Get in line

On Sunday, after Pam and I had finished playing some violin-viola duets and she headed home, I stepped onto our balcony. In the street below I was surprised to see dozens of people, maybe as many as 150, standing around, all masked, all clearly waiting for something, but I couldn't imagine what.

The next afternoon there weren't as many people waiting around, but it was more obvious what they were doing: forming a long line to get into the pharmacy across the street. 

Then I remembered that the preceding Friday, Oct. 15, Italy had announced an expansive new vaccine mandate. By law, no one can enter their workplace without a Green Pass showing they have been vaccinated or have had a recent negative COVID test. Those without a pass must stay away, and won't be paid. If they show up anyway they face stiff fines. 

So evidently the folks in line for the pharmacy were there either to get tested or to update their Green Passes, both services that most pharmacies here provide. Without the pass, they couldn't go to work.

That same day the town hospital was helping out by offering vaccinations to all comers. The mayor reported that more than 900 people got jabs that day. "Meglio tardi che mai," he said. ("Better late than never.") That's a significant number of vaccinations in a town of 27,000. According to the mayor's very active Instagram account, 84.3 percent of the town's residents are now vaccinated, including more than 81 percent of teens between 16 and 19. Italy overall is about 80 percent vaccinated.

The horrifying death toll of the pandemic's first wave in Northern Italy probably encouraged people to take COVID seriously and protect themselves. Aside from one ultra-right-wing riot in Rome, protests against the new mandate have been small. 

Meanwhile, we are now two weeks out from the San Donnino festa and its happy, often maskless crowds, and there doesn't seem to have been an uptick in COVID infections here, at least not that anyone's reporting. Maybe it's because so many are vaccinated. Or maybe being out of doors makes the virus less effective. Or maybe San Donnino was watching over the celebrants and adding COVID prevention to his roster of miracles. 

It seems like a good omen that when I looked out this afternoon, what people were lining up for was gelato.