POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2020
Life
in the Time of Corona
25
mins 34 secs
©2020
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
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Box 9994
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Phone:
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Precis
|
It's Europe's coronavirus epicentre with cases of infected
rising by over a thousand daily. In the country's north, hospitals are full. Patients,
young and old, are dying. To control the outbreak, Italy is in lockdown but is it too
little too late? In the province of Lodi, half an hour from northern Italy's
capital Milan, it's day 23 of the lockdown. A young couple - Isabella and Roberto - are stuck at home with
their 3-year-old daughter Eleonora. They're wondering when they will be able
to resume normal life. The northern Lombardy region has been dubbed the ground zero of
Italy's corona crisis. So far, over two thousand people have died there and
nearly thirty thousand have been infected. After Lombardy, the virus spread through the north, then
nationwide. At first, doctors mistook it for the flu. Precious time was lost
and now Italy, known for its warm embraces and kisses on both cheeks, has
more cases than any country apart from China. Hospitals have been swamped. All non-corona related patients'
care has been sidelined. Doctors have been issued with protocols about which
patients to prioritise and which not to - a form of disaster medicine. Desperate to bring the virus under control, Italy has finally
taken strong action, declaring a nationwide lockdown. Schools and
universities have shut. Shops, cafes and restaurants have closed. Apart from
buying groceries, people need official authorisation to move around or else
face a fine. Reporter Emma Alberici can't travel to Italy but she has
relatives and friends in and around Milan. For this special report, Emma taps into her network of family
and friends as well as doctors and businesspeople, to tell an intimate story
about how families, communities and the country are dealing with this
unprecedented health emergency. We use skype calls, phone diaries and photos to bring you a
picture of Italy in lockdown. In Milan, we meet the head surgeon at one of the city's major
hospitals. He's isolated at home after contracting the coronavirus from one
of his patients. He explains how he's being treated for the infection and his
fears for his wife, who's working as an obstetrician. There's 7-year-old Zoe, who's doing schoolwork from her home in
Milan. She skypes her Australian friend Livia and they chat and giggle about
the virus and hand washing. We meet Emma's 90-year-old aunt recently hospitalised with
influenza, and her cousin - also Emma Alberici - who's looking after her
mother while holding down a job as CFO of a big pharmaceutical company in
Milan - an industry which has special exemption from the lockdown. We hear from Isabella and Roberto about the meals they're
cooking and the bread they're baking. And we interview virologist Prof Roberto Burioni who warns
Australia that this virus is dangerous and must be taken with the utmost
seriousness. This is an intimate insight into an extraordinary moment in
history. |
|
Near
empty Milan railway station |
Music |
00:00 |
Super: |
|
00:07 |
Title:
Life in the Time of Corona |
|
00:16 |
Train
interior. Passengers wearing masks/Railway station escalator |
|
00:23 |
Milan
GVs |
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: It’s ground zero of the
coronavirus outbreak. Italy’s iconic cities closed, the country on a war
footing. |
00:34 |
Hospital
interiors |
Tens of thousands infected; the death toll still
rising. One of the world’s best health systems at breaking point. Inside a
country in lockdown. |
00:57 |
People
wearing masks/Near empty streets |
Music
|
01:15 |
Cousin
Emma video call |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Cousin: Hello, my name is
Emma Alberici, I live in Milan. I am Emma Alberici’s cousin, at the ABC. I
work for a pharmaceutical company as the Chief Financial Officer. |
01:40 |
Ariel
cooking /Cousin Emma and Maria watch TV |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: Necessity is the
mother of invention, so, given even foreign correspondents are working from
home, I’ve asked family and friends to share their experiences of life in
lockdown. |
01:55 |
Ariel
cooking |
Cousin Emma: This is Alberici oil. Marco Alberici
oil. |
02:17 |
Cousin
Emma, Maria and Ariel eat |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: My cousin, her partner Ariel, and my 90 year old Auntie
Maria are at home in Milan, the heart of Italy's design capital. Cousin
Emma: "Mum, how's your day been?" EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: Emma's mother Maria normally lives on her own, two and a
half hours away, on the Ligurian coast. |
02:27 |
Cousin
Emma video call with Reporter Emma |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Cousin: She is pretty well,
but I am very concerned about anything that might compromise her immune
system, because she is very, very
frail. |
02:50 |
|
