While that sounds plausible - that would include pilots and flight crews - it would not logistically be possible as it is one thing to talk about the affected areas it is another to refer to the entire country and the issue that all the people from third countries that have been to Italy over the past month or so. Airlines with a hub in Italy - Alitalia, for example, has flights from (for example Mumbai to NYC with a change in Milan or Rome). China in some ways was easier as it was generally a final destination and that there was a concentration of cases in Wuhan.
In Italy, we have been following the advice of the WHO https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus as well as our own Ministry of Health http://www.salute.gov.it/portale/malattieInfettive/dettaglioFaqMalattieInfettive.jsp?lingua=italiano&id=228 as well as our own local town council instructions - https://www.comune.fi.it/dalle-redazioni/coronavirus-tutte-le-misure-varate-dalla-regione?language_content_entity=it that basically has the same message about the basic principles we should follow for the flu as well as the people to worry about being at risk - the elderly ad people with compromised immune systems and pre-existing conditions. Trump did say something correctly in his own way about as the flu seasons ends this will become less of a concern - however, people do need to use good sense and reflect on what they do and say.
Yes, if it gets so widespread, it’d be pointless to quarantine. Hopefully, Italy and other affected countries will be able to contain, or at least slow down, the spread of this virus in the next few days/weeks…
Personally, I think the cat’s out of the bag and won’t go back in. For each case confirmed, I think there are several not confirmed. The UK is starting to randomly test people presenting with symptoms. I think the USA should as well but they don’t see, set up for that based on all I’ve read.
Passengers from third countries may choose to bypass Italy, even though the risk is very small. As demand drops, airlines themselves would likely drop those routes altogether, even without governmental interventions.
Here’s an update to students and parents/families at WFU’s Casa Artom in Venice:
Dear WFU/Venice: Casa Artom Students and Parents/Families,
As communicated yesterday, Wake Forest continues to closely monitor developments of the recent Coronavirus/COVID-19 cases in Italy, and the Italian government’s efforts in preventing the spread of infections. In addition to the previously reported cases of COVID-19 in the Lombardy and Veneto regions, we are aware of newly confirmed cases in other regions of Italy (i.e. Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, and Lazio). Similarly, we are following information provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) whose teams arrived in Italy on Monday, February 24.
Compared to other universities offering programs within Italy (e.g., Syracuse and NYU in Florence), we are in a more fortunate position to have our program contained to a single location (as opposed to living and commuting across a city), thus minimizing the potential for our program participants to contract the virus. With this in mind, we have made the decision to continue academic instruction with some alteration until March 8, 2020. During this period, the WFU resident professor (Page West) will continue to deliver his courses as regularly scheduled. However, the local Venetian faculty will provide alternative/on-line delivery for their courses. We will continue to evaluate this decision as circumstances change, and will notify you of any modifications to this plan.
One of the challenges associated with the coronavirus situation is that things can change very rapidly; the recommendations in place today might change tomorrow if the virus spreads and as new information is gained. Given the evolving and increasing travel restrictions being implemented across Italy and Europe, and in an effort to avoid the risk of being exposed to or exposing others to the virus, we are taking heightened measures at Casa Artom. Effective immediately, any student who travels outside of Venice (and is not subsequently prohibited from returning to Venice by authorities) must self-isolate to monitor for symptoms (as directed by WFU health officials) upon their return to Venice. This self-isolation must be for two weeks in accommodations other than Casa Artom (at personal expense) before the student can resume residency at the house. This measure is intended to protect our students, faculty, and staff who are restricting themselves to Venice and Casa Artom. Accordingly, we continue to strongly advise students to postpone their travels outside of Venice over the coming weeks and remain at Casa Artom.
For families and students who are concerned about continuing with the program, we are currently exploring options for students to return to the US and continue their studies via alternative delivery methods. We will keep you posted on our deliberations.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know.
Sincerely,
David F. Taylor
—
David F. Taylor
Assistant Dean for Global Study Away
@StudyAbroadMed thanks for the voice of reason.
