197 positive cases in Umbria yesterday. Still growing by 20% a day, or thereabouts.

2 new cases here in Umbertide. We got notice they will be disinfecting all surfaces around town. And to keep our windows closed.
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Public Service Announcement: Good source of info sent to me by a friend who works at Johns Hopkins University. coronavirus.jhu.edu
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I feel I’ve strayed from relating my own story here, so I’m going back to that primarily. Luther and I were just saying, as we arose to another day in our house…it is just like being under house arrest but we don’t have the ankle bracelets. 😂

I think today’s post will be stream of consciousness….
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There has been a very heated debate (mostly on Facebook expat groups) about whether people are allowed to go out of their houses to walk or run for exercise. Tonight on RAI One, one of the main TV stations here, they said that people are allowed to exercise, inside or outside, as long as they do it by themselves. I’ve been worrying about my inability to exercise my recently replaced knee. I don’t feel it is good to sit around the house all day, every day without exercising it. If this thing was short lived that would be OK. But we are hearing rumors it could go through the whole summer.
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Here’s another thought. We are in an agricultural area. I’m happy to report that the farmers are working their fields and planting. These are large scale (one crop in the field) farms. This reminded me of our lost Saturday Local Produce market. Where the people who come have farms around here to sell to us, the customers. And there is bound to be food in their fields which they would be selling to us in normal times. So what are they doing with this produce? The chain has broken. How can we facilitate the movement of the local food from the farms to the consumers here (who want it) with no venue? We need to come up with a new plan to help the farmers, so they will plant new crops at the proper time dictated by the season. We want them to keep planting. We don’t want them to go out of business. We need the chain to be unbroken. It is to everyone’s advantage to keep this going. I think I will post this on our local Umbria Facebook page…maybe we can come up with some ideas.
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Hmmmm. I was looking in the mirror today. Not a good idea, in the best of times. And I realized I’m overdue for a haircut. It occurred to me, since all the hairdressers are closed indefinitely, that we are going to be – ONE shaggy nation! OMG we will look like cavemen when we emerge from our casa caves. Whenever that may be…
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I’m still following the news from the US. Most of it is heartening. People are taking this all more seriously I think, finally. Except for one report from Florida…they’ve closed all the bars and clubs. Yay! But they let the restaurants stay open half capacity….Noooooooooo. 😱 If you are trying to limit transmission of this thing then go the whole way. Half full still transmits the contagion. Bad idea. I’m sure they are hoping to keep the restaurants solvent. I totally understand that. But I’m afraid our way of life will not be the same for a long time. Our businesses and economy will take huge hits. Inevitable. But more important are the millions…and I mean millions, who will die. We all need to act now.

An finally, and I’ll shut my trap after this, but a quote from our leaders. (What are they thinking?! 🤦🏻‍♀️)
“ Over the weekend, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a leading ally of President Trump, dismissed concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and said on Fox News that “it’s a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant.”

Oh my god.
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Gosh, this is not a good note on which to end. So let’s talk about lunch. I made a big soup today. It will last days. It has tomatoes, carrots, onion, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, one jalapeño, mixed grains and a little pasta. Very healthy, very hearty and filling. I serve it with a drizzle of good olive oil. 🙂 Picture!

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All y’all stay safe. Wash your hands! And Anderà tutti bene!

164 positive cases in Umbria. It continues to grow, here and in all of Italy. The new cases and deaths continue to set daily records. We have not yet turned the corner. But we are hoping we will soon.
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Another day has passed. And a beautiful spring day it is. I couldn’t ask for a prettier place to be stuck!

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I keep in touch daily, mostly through email and Facebook, and it makes me feel more connected. It is a real help to me. I also read multiple news sources every day. In my conversations I’ve noticed a very big difference in the way people are handling this enforced lockdown. A lot of it depends on ones personality. If a person feels the need for personal contact, they are having a hard time! If a person feels they need to always be busy with a project, it makes it more of a challenge. If a person is happy in his/her skin and with being solitary, it is easier. If a person can entertain themselves with reading, cooking, chatting with friends, it is not such a trial. I understand these differences and realize this whole thing will be different for each of us. But we hang together, and we hang in. The Italian saying is andrà tutti bene — it will all be better. You will see this everywhere here. Most of these signs are made by children. They don’t understand what is going on, so keeping their spirits up is key.
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People are still not taking this seriously enough.

Today I read a post by David Lebovitz. He writes a food blog from Paris. He said…” We are on day #1 of a fifteen-day confinement. Bars, cafés and restaurants were closed Saturday at midnight (which were packed in my neighborhood, as usual, with twenty- and thirty-somethings), and people were told to keep a distance between them and avoid public places. But the revelry continued on the streets around here through the wee hours of Sunday morning. Later in the morning, people waited in line, shoulder-to-shoulder, shopping at the Bastille market, and Sunday afternoon, people filled parks in Paris, or sat by the canal to have a beer with friends. To be honest, it was disheartening, and a little frightening, to watch the news and hear people being interviewed, talking about how they didn’t care, that they were going to do whatever they wanted. So here we are, with talk of the military coming in to make sure people stay indoors.”

And I said yesterday that Americans were not taking the virus threat seriously. To my point… I saw a poll today by NPR which said: “…only 56% of Americans consider the coronavirus a “real threat,” representing a drop of 10 percentage points from last month. At the same time, a growing number of Americans think the coronavirus is being “blown out of proportion.” This means 44% DO NOT consider it a threat.

