Life Under Lockdown, week 2

Or is it week 3? Time is starting to blur, but I haven’t set foot outside our front door since March 8. We are so very thankful to be in our lovely house and no longer in the rental apartment; the environment in which we find ourselves makes a huge difference.

As mentioned before, Michael is the only one allowed out (one designated member of the family only, and we designated him), and that is only to do our weekly food shop. This involves my calling/emailing/texting/messaging our various shopkeepers a list ahead of time so that they can go ahead and have the entire order ready for pickup. Since only one person is allowed in any shop at a time, this helps reduce our load on each of the stores, and is one of the small ways in which we can help. Although it sounds fairly simple to most of you, since many will do a “weekly shop,” this requires pretty extreme planning on my part. If I forget anything, we just have to do without. There is no running to Kroger on your way home to grab a gallon of milk.

At the same time, Michael has to take out the week’s recycling, which we collect in our front hall.

This week went really smoothly, except for one small item: our local agent for the natural gas provider called and asked if we would read our meter, since the meter readers can’t go out and about as they normally would. That wouldn’t have been a problem, but for the fact that the scaffolding is covering the meter box! Thank goodness it’s only our meter in there that’s active. I called her back, and we decided how to handle it (basically, we figured out a likely consumption for the past 2 months, and we’ll be billed on that amount). No biggie.

For exercise, Michael is doing his Stairmaster routine: every morning, he jogs/walks up and down the stairs to his office. We have other, better (wider and less steep) staircases, but they’re all above other people’s houses and he doesn’t want to be completely annoying. Fair point. I’ve been doing mini-workouts (high-intensity interval training, found easily on the web), which are pretty friendly to housebound people. Other people get more creative: Michael was telling me about one guy who ran a marathon on his balcony! It took him 6 hours, because he couldn’t get his speed up between laps. One of Michael’s running mates did a “triathlon”, of which he made a video that he posted on their group: he “swam” across the living room floor (lying on a skateboard, doing the strokes), then “biked” on his child’s tricycle, then ran. So, yes, people are getting creative and pretty silly.

I’m making bread every day. For the first time, I’ve made sourdough from a starter I created. It’s something I’ve always been a little afraid of, but it actually was delicious tonight. It wasn’t very sour, though, so maybe I need to let it ferment further. A good thing, since there’s no room in the fridge. Tomorrow will be a standard bread, but I’ve made oatmeal/seedy rolls, “normal” bread, flat breads, tortillas, and sourdough. It’s been a lot of fun getting back into it. For years, I haven’t needed to (the bread you can buy here is plenty tasty), but now that we have to have a week’s worth, bread that goes stale in a day is not quite the thing.

We play games a lot. Long strategy games. I’m knitting up a storm, but I’m ready to start back on my next sewing project. I’m up to page 50,000 in my 61,000 page compendium (no, it’s not really that big: ebooks always have silly quantities of pages because of the typeface and how much they can fit on a page). And, yes, cooking always takes up much of my day, since I make essentially three meals a day for four people. I also spend a fair amount of time on phone calls and messaging, keeping up with friends and family, and lending an ear when needed.

Life is peaceful, because we are so very fortunate, but we are extremely mindful of the suffering that is going on “out there” and are trying to do our part to prevent the transmission of the virus. Todi now has five positive cases (one of whom was already under watch, since he’d been in contact with another known case). We remain extremely impressed with our local volunteer squad and the medical system as a whole. They are performing wonders.

Love,

Alexandra

Covid-19, a Numbers Game

In the last few days, Italy’s reported cases has continued to rise despite the quarantine. There have been plenty of people asking me about it, so I figured I’d explain what I understand about the situation.

To begin with, what is meant by “reported cases”? Sounds simple, right? You have someone who has tested positive for the virus, and that person is then included in the country’s tally. Here’s what has to happen for that:
1. There has to be a reason to test the person
2. There has to be a test available
3. The person has to test positive

Let’s talk about these elements, because they make a big difference from country to country. Having good data is arguably fundamental to understanding the spread and behavior of an illness, but when there are large number of reported cases (even if mild), that can lead to panic in the population and/or problems for politicians. Statistics and data are often muddied by those issues.

