I hardly publish any medically related stuff on this site, however I find this testimony by Italian doctor Daniele Macchini, from the front lines of treating the coronavirus outbreak, important to document. It is translated Epidemiologist Silvia Stringhini .
As a Doctor, I find Dr Macchini’s testimony very distressing. I really hope the authorities here in UK read and reflect. Britain could face the same scenario.
2/ This is the English translation of a post of another ICU physician in Bergamo, Dr. Daniele Macchini. Read until the end "After much thought about whether and what to write about what is happening to us, I felt that silence was not responsible.
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
4/ I myself watched with some amazement the reorganization of the entire hospital in the past week, when our current enemy was still in the shadows: the wards slowly "emptied", elective activitieswere interrupted, intensive care were freed up to create as many beds as possible.
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
6/ I still remember my night call a week ago when I was waiting for the results of a swab. When I think about it, my anxiety over one possible case seems almost ridiculous and unjustified, now that I've seen what's happening. Well, the situation now is dramatic to say the least.
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
8/ The boards with the names of the patients, of different colours depending on the operating unit, are now all red and instead of surgery you see the diagnosis, which is always the damned same: bilateral interstitial pneumonia.
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
10/ the epidemiological disaster is taking place. And there are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us.
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
12/ Reasons for the access always the same: fever and breathing difficulties, fever and cough, respiratory failure. Radiology reports always the same: bilateral interstitial pneumonia, bilateral interstitial pneumonia, bilateral interstitial pneumonia. All to be hospitalized.
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
14/ The staff is exhausted. I saw the tiredness on faces that didn't know what it was despite the already exhausting workloads they had. I saw a solidarity of all of us, who never failed to go to our internist colleagues to ask "what can I do for you now?"
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
16/ There are no more shifts, no more hours. Social life is suspended for us. We no longer see our families for fear of infecting them. Some of us have already become infected despite the protocols.
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
18/ We just try to make ourselves useful. You should do the same: we influence the life and death of a few dozen people. You with yours, many more. Please share this message. We must spread the word to prevent what is happening here from happening all over Italy."
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
19/ Full post here, you can DeepL: https://t.co/zDC7de6wtI
— Silvia Stringhini (@silviast9) March 9, 2020
And another warning
Here's the coronavirus data, overlayed with the dates offset by the amounts shown. One of these countries is not like the rest. Everyone else will be Italy in 9-14 days time. pic.twitter.com/VESY54X1gP
— Mark Handley (@MarkJHandley) March 9, 2020
Here is the original Italian piece
Nervana 