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: They’re saying this virus mainly attacks
the elderly, especially if they’re already suffering from some other illness
or co-morbidity. |
03:05 |
|
EMMA
ALBERICI, Cousin: Just before the outbreak, Mum was admitted
into hospital for a terrible influenza. |
03:17 |
|
She was there for about a week in February. Even
then, staff had suggested taking her out of there, because hospitals can be
breeding grounds for viruses, and so take care of her ourselves. |
03:26 |
Empty
streets GVs |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: The bans that started in northern Italy at the end of
February have become more restrictive by the day. It started with schools;
now everything that isn’t an essential service is closed, even the parks. |
03:42 |
Cousin
Emma leaves for work |
|
04:10 |
|
My
cousin Emma Alberici is still going off to work each day. Essential staff at
manufacturing firms have been given special rights to keep the wheels of
production and export moving. Northern Italy is responsible for forty percent
of the entire country’s GDP. |
04:20 |
Cousin
Emma at work |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Cousin: We have a self-declaration document that
we must take with us in case we're stopped. |
04:42 |
Cousin
Emma video call with Reporter Emma |
People are allowed to go out for essential work, |
04:50 |
Police
direct people shopping for groceries |
for health reasons, like going to the doctor and to get groceries. |
04:55 |
Cousin
Emma video call with Reporter Emma |
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: What happens if you go
out for no particular reason? |
05:07 |
|
EMMA ALBERICI, Cousin: My brother Moreno, because he was washing
his car, was taken to the police station for two hours, telling him it was
not a necessary reason to be outside. |
05:14 |
People
queue for groceries |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: He was fined the equivalent of $1100. Despite thousands
of arrests for breaking the rules, most
Italians are finally doing as they’re told, queueing for hours outside
supermarkets, keeping their distance. |
05:24 |
Ariel
shopping |
Emma’s
partner Ariel shops locally, where things are easier. |
05:50 |
|
"When you get to the supermarket, are there
products missing or in short supply? Because here people have gone crazy over
toilet paper." |
06:04 |
Ariel
with Maria and Emma on video call |
ARIEL:
I think it must be an Anglo-Saxon thing
because the same has happened in the US. In Italy we haven't had any shortages, and the last thing that will
ever be missing is food. You're Italian, you know that for Italians the first
thing is food. You can go without medication but not without food. |
06:15 |
Catriona's
house |
|
0639 |
Catriona
plays with son and dog |
CATRIONA:
So my name's Catriona Wallace and we live in Sesto Calende, which is
about 50 kilometres North of Milan. I'm Australian, but I've been living in
Italy |
06:52 |
Catriona
video call |
for 17 years. We have two boys aged 10 and 13
years old. |
07:01 |
Catriona
plays with dog. Son rides bike |
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Catriona Wallace and
her husband live on Lake Maggiore. Her
husband runs a manufacturing business, so he too has a leave pass to go to
work. |
07:06 |
Catriona
video call |
CATRIONA: It is quite simply
unprecedented; I've never seen anything like it. I have to say, today was the
first day that I became scared, because this morning we woke up to find out
that a very close friend of ours who lives 200 metres from our house, he's
the ex-mayor of this region, and he has been hospitalised with very serious
respiratory symptoms. He woke up on Monday with the symptoms, and by Tuesday
he was in hospital. |
04:27 |
|
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Is he okay? CATRIONA:
He's very sick at the moment. He's only 50 years old, and so he's not
in the age range, and he doesn't have any previous conditions, but he's very
sick. He's in intensive care and he's been hospitalised. |
07:53 |
|
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Are you at all
concerned that the Italian Government waited too long to impose these
restrictions on the populace? |
08:13 |
|
CATRIONA: Rather than having it escalated each day
and finding out incrementally about new measures, I would like the
restrictions to have come in right from the beginning. Italians were still
going skiing. They were still – you know, it's winter over here, it's the ski
season. They were still having birthday parties. They were still gathering
together. And when the most draconian measures were announced last Saturday
night, that you cannot leave your house unless it's for emergency medical or
work reasons, it was only then that Italians started to take it seriously. |
08:19 |
Cailin
riding bike |
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: For three weeks they
haven’t seen anyone outside their immediate family. |
08:57 |
Video
call, Catriona and Cailin |
CAILIN:
It gets, I don't know... You feel kind of like there's nowhere to go,
like you're stuck inside the house and it feels, I don't know how to say...
