There’s a lot going on in regards to Coronavirus at the moment and the main hub of trouble is over in Italy, where the country is on lockdown and there are several disputed stories coming out of the area about what it’s really like.

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You would hope that you would be able to trust the people that are working within the emergency services though, so I’m hoping that this account from an Italian nurse named Alessia Bonari is representative of the situation over there. Alessia took to Instagram to post the following picture and statement (English translation underneath):

 

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Sono i un’infermiera e in questo momento mi trovo ad affrontare questa emergenza sanitaria. Ho paura anche io, ma non di andare a fare la spesa, ho paura di andare a lavoro. Ho paura perché la mascherina potrebbe non aderire bene al viso, o potrei essermi toccata accidentalmente con i guanti sporchi, o magari le lenti non mi coprono nel tutto gli occhi e qualcosa potrebbe essere passato. Sono stanca fisicamente perché i dispositivi di protezione fanno male, il camice fa sudare e una volta vestita non posso più andare in bagno o bere per sei ore. Sono stanca psicologicamente, e come me lo sono tutti i miei colleghi che da settimane si trovano nella mia stessa condizione, ma questo non ci impedirà di svolgere il nostro lavoro come abbiamo sempre fatto. Continuerò a curare e prendermi cura dei miei pazienti, perché sono fiera e innamorata del mio lavoro. Quello che chiedo a chiunque stia leggendo questo post è di non vanificare lo sforzo che stiamo facendo, di essere altruisti, di stare in casa e così proteggere chi è più fragile. Noi giovani non siamo immuni al coronavirus, anche noi ci possiamo ammalare, o peggio ancora possiamo far ammalare. Non mi posso permettere il lusso di tornarmene a casa mia in quarantena, devo andare a lavoro e fare la mia parte. Voi fate la vostra, ve lo chiedo per favore.

A post shared by Alessia Bonari (@alessiabonari_) on Mar 9, 2020 at 3:22am PDT

I am a nurse and right now I am facing this medical emergency.

I’m afraid too, but not going to go shopping, I’m afraid to go to work.

I am afraid because the mask may not adhere well to the face, or I may have accidentally touched myself with dirty gloves, or maybe the lenses do not completely cover my eyes and something may have passed.

I am physically tired because the protective devices are bad, the lab coat makes you sweat and once dressed I can no longer go to the bathroom or drink for six hours.

I am psychologically tired, and as are all my colleagues who have been in the same condition for weeks, but this will not prevent us from doing our job as we have always done.

I will continue to take care of my patients, because I am proud and in love with my job.

What I ask anyone who is reading this post is not to frustrate the effort we are making, to be selfless, to stay at home and thus protect those who are most fragile.

We young people are not immune to coronavirus, we too can get sick, or worse.

I can’t afford the luxury of going back to my quarantined house, I have to go to work and do my part. You do yours, I ask you please.

I mean it sounds pretty obvious that we should all be self quarantining as much as possible over here right now if we don’t want thinks to go south like they have done in Italy, but I can’t really see many people over here actually doing that because we’ve all got that mentality of  ‘oh it won’t happen to us don’t worry about it’. Just hope that’s right and we don’t end up like Italy in a week or so.

Despite all that though, gotta give props and thanks to Ms Bonari for continuing to do her job in front of pretty much insurmountable odds. Respect.

For more Coronavirus, here’s news on a Coronavirus conference getting cancelled – because of Coronavirus. Ouch.