1. Reason to test the person. In Italy, they have been ramping up the numbers of tests, particularly in communities like Todi. As the mayor explained, as a case has tested positive, they have gone out of their way to identify ALL contacts within the past 5-7 days, and test those people as well. That way, any further positives can be isolated as quickly as possible (as well as being monitored). This helps in two ways: it prevents the spread of the infection and it helps keep the patient as healthy as possible to reduce the chances that he or she will end up on ventilator. So, in Italy, the barrier to being tested is quite low. The UK and the US are going a different direction, and are testing very few people. From what I understand in the news, NY and CA are now only testing people with symptoms who are in the hospital (where it could affect their treatment), healthcare workers, and the like. Otherwise, you’re told to stay at home if you start exhibiting symptoms.
2. Available tests. Early on, the US did not have a lot of tests available, and is still having problems meeting demand (part of the reason for the declared testing protocol). Here, the test availability (and use) has gone up recently. If you don’t have tests available, you cannot even test those who meet the baseline criteria for testing.
3. Testing positive. I have no idea what level of false positives or negatives the various tests have, but I felt the need to put this in for completeness.

Common sense tells us that the more people you test, the more likely you are to find people with the virus. Since it is an illness that can have very few symptoms on a number of patients, testing people who aren’t feeling ill will still result in a certain number of cases. If you don’t test people unless they’re complaining of symptoms, you will of course miss those cases. The higher your threshold for testing, the more cases you’ll miss. Since Italy has recently ramped up its testing, it looks like the number of cases is increasing dramatically. This does not necessarily mean that the illness is now more prevalent than it was yesterday (although it could mean that). What it does mean, though, is that the people who have the illness are identified and the problem is one that can be better contained.

Countries that reduce the number of tests performed will appear to be doing a great job containing the virus, but all it means is that fewer ill people are being recognized and treated and/or prevented from making others ill. In the context of a non-quarantined society, this is important: consider someone who is still able to go to the grocery store, lives in shared housing (roommates or family members). That person comes down with covid-19, and maybe stays in bed. In the meantime, the housemates continue to go out an about with possibly contaminated clothing, and possibly ill themselves.

In a quarantined society, arguably greater testing confers little additional benefit, but that’s in the case of 100% quarantine. Here in Italy, we’re allowed to shop and take care of necessities. However, once a household has an incidence of covid-19, they are on 100% quarantine and food and supplies are brought to them. This allows a halfway (cheaper) quarantine, since you are actually allowed to leave your house for limited purposes.

Does this cost money? Absolutely. However, treating very ill people also costs a significant amount, and the goal here is to minimize as much as possible human suffering and the concomitant costs of the contagion. Cost of testing is certainly a downside to having an extensive testing regimen. Who can say accurately at this point how the cost of testing balances out with reduced mortality overall?

Bottom line is: the numbers are important. Understanding how to compare and evaluate these numbers across the world and over time even in the same country is critical. Headlines are there to give readers an idea what is happening in broad terms, but unless an article addresses how the tests are being performed and what changes might have occurred to the testing protocol, don’t put too much faith in the conclusions that the author (or you!) might draw from these numbers.

A great example is China’s history. If you look at their graphs, at some point in February, they changed the diagnosis or testing criteria to be a lot looser. Their cases (surprise surprise) appeared to grow dramatically. They changed those criteria back to what they had been, and suddenly the curve became consistent and predictable.

(Yes, I might be following the statistics a little too closely)

Love,

Alexandra

Covid 19, Today’s Update

We are so fortunate. We have a house we adore in which to “camp out”, so there’s not a lot of room for complaint.

Our spirits remain high in general, and we feel so fortunate in our community. Obviously, we have a very small sample size, but it appears that we are not alone: Conte’s approval rating (he’s the Italian leader) is at 72%! That is HUGE given that the Italian political scene is very much a plurality of parties. There aren’t just two or three, but rather a ridiculous number. In order to achieve an approval rating that high, you’ve got to be doing something right.