What is it? Sickness, no. I think cabin fever. EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Cabin fever.
Yes, exactly. And Cailin, what do you think about the coronavirus? Are you
worried about it? CAILIN:
I mean a little, but it's not like -- kids are less in danger, like
other people say. |
09:04 |
Cailin
riding bike |
Music |
09:37 |
Italian
TV footage. Interview with Burioni |
TV INTERVIEWER:
"Children seem immune from this virus, but it's not true, is it?" |
09:45 |
|
ROBERTO BURIONI, Virologist: "Of course
children can catch the virus. That's why we’re closing schools. Kids can
transmit to each other and then bring it home and pass it on to their
grandparents." |
09:50 |
|
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: Virologist Roberto Burioni has become a household name in
Italy. He’s the one who advised the government to shut the whole country down. |
09:58 |
Video
call with Dr. Burioni |
"The fact that every
day the number of cases is rising so exponentially, does that indicate that
the lockdown happened too slowly?" |
10:10 |
|
ROBERTO BURIONI, Virologist: We will see the
effect of the lockdown in a couple of weeks, and I hope that in that moment
that the numbers will not rise any more. If not, we will need a more strict
lockdown. This is really something that should be teaching other countries,
that if you don't move very quickly and very strongly, you just get
overwhelmed. |
10:22 |
Empty
Milan streets |
Music |
10:39 |
|
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: As far back as early January, the professor was warning
of the dangers coming from China, which has strong links with Milan's fashion
and furniture industries. Three flights a week were landing in Italy from the
virus epicentre of Wuhan. Doctor Burioni gave an
interview |
10:43 |
GFX.
Linkiesta article |
to investigative newspaper Linkiesta on the 21st of
January. The headline shouted 'This Chinese virus is dangerous… Roberto
Burioni says Italians are at risk too'. Nine weeks ago he told them: 'European authorities
have said that the risk of the virus spreading to Europe, especially Italy,
is small. I don’t agree at all, though I sincerely hope I'm wrong'. |
11:05 |
Video
call with Dr. Burioni |
"People
are saying in Australia people die of influenza all the time and that we
shouldn't be exaggerating the risks. What do you say to them?" |
11:37 |
|
ROBERTO BURIONI, Virologist: It's like comparing a
bomb to, let's say, a match, because this virus is very dangerous. It's causing
a lot of deaths and mortality is very high. That's why I think that it would
be a very bad mistake to underestimate the gravity and the danger coming from
the virus. |
11:45 |
GFX.
Map showing COVID-19 cases in Italy |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: Italy confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus
on January 30th – Chinese visitors from
Wuhan who’d arrived in Milan but fell ill in Rome. Three weeks later, two people died and lock downs
began. Within a week, there’d been a
tenfold increase – more than 1,000 confirmed cases. The number of people infected has now exploded to more than 60,000. |
12:06 |
Video
call with Dr. Burioni |
"Are you seeing deaths among young people in the same sort
of numbers, or is it very much concentrated to older people?" |
12:43 |
|
ROBERTO BURIONI, Virologist: Every
viral disease takes a greater toll on the elderly. I had a call yesterday
night of a basketball player, 28 years old. He's in intensive care in a very
critical situation. So just don't imagine this is only a virus for the old
people, which is a danger for the old people. Yesterday, a doctor, he was 48
and in perfect health, he died. So really, don't imagine this only a problem
for the elderly people. |
12:54 |
Patients
in hospital |
Music
|
13:27 |
Guglielmo
Gianotti in quarantine at home. Shows room |
|
13:36 |
|
Guglielmo:
"Here are the rooms, I'm in this bedroom, see?" Emma:
"Yes." Guglielmo: "I’ve got my own room
with my own bathroom, so I’m entirely independent from my wife." |
13:43 |
Video
call with Dr Gianotti |
GUGLIELMO GIANOTTI, Surgeon: My name
is Guglielmo Gianotti. I am a surgeon. I am the Executive Director of surgery
at the Cremona Hospital, which is the hospital that has probably been hardest
hit by this coronavirus outbreak. |
14:08 |
Guglielmo
Gianotti in quarantine at home. In bathroom |
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Dr. Gianotti has the coronavirus. He’s
at home in quarantine with his wife Enza, who works at another local hospital
as a gynaecologist. |
14:32 |
Photos.
