Coronavirus, plague-spreading influencers, football cancelled: Naomi Accardi writes from quarantine in Milan

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has initiated the next ‘delay’ phase of his extremely slow reaction to the COVID-19 health crisis, but they’ve been navigating the highs, the lows and the memes in (arguably) Europe’s epicentre Italy for weeks now. Naomi Accardi, our Editor-at-large who is based in Milan, has been stuck at home and while we’ve been keeping her spirits up via What’s Apps and Google Hangout, she’s been filling us in on the realities of the situation there, and killing the fake news that’s filtering out. As professional football was banned this week across the continent, a disappointing but necessary new development, she felt compelled to write a letter to share her thoughts and experiences. Read on and tune into her Instagram feed for further updates.

March 13th, 2020

Dear readers,

As the only Italian member of the SEASON zine team, I am here to narrate life in quarantine in the hope that it will help you navigate the situation with less confusion and more preparation than us. Even I – a committed ‘stay in’ campaigner – am starting to get weary of my four walls and yearning for a pint at the pub, not to mention the conspiracy theories I am starting to believe.

‘Wash your hands often and thoroughly, sneeze in the fold of your elbow, avoid crowded places.’ These are some of the warnings that governments have been issuing over the past few weeks to tackle and prevent the spreading of coronavirus AKA COVID-19 which first appeared in Wuhan, China last November. Sounds like common sense right?

Well, it turns out these measures aren’t so easy to follow as we are now approaching the end of week one of total lockdown after weeks of ‘preventive’ quarantine nobody complied to. In Italy, ‘la bella vita’ prevailed and the country’s love for prosecco and Aperol spritz-doused aperitivos screened naïve flaneurs from the severity of the problem, allowing cases and fatality rates to jump exponentially overnight putting the country’s health system on the verge of collapse.

The absurdity of these unnecessary outings has often been recorded by national TV news broadcasts which, aside from spreading collective hysteria, gave foreigners a wrong image of the current situation. Especially after a group of friends were filmed enjoying a glass sitting around a metal table on a bar’s terrace laughing and making jokes about how they have ‘alcohol’ to save them. These images went viral and became subject of many internet memes, highlighting the dumb efforts of a convivial country to move forward and keep positive.

In hard times, we definitely crave a good laugh or substances to cope. But please note that alcoholic beverages do not have the power to defeat the disease, actually, they have pretty dangerous side effects when abused. It is normal that this new way of life might cause stress and anxiety as we are forced to reevaluate our daily routines but it is important to look at facts objectively and try to stay positive without underestimating the problem but also not panic.

A few weeks ago, I was laughing and dismissing COVID-19 as it seemed so far from home, affecting China only. Now, due to this collective optimistic mindset, I am forced indoors and must carry a card stating the nature of my outings at all times, even if I am walking to the supermarket across the street.

These strict measures have made me look at stats a different way and really analyse what’s going on around me, after I unconsciously resisted the system and met my personal trainer for a boxing session after the new policy was issued. I must admit, it was quite stressful, sort of surreal, as I knew that was going to be the last time that I’d have personal contact with anybody, at least until 3rd April. The situation started getting serious on the last day of Milan Fashion Week after big fashion houses had allowed for the virus to spread throughout the city, cocktail party after cocktail party, runway show after runway show. Maybe the real plague-spreaders were the influencers?

Moncler was one of the first to announce the cancellation of the opening of their Genius Initiative to the public and, as Paris Fashion Week approached, many Italian and international industry insiders decided to trash their boarding passes and avoid travel as a precaution. I, on the other hand, flew there endangering myself and others for work reasons and was puzzled to experience no checks or preventive expedients at the airport. Almost as if France was immune to the disease.

Upon my return to Milan, one of my grandmas died so I had to urgently visit my family who lives in a small town two hours away. Only a very small section of Lombardy was locked down at this point, with the army stationed on highway exits stopping anybody from coming in or out. While I was sitting at dinner with my whole family, to celebrate my dad’s birthday and get his mind off his mother’s death, the prime minister announced new legislation. The lockdown was extended to the whole region plus a few other provinces defined as ‘red zones’. l had to return to Milan immediately.

Just when I thought we reached the peak: school closures, event cancellations, gatherings banned, and Serie A played behind closed doors, important sports figures started testing positive for the virus. Footballers Gabbiadini (Sampdoria) and Rugani (Juventus), and then the real frenzy started – Serie A was cancelled. So now not only we had to stay home 24/7, we had to do so with no professional football on TV! In just one week, life as we know it was chewed up and spat out a blob of chaotic, undefined events that are now expanding to the rest of the world. Arsenal’s manager Mikel Arteta tested positive, Nottingham and Olympiakos’ owner Evangelos Marinakis tested positive, even Tom Hanks and his wife!

The situation is starting to get critical. The World Health Organisation has declared this a global pandemic and I am spending more time trying to get a grip of the disease and real facts rather than working or reading a book. I’m eager to know and understand more of what’s going on. Many are running to social media for information, but that’s a huge mistake as there is an enormous amount of fake news circulating, not to mention celebrities and influencers that are sharing wrong stats and data about the disease.

Italy is going through it right now because of the frivolousness of younger generations, and the laziness in educating ourselves or making that extra effort in researching what’s really going on. I guess that’s the age of social media. COVID-19 is deadly like regular flu. You will most likely survive, in fact, there is a high chance that you will get the virus and recover without showing symptoms, but this doesn’t mean those around you have the same immunity.

Highly infectious, it silently spreads and it has double the incubation time of the regular flu, so it is important to act fast as a society to slow down its course. While researchers, doctors and scientists look for a vaccine or antidote and work to empty intensive care units and release patients. Many people are still making jokes about the circumstances, going on about their lives and not listening to warnings, jeopardising their surroundings and loved ones.

Of course, we are all sad about not being able to go out, meet our friends and family, gather close to cheer in front of our favourite sport but think of all the people being born and living through war and poverty. Does that help you put things into perspective? Sacrificing the superfluous now will help us rekindle our relationship to people, culture and just everyday life we take for granted, like access to toilet paper! We will get through it, but it might take longer than expected if we act irrationally.

So please, for the sake of a good Sunday at the San Siro or Euro 2020 matchday sofa session toasting to excellent football with your mates, let’s slow down and accept the situation.

Naomi