The local news organs report the scheduled flash-mob activities that are playing out throughout the country to allow anyone and everyone to participate. So far, we’ve pretty much been slackers. But today is the feast of Saint Joseph (San Giuseppe), and at 9.15 tonight there’s a flash-mob prayer (never would have thought there would be such a thing, but I guess it’s a sign of the times?). We’ll probably do that.

What has us most concerned, to be honest, is our children: one daughter reports severe shortages in her local shops in London. The last few days have been quite hard, and up until yesterday or a few days ago the UK government had placed its collective fingers in its ears and was singing “lalala.” I try to keep things non-political, but this is where politics and living conditions intersect. Our other daughter in Scotland was released from university classes significantly earlier (they just called it quits in London a few days ago). Our daughter in the US was called into work yesterday...as late as last week, she was expected to continue to do her entire job (she works with children in a school setting). It’s clear that her wedding in May will not be as we had all envisioned even a few months ago.

Anyway, apart from that generalized feeling of helplessness, we are all doing just fine. I have enough projects to last me for many, many more months...so no worries of boredom over here! The boys end up playing one or two long strategy games per day, and they are having some semblance of distance learning. Michael, of course, is continuing to work frenetically; when does he not?

Love,

Alexandra

Quarantine News

Well, we’re a week into our quarantine. As the mayor has explained, we should expect to start seeing the number of fresh cases reducing quite a bit given the incubation period of 5-8 days. Keeping fingers crossed!

There has been one confirmed case of coronavirus in Todi as of yesterday. The person is in quarantine (as are we all!) and doing fine so far. They have sanitized the streets; I’m not sure what basis that has in science, but they were doing it in China, as well...so I guess the local departments are trying to be as conservative as possible!

As I mentioned, the mayor has been posting daily videos to give us the local updates. As of Sunday, he encouraged people to go out only in case of “necessity,” but hadn’t yet stipulated concretely how often that would be considered reasonable. As a result, I messaged City Hall Sunday night at about 9 p.m. and asked whether once a week was about right, or if twice a week was fine, etc.

Within 5 minutes, he’d responded. They would prefer we limit shopping excursions to once a week. He also included it in his next video so that everyone would have the explicit information.

When it comes to us, we’re doing fine. Jeremy’s school has been having fairly regular skype lessons, and James’s is just getting started. I have some major projects I’m working on...so the undisturbed time isn’t hard on me particularly. I do, though, absolutely look forward to getting out and seeing people again! That part is sad, but we have to focus on the goal here, which is to hang tight and keep our fellow townies safe.

Shopping is no problem, other than the quantity we have to schlep home. Michael’s the one who has been taking care of this, since I have had lung issues and am the one who can least afford to contract the virus. Plus, he is really scrupulous with his handwashing, so there’s that.

Today, he brought in 5 large bags of items. It was a real challenge thinking about a week’s worth of food! We’re trying to mix sort of special stuff to treat the boys and normal stuff to maintain the budget and a sense of normalcy. The problem is, if we miss something, we just have to do without until the next shop.

Last week’s drama was capers. Sounds trivial, but I use them a lot. This was a sad lack for us when it came to our salmon pasta. I’ll keep you posted on what we forgot this week, but I can already say we forgot peanuts (which I was going to use in homemade samosas...snap!).

Another thing that’s happening that’s lovely is that the local greengrocer is actively advertising his delivery service. He’s always taken things to some of the elderly on his little blue scooter, but in view of the fact that people are trying not to go out, it makes sense that he brings stuff to us! He sells not only fruit and veg but also pasta, grains, wine, some paper goods/cleaning supplies, eggs, and flour. They do not have fresh milk, cheese, meats, sugar, and other sundries.

The cheese shop located in the valley is now also offering delivery service. I might easily take them up on it towards the end of the week. Right now, our fridge is FULL! I’m actually anxious that we’ll have something go bad, so I’m trying to be really careful with everything and plan every meal.