Dr. Gianotti with medical team |
Dr. Gianotti took these photos with his team just before he was
tested. It was in the days before the hospital was swamped with thousands of
patients, who in turn, infected many of the doctors and nurses. Already, 19
Italian doctors have died from the virus. |
14:45 |
Video
call with Dr Gianotti and wife, wearing masks |
Guglielmo: "I’m wearing my mask now because my wife is
with me, come say hi Enza." Enza: "Buongiorno!" Emma: "Good morning." |
15:06 |
|
Guglielmo: We’re at home but we can’t be too close to
each other because it’s already been six days since I caught the virus, so
it’ll be at least another week before I'm cleared. |
15:17 |
Hospital
interiors |
Music |
15:38 |
|
Guglielmo: The situation at my hospital
is quite chaotic because it’s changing from hour to hour. |
15:40 |
|
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: The first person to die of COVID-19 in
Italy died in Dr. Gianotti’s hospital. |
15:50 |
Video
call with Dr Gianotti |
16:03 |
|
Driving
to Lodi |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: Our local crew has been given permission to drive to the
nearby province of Lodi. They’re going to visit a young couple who’ve been
stuck at home with their three year old for 23 days. Lodi was the first place
in the country to shut down, and now it’s also the first place to reap the
rewards of acting quickly . There are still new cases of COVID-19 patients
every day, but the rate of infection is slowing. |
16:51 |
Isabella
mashing potatoes with Eleonora |
Isabella: "What do we need to mash?" Eleonora: "The potatoes. Let’s squash
them." |
17:32 |
Isabella
and Roberto video call |
ISABELLA
GORNI: My name is Isabella Gorni. I
was born in Lodi but I live at Terranova dei Passerini. I work in customer
service for a company that makes natural cosmetic products. |
17:42 |
|
ROBERTO
ZOPPI: I am Roberto Zoppi from Cremona, I too live at Terranova dei
Passerini with Isabella, and I work in IT, I am the coordinator of the
department of business intelligence. |
17:52 |
Roberto
with guitar on verandah |
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: Both Isabella and Roberto are working from home. Legislation was hurried through the Italian
parliament demanding every firm offer their workers the right to do so. |
18:06 |
|
ISABELLA
GORNI: We both work for two big
Italian companies who were very supportive from the beginning, letting to
work from home. |
18:23 |
Isabella
and Roberto video call |
So we can truly say we have never really been
bored. The hardest challenge has been to manage our three-year old Eleonora,
whilst working from home, without being able to give her the educational
support she needs. We cook - you know that in Italy we all cook. ROBERTO ZOPPI: We're getting fat. ISABELLA GORNI: We're getting fat. We have some
gym equipment at home, but as I said, having Eleonora at home, well… let’s
just say we can’t get bored. |
18:31 |
Eleanora
shows wombat |
Eleanora wants to show you her wombat, otherwise
she won’t be happy. EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Sure, what’s the
wombat’s name? ISABELLA GORNI: I think its name is Wombat. |
19:15 |
Roberto
plays guitar, Eleanora plays |
|
19:24 |
|
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: While the situation seems to be improving in Lodi, just
north of here in Bergamo, things have spiralled out of control. The cost of keeping
the factories open around there may have been too high. |
19:32 |
Isabella
and Roberto video call |
"Do you have any fears for the future?" ROBERTO ZOPPI:
Yes, let’s just say that the stress of having been locked up for 23
days can get you thinking about a lot of things. Our main fear is for our
little girl. Sooner or later schools will reopen, she will come in contact
with others, so how are we all going to handle that? |
19:50 |
Roberto
and Isabella wave goodbye |
|
20:22 |
Medical
