All of Italy is now in lockdown due to Coronavirus.

A man with a surgical mask in Italy. BBC/EPA.

Italy has extended their quarantine measures to include the entire country. BBC. The news comes after a shocking rise in the number of cases and deaths in Italy on Monday, with a total of 9172 cases and 463 deaths, making it the most effected country outside of China. People will only be allowed to travel for work or emergencies. Events where large groups of people gather, like sports matches and bars will be closed. Anyone traveling will be questioned and will have to provide a reason for movement. 

My Comment:

Major news in the Coronavirus front. It looks as though Italy is pulling out all the stops to try and get the virus under control. It was very clear that their temporary measures in the north of the country would not work alone. The entire country is now locked down.

The regional lockdown that went into effect on Sunday was kind of ruined by the fact that people knew about it before hand and fled the effected area. This caused a flood of infected people to enter areas of the country that were less effected by the virus and will likely lead to new infections. With that being the case it's little wonder why the lockdown was extended to the entire country. People need to stay at home and not travel unless there is a great need or the virus will continue to spread.

This is going to be a huge deal for the average Italian person. It's unclear how long this lockdown will last and how people are going to take care of themselves. People will still be allowed to work which means at least they will have money but spending it on things like food and medicine might be difficult. Plus I am guessing shelves are going to be extremely empty by this time tomorrow once the lockdown is in full effect. 

There are going to be those that question this and I think it's right to do so. Locking down the whole country will cause quite a bit of panic and it will do massive economic damage as people won't be able to spend their money freely and entire industries, especially in the entertainment and hospitality sectors, are going to suffer. The global stock markets are going to continue to crash and a whole lot of money is going to be lost.

However, I do have to say that these lockdown quarantines have been working out. China seems to be getting the virus under control with a major reduction in new cases seen across the board after they locked down much of their country. South Korea too has had some success in preventing the virus from spreading as the infection rate is slowing there as well. I think there is a strong argument to be made that these kinds of major quarantines are effective in slowing the spread of the virus. I think Italy will probably continue to see a rise in cases for the next couple of weeks but after that they should plateau and eventually reduce to more manageable levels.  

I think the current state of the Coronavirus outbreak seems to be showing that both the "it's just a flu" and the "we are all going to die" camps here in America are pretty much full of it. The virus is killing quite a few more people than any flu does when compared to a similar amount of cases and there is no way governments would lock down entire countries for just a flu (short of a super-outbreak like the Spanish Flu). In times like these it's not so important to listen to what governments are saying but looking at what they are doing will give you a good idea of how bad things are. 

But I think recent events have shown that governments can successfully fight the virus with quarantines. Both China and South Korea are fighting this virus well and I think that Italy might reverse the number of cases now as well. The death rate is fairly bad but it seems that everything will be shut down long before any country reaches the "people are dying due to lack of medical access" stage ever hits... unless you live in Iran. 

Still, even if the virus can be shut down this way I do worry about people not being prepared for such a shut down here in America. Though many people are stockpiling supplies they are doing it via panic buying which has cut off some things entirely, such as bleach and hand sanitizer. There has even been a run on toilet paper of all things! And some people are writing off the entire thing, doing absolutely nothing to prepare. These people will be left with empty refrigerators and medicine cabinets once restrictions hit and no amount of warning will get them to act. 

Money might be a major issue as well. A lot of Americas are notoriously bad with money and don't have any savings at all and won't be able to take care of themselves if their job shuts down. People living beyond their means is probably the one thing all of our economic classes have in common and people not being able to work is going to cause some major problems if it comes to that in America. I know some people will be in jobs that will stay open for necessity and others will be able to work from home but a total lockdown is going to ruin some people regardless of in the impact of the virus itself

My advice would be to stock up now before any of these lockdowns hit your region. At the bare minimum you should have a couple weeks worth of food at home and at least one month's worth of money to pay off your bills in case you can't work. I know that is beyond the means of a lot of people but do whatever you can to prepare for this as I think it's matter of time before we see similar lockdowns here in America.