as soon
as everything is over here.
The entire family will
do their bit, including him.
And step by step
we will start again.
I really hope that everyone will be buoyed
by this optimism, including the government.
They have really done everything
possible and are doing a pretty good job.
PM Conte and all the others. This is
an exceptional situation, very difficult.
Marcello asks whether we
have already had a coffee.
As everywhere is closed, including motorway
service stations, we gladly accept.
Just off Piazza Vecchia is the
terminal for the funicular railway
that runs between
Bergamo and Bergamo Alta.
The newspaper
kiosk inside is open.
Can I see the daily
newspaper please?
Here
you are.
Are there many
obituaries?
Yes, unfortunately, we’re
living with a serious threat.
Are you
afraid?
Yes.
Why are there so many
deaths in Bergamo, in particular?
There is no logical,
official explanation....
Perhaps it has to do with
the fact that Bergamo
is a hub for the region close to the
Alps and is connected to Milan.
When you add one and two together,
you end up caught in this vicious circle.
No, no, look again.
There are more pages...!
Crazy.
It’s a
battlefield.
On the northeastern outskirts of
Bergamo lies the village of Casnigo.
There’s a home
for retirees here.
We set off to find out how the situation
is developing in such care homes.
The health and care system in
Lombardy, one of Italy’s richest regions,
fares well in
international comparison.
The head of the care home Emanuele
Bertacchi is waiting in the courtyard.
We are not allowed to film the
facility — either inside or on the outside.
The situation for residents
and carers is very grave.
You still have some time.
Beware. This is like war.
Stay at home all of you. No
one should be out and about.
In particular, the elderly are at great
risk. There have been many, many deaths.
Figures are much higher than is generally
known. You still have a few days‘ reprieve.
But I repeat:
Stay at home!
The situation here
is very, very serious.
I don’t want to spread panic, but
please get the old people into isolation,
avoid any contact, because for them
the situation is much worse than it seemed.
Here it’s like
being at war.
Back in Bergamo. The city
hospital is also out of bounds.
In front of the building there
are huge additional oxygen tanks.
The hospital’s own facility can no longer
supply anywhere near enough oxygen
to run the many ventilators
needed for the coronavirus patients.
So, this is the Papa San Giovanni
Hospital — named for Pope John the 23rd.
One of the biggest hospitals and
really the center of the corona infections.
You could almost say
Europe’s coronavirus hot spot.
We are not allowed
to film in the hospital.
We meet the director of the pediatric
department, Lorenzo D’Antiga, in the foyer.
We conduct the
interview outside.
Like the rest of the staff, Dr D’Antiga has
been working round the clock for weeks now.
Many doctors and nurses have contracted
the virus and are unable to work.
Patients in isolation wards are
also separated from their loved ones.
For the devout, it’s an
extremely difficult situation.
Not being able to be with their
loved ones in their final hours
and not being able to have a funeral
with a priest is a very painful experience.
The virus hits old
people the hardest.
The head pediatrician says that’s why
care homes are in a precarious situation.
Unfortunately, there are many dead here,
not just in hospital, but also elsewhere.
There are many elderly
people living in their own homes
in the villages around Bergamo, or
in the valleys in the Alpine foothills.
Many are dying at the moment, and we’re
convinced they are dying from coronavirus.
But because they’re not being
taken to hospital, there is no diagnosis.
According to statistics, in Italy the
vast majority of deaths from Covid-19
occurr in people
over the age of 60.
Most of them had one or
several preexisting conditions.
One good piece of news
about the virus, says the doctor,
is that children are extremely
unlikely to be severely affected.
Children are a particular case. The illness
isn't serious but they can get infected.
That’s definitely good news for
the families with small children.
But you shouldn’t forget
one important aspect.
Children who've been infected pass on the
infection. It’s crucial to realize that.
You can infect adults without
showing any kind of symptoms yourself.
It’s an almost 3h-drive
from Bergamo to Bolzano.
As all the hotels are
shut, we can’t dally.
One advantage of the lockdown is that roads
are largely clear - we make good progress.
Even around busy hubs like Verona,
where there are usually long traffic jams.
In Bolzano, the capital of the largely
German-speaking province of Alto Adige,
pick-ups with loudspeakers are urging
people to stay inside for health reasons.
A lot is being done here to
stop the spread of the virus.
Overnight, the roads,
pavements and bus stops
are being cleaned and decontaminated
with water and hydrogen peroxide.
We think it has some effect. A lot of
people walk on the streets. A few spit.
There are animals
running round.
Illnesses can get passed on like that. We
think we have to reach 0-infection point.
So we want to rule out the chance that the
road, the ground, is a source of infection.
The cleaning liquid is said to
be harmless to the environment.
We also ask whether this is really meant
to reassure the residents, a symbolic act.
No, it’s not just about the psychological
effect. Let’s be clear on this.
Citizens still have to stick to all the
regulations and they shouldn’t think
that the streets are clean now and
the problem with the virus is solved.
No way. It just makes a small
contribution. Nothing more.
Next day at home with
our cameraman Marco.
To hear from the doctor
in Lombardy that his 3 sons
are not at acute risk from
the virus is reassuring.
The boys are working on exercises
that their school has sent via email.
Some work can also be done on the
computer — together with mother, Silvia.
Since the lockdown, Silvia has spent
most of her time at home with the boys.
As a software programmer,
she also has to work from home.