staff in tent wards |
|
20:24 |
|
EMMA
ALBERICI, Reporter: Across Italy, makeshift tent wards are being built to
cope with the overwhelming number of people presenting at emergency. Doctors
now want everyone to assume they have the virus and only go to hospital if
they have serious trouble breathing. The priority is to keep health workers
safe and at work. Dr. Gianotti is one of more than 4,000 health care workers
who’ve caught the virus. |
20:27 |
Video
call with Dr Gianotti |
GUGLIELMO GIANOTTI, Surgeon: It’s
very difficult to help you understand with so far away, the extent of this
health emergency. My speciality is in emergency surgery so I have always been
taught that in times of war we must decide which patients will live and which
ones will probably die. That essentially describes the situation we're
currently living through in Italy. And I have to tell you that for us it's a
massive responsibility to decide to give a ventilator to one patient and not
to another. |
21:02 |
Sydney
beach. Children playing in playground |
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Back in Sydney, Dr. Gianotti’s niece is
still able to spend time outside with her friends, but who knows for how
long? Livia Gianotti only moved to Australia from Italy six months ago. |
21:53 |
Photos.
Livia and Zoe |
Livia’s best friend is Zoe Balsotti. They
were inseparable growing up in Milan. They went to school together, too. Like
everyone else in Italy, the only way she can see her friends at the moment is
on a screen. |
22:15 |
Livia
and Zoe video call |
Livia:
Are you a little over it because you can’t see your friends? |
22:30 |
|
Zoe: The other difficult thing is that I can’t
organise myself to do schoolwork, it’s much easier to do it at school. |
22:37 |
|
Livia:
Because there isn't the teacher? Because if you don't have the teacher there? Zoe:
Exactly. Because I say, okay yes, I’ll do it, promise, I’ll do it, but then I
don’t do it. |
22:44 |
Zoe
and parents having meal, on video call with friends |
Zoe's Father: Since we cannot have drinks with friends outside,
we have organised to do it at home and we are connected with Zoom with our
friends. Zoe's Mother: We are having warm brioches. |
23:03 |
Livia
and Zoe video call |
Livia:
What are the good and the bad things about staying at home. Tell me, tell me. |
23:27 |
|
Zoe: I
am here with my family and I can sleep more and I can play, and my meals
aren’t rushed. For instance, this morning for breakfast we made pancakes. |
23:33 |
|
Livia:
How yummy, what do you put on them? Strawberries? |
23:51 |
|
Zoe: On
my pancakes I put maple syrup and Nutella. |
23:56 |
Cousin
Emma with Maria eating breakfast |
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: Working on
this story over the past week has made me more and more worried about the
people I love. Who knows when I'll see them again. |
24:11 |
Cousin
Emma and Maria on video call |
"What about your health,
auntie? Are you feeling well?" |
24:21 |
|
MARIA: Yes, I'm quite well now, I’m a bit slow with words. EMMA: I'm going to
show you how we spend our time. |
24:25 |
Cousin
Emma shows video on phone of Maria dancing |
|
24:45 |
|
EMMA ALBERICI, Reporter: All we can do while we wait for a vaccine is stay apart
physically while also looking after each other in spirit. |
24:54 |
|
Music |
25:01 |
Credits
over (see below) |
|
25:07 |
Out
point after credits |
|
25:34 |
CREDITS
Reporter: Emma Alberici
Producer: Marianne Leitch
Researcher: Giulia Sirignani
Camera: Luca Travaglini & Aaron Hollett ACS
Editor: Nikki Stevens
Assistant Editor:
Tom Carr
Graphics: Andres Gomez Isaza
Archive Research: Michelle Boukheris
Fixer: Tabata Piccinelli
Production
Manager: Michelle Roberts
Production
Coordinator: Victoria Allen
Digital Producer: Matt Henry
Supervising Producer: Lisa McGregor
Executive Producer
Matthew
Carney
abc.net.au/foreign
© 2020 Australian Broadcasting Corporation