Chapter 1
A Changing wind
A Changing wind
"Humanity is fragile, life is uncertain, and the world is full of mystery. There are lots of things that we humans do not know. We humans like to think of ourselves as invincible, and on top of the world. Yet, the smallest creature we know of, the weakest disease we thought of can create havoc in our society. The civilization that we build from time to time can be bashed by the invisible enemy."
My name is Alessandro, and I'm a doctor in one of the city hospital in Bergamo, Italy. I have been practicing medicine in Italy for quite a long time. I have a wife and two little girls. I love them so much, and always tried to spend time with them as much as possible. I'm a busy man, as my profession dictates me to, but I always remember this famous Italian sayings, "Trovate sempre il tempo di dedicarvi alle cose che vi rendono felici e vi fanno sentire vivi" meaning "always find time for the things that make you feel happy to be alive".
Life in the city was good, everything was going okay. It was the cold winter morning, the cool wind was blowing and as usual people were busy with their own works. My wife runs a floral shop near our home, while our two little angels were studying in a kindergarten. I would usually stand on our balcony in the morning with a coffee on my hand, overlooking the view of whole Città Bassa. Who would have thought that a disaster will struck a happy and cheerful city in the blink of an eye?
In 2019, we heard about the disease spreading like a wildfire in China, but everything was going well in our little Bergamo. We never thought that our city would be the next victim of this ugly and dangerous creature.
This is a horrifying story about the Corona Virus pandemic that has been ravaging the whole world and I'm unfortunate enough to still be witnessing it.
It's January 31st, 2020. It was a fine usual morning, so I thought it was. As usual, I got up, have my coffee, dressed up, got ready for work and drove two miles and a half to my hospital in Città Bassa. When I reach the hospital, one of my colleagues told me about the first case of Covid-19 tested positive in Rome. That was the first thing I heard when I reach the hospital. I was not expecting this kind of news, it was not at all in my mind. It made me uneasy. However, I thought to myself, "calm down, it's not going to get out of control". Everything went cool and fine for another week. No new cases, the first two patients were under proper medical care and quarantine.
A week later, another person tested positive. He was an Italian man who travelled to China recently. He was kept under quarantine, and under proper medical care. From then on, I started to think that we have to be very cautious since the creature had found its way into our land. This creature is a brainless blob of DNA and RNA, which becomes active only when entered into a living cells. It multiplies itself quickly and spread faster than the wildfire.
Twenty days later, one patient came for a checkup for his pneumonia. As the weather was cold in February, it was not unusual for people to catch a cold. The patient seemed to be alright, having no serious symptoms and everything seems to be normal and fine. My colleague Dr. Lucas did the check up, prescribed him some medicine and sent him home.
The next day, the same patient came to our hospital. He was breathing heavily, coughing uncontrollably, and was in a bad condition. We suspected him to be a carrier of the new corona virus. We got him tested, and unfortunately, it was the very virus that have been ravaging the whole of China for months. It's official, our city was contaminated by the brutal and heartless creature. It managed to creep in to our home town.
to be continued...