Yes, I think she will be fine. She has travel planned in 2 weeks that may have to change… if needed, I told her I will come visit and instead of cheap airbnb’s, we will use points and stay in luxury! She doesn’t want me to come… I get it.
I have a son studying in Florence. They received communication today that they can go home and finish studies online from home, or stay. The students would like to stay but are concerned about a quarantine. They feel like it’s inevitable. If it were a two week quarantine, they feel they can handle it. But they fear it could be longer. Hard to know how to advise them.
I think that quarantining will be abandoned before the end of next week. It is unmanageable.
Purdue just announced this:
“Purdue’s commitment to the health and safety of its community has led the university to take the precaution of canceling all university-sponsored travel to countries the CDC has listed as level 2 and level 3 risks for coronavirus. Countries currently at these levels of risk are China, South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan.”
It goes on later to say:
“With spring break around the corner, travelers taking private trips to any location are urged to pay close attention to the CDC risk levels, information being released from destination countries, and updates from air carriers prior to departure and while abroad. For those who choose to travel to an at-risk country, it is strongly recommended that the traveler seek an assessment with a health care provider upon return (PUSH, Center for Healthy Living, etc.). Please note that the possibility exists that a country experiencing an outbreak could suspend travel in and out of the country and could result in travelers being stranded.”
Students in Florence don’t use public transport - live together in apartments, and only go to school with students on their programs - they are probably better off here to finish their term (both in terms of healthcare and also finishing the semester). Despite reports on CNN supermarkets are not empty and ERs are not overflowing as I am sure your son has pointed out - he is no doubt quite objective about this. There is the logistical issue of them getting back - I think it best for them to get a flight from Florence and not have to travel to other cities (first they usually have a ton of luggage) and also then you put yourself in more trains and airports. Our airport is tiny and people only spend about an hour there before departure - so better to wait a few days and get a flight from here - they have already been here 5 or 6 weeks so quite frankly what does a week or two change.
Just heard Pepperdine is pulling students out of Florence. My so sad program is still giving them the choice…but with so many students leaving, I think the ones contemplating staying are now wondering if that’s wise. They’re also hearing that they may have a hard time even getting out of Italy if they stay and that Florence might be quarantined. Are you hearing any of this @StudyAbroadMed ?
My friends kid was due to graduate in May. The school cancelled study abroad in Hong Kong, so now it’s a lost semester and there will be no graduation. It stinks but I understand why it happened.
Just saw last night that Villanova is pulling all kids from around Italy out as well
Hello - here I am alive in Florence - actually at the gym that is full of people! There is no reason that Florence would be on “lockdown” - the media hysteria over this makes it difficult to have rational “adult” conversations about it. More than 50% of the programs in Florence are NOT closing - Lorenzo de’ Medici, Florence University of the Arts, Kent State, Florida State will close for a week - the week of Spring Break, Internationa Studies Institute (UCONN), the SUNY system is staying as well - Georgetown University, - all Italian public schools and universities are open and no plans for that to change. In Rome (1 hour and 20 minutes away) almost all programs and universities are open - John Cabot with over 1.000 study abroad students has the approach endorsed by health authorities in the US and Italy - https://www.johncabot.edu/safety/Update%20on%20Coronavirus%20in%20Italy.pdf - also St. Johns University in Rome has the same approach - as does Loyola - https://www.luc.edu/rome/resources/parentsandguardians/coronaviruscovid-19updateforitaly/ . More than 50% of the US students study in Rome.
It is important to note that no one in Italy died of Corona - in post mortems they found the virus but they all had other pathologies - here is the translation from an Italian epidemiologist about the situation:
“” This is a difficult disease from an epidemiological point of view but from a clinical point of view the trend is calm, even at the Italian level.
I am a Christian close to the families of the dead, but let me say that in Italy there is not even one patient who died from the coronavirus.
When one enters the hospital from a heart attack and dies with coronavirus he did not die from the coronavirus, he died from the heart attack.
If one is found dead at home, as happened in the Lodi area, and a post mortem swab is made to him, how can you say that he died from the coronavirus?