This is dangerous thinking people. You put others at risk, not just yourself.
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I’ve been following the news from around the world from multiple sources. Finally countries are taking necessary steps.

France banned travel outside the home except for essential travel.

The Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Spain have closed their borders to all foreigners.

Air travel is all but shut down. Countries are concentrating on helping to get their citizens back home.

The US and the UK both have changed their policies as of yesterday. The messages from the leaders are unambiguous at last. But the messages were quite different. One difference, Boris Johnson told the British people to prepare for it to last a year. Trump said for two weeks, but it could last into summer.

I’m sorry to hear the UK is still encouraging the schools to remain open.

Both the UK and many parts of the US are discouraging gatherings of 10 or more people. This is still too many people gathering together. At least according to my daily existence. I wonder how they come up with that number? Like 10 or less won’t transmit the virus? I don’t think so…

I noted the UK is “encouraging” people to stay home and they expect that most people “would accept that we are a mature and grown-up and liberal democracy where people understand very clearly the advice that is given to them”. But they said if necessary the powers to enforce the restrictions would be used.
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I mentioned a few days ago that life has changed in so many ways here. One was no gatherings, to include Mass, Weddings, Funerals. The very sad consequence of this is that, with so many deaths right now, the grief is compounded by the fact that people are being buried alone, with no loved ones attending the funeral which is attended by a Priest and the funeral home employee. Families are devastated.
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On a brighter note…The Italian papers are talking about the environmental changes happening here. The air pollution is practically nonexistent in the industrial North. And they said this morning, the canals in Venice are clearer that anyone can remember.
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My sister said to me the other day…
“Crisis is the best impetus for change. Maybe the world will emerge from this a better place. We can hope so.”
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Andrà tutti bene…

143 positive cases in Umbria.

First case in Umbertide! An old man who has been put in isolation. He lived in a casa di riposo or nursing home. Now all the staff, residents and families are quarantined. Had to happen sooner or later I guess. I hope he gets better soon.
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The nightly concerts from windows and balconies around Italy continue. It raises the spirits and makes everyone come together. A man named Oliver Clark wrote a very moving tribute…here is just a piece of it…

“You can take away their livelihoods, their cafes, restaurants, theatres and even their beloved football, but nothing it seems can dampen the joy for life of the Italian people.”

Amen.
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Now I’m on my high horse for a bit…Listen to me!! I speak from experience. In reality the US should be thinking of themselves/yourselves! What is it with people there? They/you are all solicitous of us here (thank you…) but don’t you realize that our world will be your world shortly? I just shake my head. I keep trying to tell them/you. Sadly, you are following in the footsteps of Italy. People there are still not taking it seriously. OMG the spring break pictures!! Geez…bring it back to your family and friends! This will result in many more infections 😢. You are a few weeks behind us here. You need to close all venues where people gather. ALL of them. Restaurants, bars, discos. Please people…my friends…self isolate. No restaurants, no bars, no gatherings of any sort. Stay at home. It’s not that hard. And if everyone does it, it “shouldn’t” be that long…We hope…
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All my good thoughts! Stay safe 💕

107 total cases in Umbria. You can see it jumps exponentially.
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I noticed yesterday that my YouTube video was not in the email link to my post. I guess embedded links don’t work in emails.
To see it go to —http://nancygoestoitaly.com/corona-virus-10/

The flash mobs are very uplifting for us here.
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So they think this will peak in Italy at 92,000 cases next week and then decline.

An interesting fact —- 35 people under 60 died in northern Italy yesterday. The median age of hospitalization this week is 40-49 years. So it is not only the old who are dying.
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I had a lovely Skype chat with my niece (thanks Rachel!). She’s a nurse at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. I got some insight into how they are preparing. They have two large areas dedicated to Corona. And I found it interesting that they have their own test for it and it takes 24 hours to get the result. All done in-house. They can test any amount of people as necessary. I wish this could be done more. Anyway, I can’t help but be concerned for her but she will be careful, I’m sure. The nurses and doctors on the front lines are amazing! Stai sicuro Rachel!💕

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The Italian Air Force and Pavarotti put on quite the show yesterday. The little plane is the virus. And it is vanquished by the flying “V” – which then release their green, white and red smoke. It was uplifting, and tear inducing…

If you can’t see this go to Nancygoestoitaly.com – it doesn’t always show in the email.

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And last…I got to walk outside for a few minutes!! It is a beautiful day. The sun is shining, there’s a brisk cold breeze. We threw away some trash in the piazzetta near us. Everyone in their apartments has their windows open. And I could hear the children screaming. Please shoot me! I’ve got it good. I don’t know how the moms cope. I told Luther, in the two weeks we have left, how many murders will occur?

We walked out and across the bridge over the river. We were making a buy…😀 Perfectly legal! Calagrana has gotten creative and is making meals-to-go. We bought two, fully prepared and scrumptious, dinners! One a curry dinner, the other salmon with chili beans and roast potatoes. A break from cooking. And who knew we’d be resorting to Meals on Wheels!

Here’s a shot of the Tiber. Beautiful color today, and very clear.

Stai attento, listen to the authorities, stay far from crowds and, of course, wash your hands…💕