An Important Message on COVID-19

This is Giuseppe Oliverio and this is a message to invite you to take the Coronavirus outbreak as seriously as possible.

Dear friends from around the world, this is PHmuseum Director Giuseppe Oliverio sending this message from Bologna, the city where I was born and raised and where I’m currently in lockdown at home together with other 60 millions Italians.

These are a couple of pics I took around 11am today while crossing towards the pharmacy. The situation here is extremely serious. In recent days our government was brave enough to take some very strict measures to contain the epidemic, yet we still have to wait a couple of weeks to see if these measures will be effective. Meanwhile there are already more than 10,000 people infected, around 1,000 deaths and a sanitary systems that is battling everyday to avoid collapse. This message is meant to invite you take #COVID-19 seriously regardless if in your country there are 20 cases or 2000. Numbers are clear and show how the virus spreads exponentially. All the people you are crossing can be potentially infected and it cannot be sufficient to simply wash your hands or stay 1 meter away. We have already seen this and experience how a few cases on the first day become hundreds in a week and thousands in the following. It’s not a seasonal flu and there’s no specific cure for it apart from our antibodies.

This message is not aimed at spreading panic, it’s a call to act responsibly and ask through social media and local representatives that your governments takes very strict actions NOW. I know it’s not easy to stay at home nor stop working yet there is no other way to stop the virus. The earlier you do this the better. Even before a formal act from your government, you shall start avoiding public gathering, taking a coffee at the bar, and even meetings with friends.

Just stay home. There is no other option to save as many lives as possible - starting from yours and that of your loved ones - and support the amazing work that doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers are carrying ahead. So please do it - and another useful thing you can do is starting a fundraising for hospitals and healthcare structures. We have started many here for hospitals across the country through gofundme.com

Act now, stay safe and hopefully we’ll be able to repopulate our squares soon!