We all have our COVID-19 concerns.
Family. Friends. Work.
Toilet paper.
In my case, I have a 92-year-old mother-in-law who's a social butterfly and doesn't like to be stuck inside, and can often be found strolling and shopping at the mall. My oldest child lives across the country, in packed and busy TO, and takes public transit daily.
But they're relatively close.
Far, far away, in our family's homeland, I have dozens of cousins and friends living in a locked-down country.
One of those friends is Eleanor, who, like me, grew up in east Vancouver, the child of Italian immigrant parents who sang with mine in the choir at Sacred Heart Church, on the edge of Chinatown. She moved to Italy permanently in the 1980s when she married an Italian. And her mom and dad, after they retired and sold their bakery and house, packed up their baby grand piano and went back home, too. They all settled in Lucca, a walled Tuscan city not far from the mountainside town where her parents grew up — a town so small, it is little more than a collection of houses along a bumpy single-lane "road," so small that it's a bit surprising it even has a name.
I emailed Eleanor Tuesday, asking if she's OK, worried about her mom, who's in her 80s and has some health issues (her dad passed a few years ago). This is her response:
"Mom and I are fine. Tuscany has not been hit hard (yet) and hopefully won’t.
"As of last night, as you’ve heard, all of Italy is on lockdown and this is because of people who didn’t feel compelled to abide by the restrictions.
"Consequently, now they do. There’s a lot of them and basically it comes down to staying at home unless you must travel for work or move for necessity (get food, medicine).
"The runs on the supermarkets are absurd because, from day one, they’ve said supermarkets would not be closed down and all are well-stocked continuously. But people who panic don’t think, and do stupid things (like sneaking out of the red zone and going to contaminate southern Italy).
"We pray that this works and that the percentages of people that contract the virus and those that die decrease.
"The tourism sector is the worst hit naturally. Everyone has cancelled flights to Italy! All tours have been cancelled through to May for now for everyone."
I failed to mention that Eleanor works as a tour guide…
"A recession is likely.
"I hope you are well. I’ve heard there have been a few cases over there too. Hopefully, they’ll be able to contain it better.
"… [and] if the numbers continue to grow like this, there won’t be enough beds and respirators."
Also on Tuesday, I exchanged texts with Giovanni, the youngest son of my cousin Dino, whom I love like a brother. Giovanni is in his 30s, newly married, an architect and, like the rest of my people, lives in the province of Vicenza, about an hour or so northwest of Venice. He's a prodigious musician who can tear off covers of hundreds of songs — Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, Mumford and Sons — and has a pretty kickass folk band that plays beautiful originals, too (check ’em out: facebook.com/wefolkband).
The vast majority of my cousins are in their 50s and 60s, and their kids obviously younger, so likely out of the age danger zone. Still, to not worry would be frightfully off-brand, so I asked. Giovanni's response:
"Hi Richard... Actually the situation isn’t good. We’re in lockdown and we do smartwork from our houses.
"We are not allowed to move. We can move away from our houses only for emergencies or urgent work.
"We will have serious problem with work in the next months."
The only positive news?
"All family for now is good."
Which is all any of us — whether young and healthy, with elderly relatives or sick loved ones, and friends and acquaintances near and far — can hope for.