I’ve let Antonella know that we’ll be coming for our fresh milk on Tuesday, so that she can plan her deliveries accordingly. Since she generally only gets 5 litres a day in any case, our demand of 6 litres more than cleans her out for that particular day...and we don’t want to be “those” people.

I guess that’s it! Our fishmonger was in town today, and supplied us with some of the best mussels I’ve ever had. They were truly spectacular. I’ve also put some perch in the freezer for Friday.

Love,

Alexandra

Shopping While Under Quarantine

Ashley's local shop in London,
a few days ago

A local store in Aberdeen

We have been flabbergasted to see the accounts of panic buying, both in the US and the UK. Ashley told us that her store shelves have been devoid of toilet paper for quite a while. Florence also reported empty shelves (although as of today, that situation was improved). We have experienced none of that.

Currently, we are shopping twice a week, although I'm pretty sure we'll go down to one time a week. That might seem rather a lot, but bear in mind our food storage capacity. Our "large" fridge holds a little more than a large dorm fridge, if that. Our freezer space is about the size of a small dorm cube. Keeping fresh food, well, fresh can be a bit of a challenge in the context of four adults (2 adolescent males, no less) for a long period of time.

Ashley's local

That said, we are focusing on vegetables that do well out of the fridge, or eating the more perishable items first. We *could* move the limoncello out of the freezer to make more room if necessary. I'm thinking about starting a new batch of sauerkraut, too...which, of course, will be done only after the quarantine is over (if we're lucky). Fennel is a great choice, carrots and celery do okay. If the peppers are intact, they tolerate multiple days out of the fridge. Apples and oranges are of course very shelf-stable.

Our local store

The local "mega" stores that also hold consumer goods (think a miniature super-Target) have actually blocked off their aisles that are not strictly food-related items. They want to discourage lingering, and remind everyone that the only reason to be out is strict necessity for food. There is to be no browsing of consumer items.

Shelves still abounding in good things!

As a side note, Umberto let me know a few days ago that they're going to stop work for the time being in order to respect the quarantine, given that the house is weather tight at this juncture. Our mayor has done daily update videos (posted on Facebook) that are very encouraging and reassuring. So far, no cases in Todi. They expect the number of cases to keep growing over the next four days, and then they should decrease again.

Love,

Alexandra

NO SHOPPING ALLOWED! Food only!

Roof progress

Remo working on removing the
old chimney cap

Old roof tiles are kept and reused

Ironically, since we are in the midst of a quarantine, we have builders at the house. They had ripped off the roof prior to the ultimate phase of the isolation request, and so they pretty much have to continue until we're weatherproofed. That said, they're outside at plenty of distance from each other (there are only two of them) and we are of course limiting our contact, as well.

That said, things are looking good!

 The steps are as follow:

1. Remove old roof tiles, taking care not to break them (replacements that are beautifully aged are costly)

Not a bad view...

2. Take down gutter supports and gutters

This is the way down from the work site

3. Build up a concrete slab around the perimeter (on top of the exterior walls, essentially)
4. Put up new gutter supports. Put down rigid fiberglass/foam insulation. This is a real jigsaw puzzle, because they have to pay a fortune for discards, so they want to limit their waste as much as possible.
5. Use a handheld gas torch/burner to melt down a bitumen membrane to cover and seal in the insulation.
6. (I'm guessing here, but will correct as necessary) Replace the tiles and cement the lower ones into place.

Since the chimney stacks were in poor condition and we were having smoke intrusion through the exhaust stacks from the bathrooms, we also made modifications to the chimney stacks while we were at it.

New gutter supports. You can see the
concrete edging here, as well.

Umberto while working
on the chimney cap rebuild...
on the phone!

These are the copper gutter supports
called "cicogne" in dialect ("storks")

Rebuilt chimney cap!

Bogdan working with the flame thrower. It sounds like we
have hot air balloons overhead!

The insulation in storage in Umberto's garage

Patrik laying insulation (Patrik is Umberto's son)

Getting there!

