Allora, it’s been over seven months since I posted my last dispatch from Rome and things have changed a little since then. Back in August there was no inkling of what our lives would be like now.
As most everyone knows, Italy was one of the first countries after China to be exposed to COVID-19 when two tourists tested positive in Rome at the end of January. On that day, Italy suspended all flights to and from China (I say that because Trump thinks it was some kind of miracle when he did it). A hint of things to come didn’t occur, however, until 16 cases were detected in the northern region of Lombardy three weeks later. By March 9th , the entire country was in lockdown with people restricted to their homes unless they needed to get to work, go to the doctor, or get groceries. Two days later, all non-essential businesses were closed, including restaurants, barbers, and hardware stores. Grocery stores, public markets, and pharmacies remained open. Public transit continued to run probably making the trains, trams, and buses the cleanest they’ve ever been. Now, I don’t see more than a half-dozen people on any passing bus.
For us in Rome, the first real impact occurred on February 25th, when our younger daughter’s private international school closed temporarily for extensive deep cleaning. They moved all of their classes online and didn’t miss a beat. It’s her senior year and the pressure to perform well on the IB exams and to get accepted into the right college was enormous. Students returned to school for only a couple of days before all the schools in Italy were closed on March 4th. And then the IB exams were cancelled, effectively ending her senior year and removing most of the structure of her school days in sequestration. Thankfully, only a few days later she was accepted into one of her dream colleges (Middlebury), and life in the time corona suddenly wasn’t so terrible. There was at least a light at the end of the tunnel.
Meanwhile, our older daughter was thoroughly enjoying a semester abroad at the University of the Andes (Uniandes) in Bogota, Colombia. There were 13 known cases of corona in the country when she left the city on March 12th to spend a school break in the part of the Amazon basin where Colombia, Peru, and Brazil meet along the river. She hiked between all three countries while wading through flooded forests, slept in a hammock under a tarp frequented by giant spiders, and caught baby caiman by hand. When she got back to her base camp almost a week later, known cases of the virus in Colombia had risen to 102 and there were rumors that the airports would soon be closed to limit the spread of the infection. We quickly got her a ticket on a plane to Frankfurt. Two days after she left, all international flights out of Colombia were canceled. Just 48 hours after leaving the Amazon, she arrived in Rome to spend two weeks quarantined in her room. Talk about a disappointing end to an amazing adventure! At least there are no big spiders here (though spring is the ant season in Rome).
Prior to COVID, Ashley’s giant international office took a dim view of working from home. But that too changed pretty fast. Just a couple of weeks after hosting an international conference in Rome with participants from around the world, most of the professional staff were no longer coming into the office. Zoom bombing was suddenly a thing to worry about. The workload has not diminished, as future events are delayed or work-arounds are explored. I got to hear her speak French in an online meeting, a language she had said she could speak but I had never really heard her use it at that level before. And people are demonstrating that teleworking can be successful.
It’s been over a month now of this lockdown for us. Northern Italy continues to be the hardest hit area in the country, but the infection curve has been flattening. The virus is present in Rome, but not nearly at the scale found in Milan and the rest of Lombardy. We still need to carry a certificate that states why we’re leaving home. I go out once a day to walk the dog, every other day to run around the nearest blocks for some exercise, and every third day to get groceries. I haven’t been farther than 10 blocks from home in about five weeks. I haven’t been in a car, a bus, or a subway. We’ve ordered stuff from Amazon (masks, rubber gloves, a thermometer, light bulbs, a Bluetooth speaker, etc.) and are still figuring out how to consistently get products directly from local farmers. There are neighborhood associations that predate the virus which partner directly with local producers to get fresh milk and veggies, but they’re impossible to join in a crisis when products are in short supply. So far, there are only limited shortages of items in our regular grocery store (peanut butter for example).
Most people outside wear masks and are either delivering goods to people or to grocery stores, or are going to the stores to buy food. A guard regulating the entrance to our local grocery hands out plastic gloves. I see the Carabinieri regularly while I’m out but have only been stopped once, to be warned that I should only exercise close to home. In the 17 months I’ve lived in the Rome, it took a pandemic to get the street trash bins emptied on time. The block is quiet but I frequently see the same neighbors and exchange greetings from afar.
Most afternoons we find ourselves on the roof, in the fresh air and sun. The air quality probably hasn’t been this good in decades. The guy next door practices the trumpet three or four times a day and I only wish he were more creative with his scales. There used to be singing every night at 6 pm. And then it was clapping for the healthcare workers. But fatigue has set in. I still wave when I see the neighbors on their balconies. The girls lead us every night in ab and “beach butt” workouts. We take turns making dinner. My older daughter is finishing her classes at Uniandes online late into the evenings and Ashley teaches a class at the University of Washington two nights a week (she was gonna’ be online anyway but now the whole class is there with her). Our internet connectivity is only as good as our WIFI, and we have to periodically hotspot through our cell phones. We watch Netflix and Amazon Prime and recently bought access to Disney+.
Looking forward, it will be tricky for the government to open the economy without increasing the rate of infection. Just this week they are allowing stores that sell books and children’s clothes to open. Personally, I’m craving carbonara from our local osteria. Our older daughter wants to get back to her life in Montreal as soon as is prudent. We’ve had a couple of travel plans canceled but are still hopeful that summer won’t be completely altered. At the very least, we’ll try to slide into places like Venice and Florence in the short window when it’s OK for Italians to move within the country and before the international tourists come back.
Stay healthy everyone!