Viva Italia!

I'm going to momentarily interrupt this blog's usual solipsism to give a more objective view of how Italy is dealing with the pandemic. My source is Stethoscope on Rome, a blog by Susan Levenstein, an American medical doctor based in the Eternal City. "Stethoscope..." has been a wonderful source of solid information about the pandemic, not just in Italy but all over, and particularly about COVID treatments and vaccines, good, bad, and worthless. I highly recommend it. 

Not long after we arrived in Fidenza "Stethoscope..." reported at some length on the state of things in Italy. Levenstein began by contrasting a photo of mostly maskless commuters crowding into the Tube in London with one taken in a crowded Italian train, where just about everyone was masked up. "Italy’s vaccination campaign is now neck and neck with the UK, and it’s based overwhelmingly on the highly effective mRNA vaccine," Levenstein wrote. "As you see, they’re good about masks too… and, not surprisingly, they’re having much less of a Delta surge."

With her permission, here's the rest of her Italy report:

Italy is doing a lot better than the US in terms of both vaccination rates and the state of the pandemic. As of September 12^th, 87% of Italians over 60, but only 78% of Americans over 65, were fully vaccinated (note the different denominators). And 81% of Italians over 12 and 74% of the entire population were at least partially vaccinated – compared with 75% and 64% of Americans. 

One way Italy has been encouraging vaccination is by making Green Passes (vaccination or recent COVID-19 or negative swab) obligatory to access everything from restaurants to long-distance trains. Just last night my husband and I had the mild thrill of having our QR codes scanned for the very first time, to see a dance performance. When recent demonstrations against the Green Pass managed to turn out only a few dozen people, hard-core activists decided to go for violence instead of popularity, putting together stashes of knives and brass knuckles for next time around, until the cops broke up the plot.

In October all employees will need Green Passes if they want to work in person. Teachers already have to show theirs at the gate, and vaccine refusers foot the bill for their own triweekly antigen swabs, as well they should. Hopefully vaccination will soon become mandatory for teachers. It already is for health care workers, and since August hardcore novaxers (fewer than 3% of doctors and nurses, but in some regions 10-12% of nonprofessional staff) are starting to be suspended without pay. 

Between high vaccine coverage, the Green Pass, and unwavering adherence to masking and distancing, Italy has kept the pandemic in check even in the era of the hyper-contagious Delta variant. Yes, infections  and deaths have gone up a bit recently: 

But there’s no comparison to the American horror show:

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In one way, though, Italy is similar to the US: roughly speaking, where vaccination rates are low, case rates are high. If you believe in science, that’s no surprise at all.

Vaccination rates (left), weekly case numbers (right)