I’ve never loved grocery shopping so much!
While the rest of the world comes to terms with the idea of social distancing, we here in Italy have moved to social isolation. The screws have been tightened once more. Last night, Prime Minister Conte took a step further to close everything except supermarkets, pharmacies and banks. Technically you can now only leave the house to go to the supermarket/pharmacy/bank or to go to work if you have a job in a place that’s open. Also, you can still order a pizza for delivery. What a relief! It’s unclear if you can go out for a walk. I think so, as long as you do not assemble. Also, it’s strictly forbidden to go to another person’s house, unless that person is your infirm nan who needs assistance. A friend (whom I didn’t see in person, of course, and if I did, you will never know about it, and should we per chance have seen each other, we kept a 1-meter distance, rest assured) wondered if the government can actually take away our constitutional right to assemble. Wouldn’t they have to decry martial law to do so?
Apparently, police and military are out on the streets checking people, though I have not personally witnessed this. To avert checks I will just carry a bag of grocery shopping with me at all times. The Spesa is always a legitimate excuse. Another disturbing thing discussed with my aforementioned friend (via Facetime obviously) are the militant mothers who are now shaming other mums for taking their children to the playground and even threatening to call the police to notify them. Watch out for the Coronavirus Gestapo people. How quickly we have gone into Groupthink. I am now realising that the game of family soccer we played yesterday might have been highly illegal. Though, if a family that lives together goes out and plays together, is this assembly? I am not sure. I am beginning to regret that I didn’t study law, as my mother would have wished.
Switching to the U.S, I am delighted to see that Trump has this “Foreign Virus” all figured out. Stopping flights to Europe (except the UK) for 30 days is definitely going to halt the virus (that’s already rampant in the U.S) from spreading. Maybe he should bomb us while he is at it.