The number of known coronavirus deaths in Italy has fallen to the lowest level in more than one week (they recorded 525 deaths on Sunday).
According to the head of the country’s National Health Institute, Silvio Brusaferro, deaths and infections “reached a plateau and begun to descend.”
Italy was one of the hardest hit countries in terms of its mortality rate.
Their healthcare system was completely overwhelmed in many areas which led to tragic outcomes like doctors deciding who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t.
These new results are very encouraging because they suggest that the social distancing measures put into place in the country have been very effective and suggest that they will be effective in other places like the US.
Many difficult decisions are still ahead, though.
Health officials there stated that they need to start thinking about the second phase of slowing down the spread of the disease which will involve loosening some lockdown restrictions but still keeping social distancing measures in place
Officials in Italy still don’t know when the country will end the lockdown and noted that there are still difficult months ahead.
Some of the leaders in the US have compared our situation to Italy and so it is very important to monitor what goes on in Italy to give us an idea of how things may go for us.
Right now, given that we are approaching the apex in many states over the next week or two, I think it is very important for all of us to focus on the fact that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Seeing other countries get the disease under control and have new cases and deaths drop each day is a great reminder that we will soon be just like those countries.
We just have to keep up with the social distancing measures and remind ourselves that they are making a huge difference, even if we are going a little bit stir crazy.
I have personally found it very motivating to constantly remind myself about the purpose of why I’m doing things. You would be surprised how much motivation and clarity that those reminders can offer you.
Remind yourself that you are not quarantining or staying home because the government told you to do so, but because you are actively preventing the spread of a nasty pandemic.
H/T: NBC
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