This is the bathroom
vent stack, made of terra cotta,
which I find adorable.
Michael, meanwhile, frets about
how waterproof it isn't

Love,

Alexandra

Coronavirus and Quarantines

We're in day 2 of our quarantine, and things are pretty quiet. I called Antonella this morning to reserve our milk, which is not uncommon for me if I'll be late out to the shops. However, she had no problem putting aside what we needed. The quarantine is worded in such a way that restaurants and bars can stay open until 6 p.m., but at the same time all the local mayors are putting out videos requesting their citizens to stay at home. We're asked to do our shopping only once or twice a week (as compared to most people's daily or twice-daily shop) and to have only one person per household emerge to do these errands.

The piazza is eerily empty

As far as we know, there are still no cases in Todi, although there are currently around 40 cases in Umbria. There is a dedicated hotline, and if you are quarantined in your home, you can call for delivery of food and basic supplies to remove your need to go out.

Usually the tables are crammed next to each other
and all the seats are full. Per the legislated restrictions,
they had to space the tables at 2 m. Not that there's anyone out...

Our local hospital in Pantalla has been converted to be a coronavirus medical center.

Businesses such as Vodafone, Amazon, and other telecom-type providers have stepped in, offering unlimited data or free movie streaming during the time of quarantine to help with the boredom. All together, there's a sense of unity in our isolation, if that makes sense; isolated, in fact, we are not: with all the media and messaging services, we have constant check-ins both with locals and abroad.

Stay safe, and wash your hands,

Alexandra

More losses

Dear ones,

We have had sad news about two local residents with whom we had relatively close ties. As Michael and I were out and about yesterday, we saw the death notice for Nonno Enrico. Nonno Enrico is the lovely fellow from whom I always bought my olive oil. He is the one who let me have a wonderful day out, harvesting olives and taking them to the press. He was always so warm and welcoming. At the age of 85, though, it was time.

And then, we heard a rumor on the way back up that there had been a death in centro. We were having a coffee when we heard that it was Paola Mancini, our beloved former neighbor Albina's daughter. Paola had a large storefront right as you arrive into town, so apart from the personal loss, it will be a major commercial loss to the town. We haven't yet seen the funeral notice, but we imagine it will be tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday.

Love,

Alexandra

Starting Up Again!

Since we have just adored doing the construction, it was obviously time to do more! Just kidding. But we had a problem that the lintel over the master bedroom was degraded (it's pietra serena, which is essentially sandstone...not a great building material for exteriors) and funneling water into the master bedroom. We had known this from early on, and had planned to do two phases in the construction in order to spread things out a little bit.

In typical give-a-mouse-a-cookie style,

If you want to repair the lintel, you'll need scaffolding.

If you're putting up scaffolding, chance are you'll want to repoint the mortar joints in the entire facade

AND

since you already have the scaffolding, you'll want to extend it a bit higher so you can retile the roof.

If you're retiling the roof, you'll want to put in insulation.

The facade we're talking about is on an alley, which meant that we have to have "flying" scaffolding. This is the most fun ever! We had to close the road for two days (only during work hours, though, so anything blocking the alley had to be moved outside of those hours), and they had the most wonderful large-scale erector-set!

To install the scaffolding, they had to erect temporary freestanding scaffolding from which they could drill into our walls and install anchors. The anchors were then used to attache the floating scaffolds from which they will do the work when they (finally!) get started. The scaffolding alone has taken three days so far, two of which have involved a complete road (alley) closure.

Warnings in Piazza Jacopone that the alley would be closed

First morning, from my bedroom window

Temporary freestanding scaffolding
 from which to anchor the floating scaffolding

From the downhill side of the alley

Pieces and parts!

Second layer of the temporary scaffolding

Second morning, from our bedroom

Getting higher!

Now we're disconnected!

Starving Artists

A local artist had a small show back in the spring, and I just loved his work. He and I talked about his coming to the house when it was finished so that we could find one or two of his pieces to work in a few rooms. He was very personable, and I was later pleasantly surprised to discover he was the artist behind a work I admired hanging in Dige's (the local pizzeria). At least my taste is consistent?