We are attentive to this war bulletin which almost seems to justify a certain attitude. To date, no one is really dead in Italy from coronavirus.
It is an ugly viral form but much closer to the flu than to SARS or the camel flu. Most cases are quiet in their home, as is the case in most patients with flu.
If you want to follow in real time the situation in Italy here is thewebsite (in English) of the Civil Protection - http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/home
The question is - where did they hear that from? I hear people misrepresent what is said all the time, today someone said, oh Trump said he was banning flights to Italy - and he did not say that at all. I’m not thrilled with his team for this but they are taking a pragmatic approach to it. I think the media is dishonest in saying Italy is “struggling” with this - I think we are dealing with it like any country in a health crisis with lots of unknowns. Social media and the 24 hour news makes doing your job so hard - I remember working with students and parents here after 9/11 and that was a cakewalk compared to now - regarding people with hair on fire and rash actions and statements.
Colgate is suspending classes in Florence for the semester.
This is an important health care issue. However 15mm people in USA have influenza, 140k hospitalizations and 9000 deaths unfortunately. Let’s stay focused.
This is serious and we need to be prepared. But it is not. I repeat not the great zombie apocalypse. We need the medical and mph folks do their thing. The vaccines fast tracked and good communication.
There are really smart and hard working pros leading this at the top levels. Let’s leave politics out of this for once. It’s ugly and not helpful.
In the untied States, we have tested only 500+ people. they have strict guidelines for testing that only people with direct connection to China can be tested. How is this possible at this point? South Korea and Italy have tested thousands of people-therefore their numbers are much more realistic and they can contain as best they can. here we could be spreading it everywhere and people don’t know because they’re not being tested unless they’ve have a direct connection to China. So I disagree with your comment on the administrations pragmatic approach.
Thank you for keeping us posted and abreast of what’s going on in Florence. I agree everyone should be calm and thoughtful, but informed. Your posts are very helpful in keeping us informed. Do you know if Marist has called back their students in Florence?
My D is studying in Florence. Her program gave them the option to 1). Leave and continue classes online with the plan to return after spring break, or 2). Stay. She said that the programs that she is of aware of that canceled and left are universities that have their own programs and can pick up and move to their university campus with American professors. My D’s program includes several universities and Italian professors so they don’t have that option. A lot of people in her program did leave. I have so many mixed feelings about all of this. I will save my thoughts to myself because they are A LOT. But just wanted to say thank you to @StudyAbroadMed for your input. Please keep us posted as you learn more. There are currently 500+ in Italy. I presume the majority of them are still in the north? Do you know the numbers for Tuscany? Last I saw there were 3. Though not personally, my D knows one of them.
@Publisher. Hope they are not handing out surgical masks. It has to be a N95 mask which typical surgical masks are not. Most likely a typo.
As far as Italy and “spreading” or any other country. It is not spreading per se. Its just that more people are being diagnoses. It was already there since most are very mild cases.
You can’t diagnose what you can’t test for or see. Years ago it was told to doctors to look more closely for breast cancers, I think it was. So they pushed this at conferences. Guess what? More cases getting diagnosed . Even the new scans are more sensitive.
Big push the last few years is hypertension and obesity. Guess what? More cases are being found.
Hard to diagnose what your not looking for. But it is something not to blow off either.
My daughter has another chance to go back to Indonesia. She will find out in a few weeks. All expenses paid through the State Department. She did this program 2 years ago and has been there 3 times total and speaks the language and can be something she uses post graduation this year. She comes home to visit from school this weekend. She already knows we are having this talk. Most likely tomorrow as I found out I am picking her up at school.
I was going to give it to May to see were we are. The programs not till July I think. Indonesia is already kinda sweeping this under the rug and they have direct flight that are canceled to Wuhun…
So someone mentioned that their kids was an adult and it’s on them… Great but not my kid. They have enough respect that if I say no they will listen. She actually has her own funds also to go anywhere she wants to. She’s going to be 23 in July but again she has enough common sense to listen to reason and facts.