Recently, the Italian government tightened
up the lockdown, banning walks outside.
Anyone violating those rules faces a
fine of ?2,000 and criminal charges.
From time to time, the Polo
family sit outside the house
at the entrance to their small
garden, just for a change of scene.
At home I’m not scared at all.
But I would be if I were in the city.
I hold my breath when people walk past and
then breathe out when they’ve passed by.
I am fed up with this virus. I
want to go back to kindergarten.
Every day without fail the family sit down
together to watch the evening news on TV.
The statistics in Alto Adige
also paint a worrying picture.
In the next 2 weeks, the family
will learn that the number infected
has more than doubled, with
more than 4x the number of deaths.
The economic situation
is also dramatic.
Some 7,600 businesses have been forced
to close in the northern Italian province.
In Vipiteno — shortly before the Brenner
Pass — one company has been able to avoid
having to put their employees on
reduced hours or give them notice.
Peter Trenkwalder and his team came
up with a new business idea overnight.
The team of 20 now constructs protective
shields from plexiglass and metal.
As these products are intended to
protect people from the new coronavirus,
hygiene is being
taken very seriously.
At first, it wasn’t clear
whether the product would sell.
No, we’re
not giving up.
We are making these protective panels
and going from door to door with them.
Many banks and stores have snapped them up.
We have seen that many people need them.
We switched production
from one day to the next.
We have posted our product on social
media and seen that there is a demand.
In the meantime, the production
hall has been almost totally refitted,
with new machines
and materials.
It’s a mammoth task,
and a real achievement.
Of course, it’s a big change. And
we are really pushing the envelope.
But we are
a great team.
We’re sticking to the rules,
we have protective suits
and I hope that this crisis
will be over at some point.
And if all the others out there
stick together like we have
then they will also
survive this crisis.
There are enough orders to keep the
company busy for the next few weeks
and the jobs here are secure,
for the time being at least.
It was 1/3 luck, 1/3 team effort
and 1/3 the absolute will to survive.
That’s what motivated us.
That’s what made the difference.
5 days ago, the business
was completely different.
A classic small blue-collar
firm, warts and all.
Today we are talking about
hygiene, risk management.
There is the plan that lists what
people have to do and when.
One has to provide food, the
other the supply of materials.
Each is concentrating
on their role. Nothing else.
The tourist resort of Tirolo perched above
the spa town of Merano is also deserted.
Right next to the village‘s care
home is GP Eugen Sleiter’s practice.
First of all, he provides us with fresh
face masks and stresses just how important
protective measures are for staff in health
or care sectors working with old people.
When I arrive at the practice, I try to
put on a new set of clothes. I change here.
When I get home, I again
change out of the clothes
that I only wore for travelling
between work and home.
I take off my shoes outside the door. I try
to keep to the highest standards of hygiene
to keep external contact down to a minimum,
for those at home and for my patients.
Dr. Sleiter takes us on a tour to show us
the situation in the care home in Tirolo.
Safety measures are strict with additional
restrictions of movement within the home.
We have closed all the communal
rooms and stopped all group activities.
We have tried to isolate each floor. So if
we did have someone who tests positive,
the other floors would be
in quarantine and protected.
We are now in the
communal rooms. It’s empty.
The residents are all
in the floors above us.
Normally, this is a happy place with people
playing cards, and eating coffee and cake.
Carers organizing games. Yes,
this is unfortunately the sad reality.
The next day, outside the
main hospital in Bolzano.
Here there are also
special measures in place.
In the control tent in
front of the building,
everyone entering the hospital
is first tested for the coronavirus.
Right by the side of that is the region’s
Italian White Cross control center.
The relief organization
has set up its own taskforce
for the transport of people
infected with Covid 19.
Before we go to speak to the White
Cross and ask the volunteers how things are
with their ambulance services,
the doctor told us to put on gloves.
The head of the coronavirus
taskforce in Bolzano is Laura Padovan.
She has been employed by
the White Cross for 11 years.
She says that she has never
experienced a situation like this.
Unfortunately, we have been
picking up a lot of patients
who although they can still walk and
breathe on their own in the morning,
by the evening we have
to rush them to an ICU.
In the afternoon we get a
message from a doctor in Bergamo.
He says the situation has
deteriorated over the last few days.
We carry out our interview by Skype,
to avoid any possibility of infection.
Like Dr. D’Antiga, Dr. Lorenzo Norsa also
works at Papa Giovanni Hospital in Bergamo.
I think the message that goes for
us all, for the whole of Europe is:
All of us — we doctors, too — need to
keep our distance from our families.
If everyone Europe does that,
then — at some point — this will be over.
And then we’ll have a lot of time again
to spend together and to hug each other
just like we
did in the past.
But for now, we must stay
at home — in self-isolation.
That’s the only option we have to
stop the spread of the virus in Europe.
Optimism and solidarity are important now,
even if an end to the crisis isn't in sight.
While the curve of new infections
appears to be flattening out,
it’s still unclear when the country
will be able to return to normality.
When I first saw the photo in
social media, I thought it was a fake.
But it’s true the water is
a lot clearer than usual.
And you don’t hear a
sound either. It’s almost eerie.
Now and then you hear a child crying,
but nothing apart from that. Unbelievable.
If something positive has come out of this,
then it’s cleaner water in Venice’s canals.
Who knows, maybe Venetians will miss the
peace and quiet — when all of this is over.