After his having come to take a look at the rooms we had and the wall spaces, he suggested we make a trip to his studio. That way, we could narrow our choices down, and he would then bring the reduced number for us to see in the proposed locations. Field trip? We're usually up for that.

Jim, Sharon, Michael, and I piled into the car to go off to San Terenziano. He had far too many that we liked, but fortunately there were some we didn't (allowing us to whittle down the choices a bit).

A few days later, he was kind enough to bring us 12 paintings to take a look at, and from which to start making difficult decisions. He didn't actually have one for the primary space we're looking to fill, but we talked about the possibility of a custom on-approval type of deal.

This is Deruta, and the colors are perfect in the room

Yes, within a week, he'd already done the painting. To be honest, I would have preferred that the sky be a blue just for balance within the space. We still haven't decided which we'll purchase, but that's partly because it's so hard to say no to several of them...

Love,

Alexandra

p.s. I later realized that he's also our local fresh cheese delivery man, whose driving I had admired on numerous occasions (and on which I'd complimented him!). The way he negotiates his truck around other cars and buses, through tight spaces, and all with a smile is just amazing.

Coronavirus in Italy

I can't believe it's already March, and I skipped an entire month of blogging. Whoops! We've all been busy.

The big news here right now is the coronavirus...as it is big news worldwide. We've been very impressed with the responsiveness and reaction by the government here, although we don't completely agree with all the measures they've taken.

The current situation is that the northern part of Italy is in lockdown quarantine. That means no moving between towns, no congregations of any type (including weddings and funerals) and highly restricted movement even in bars and other establishments of that kind. Those that are open are not allowed to serve you at the bar (the common way of getting your cup o' joe is to stand at the bar, wait for its production, and then down it and leave) but rather, you have to have table service...and the tables must be spaced quite far apart.

In our region, it has not come to that. Yet. Our current situation is that the schools have been closed nationwide until April 3 (this strikes us as a bit silly given that many kids are going out and about and therefore congregating; that said, it prevents 22 bodies breathing in enclosed classes all day long, so there's that). Masses are still being held, although we are not to shake hands in a sign of peace, and Communion is passed out strictly in the hand rather than being delivered to the mouth (the classic way of receiving it, it is usually seen about 50% of the time here). Gatherings have not yet been banned (in fact, there are signs up for an event next week in the theatre, and we have cinema ads for the films that will be going on this week).

However. There are definitely signs that are out of the normal. These would include a completely empty piazza, even during the traditional morning coffee rush. There is a sign on the tabacconist's basically saying that per decree whatever, you can't congregate in the shop and must maintain a meter's distance between customers. There are very, very few tourists despite lovely weather.

Sign on the tobacconist's door,
describing the rules in place

That said, we have been highly impressed with the media's take. While it's definitely being taken seriously, there is a real attempt at a positive spin. Rather than "x ill, y deaths," the news outlets are declaring, "w tests given, x people already cured, y currently ill, z deaths" (pointing out the positive). We have seen no panic buying, although we have augmented our pantry stores slightly. Our goal in doing that is, if we were to show any symptoms of respiratory tract problems, we would self-quarantine voluntarily. Our town has a large population of elderly people who are frequently out and about, and we would hate to be responsible for passing on the virus to them.

Another measure they've taken is to put up posters in various obvious locations (like the doctor's office) declaring that IF you exhibit these symptoms, you are not to go to the doctor's office, the emergency room, or anywhere else. Rather, you are to call your doctor, who will triage and order a coronavirus test if it's appropriate.

When I went to the dentist's, they immediately squirted my hands with disinfectant, definitely not something they usually do.

Again, though, there is a huge emphasis on keeping things as normal as possible. The reality is that the best thing you can do is keep your hands clean. In the poster below (displayed at the local bars), it says roughly: "Umbria isn't closed! Shops, tourist sites, and professional services remain open...don't close yourself down! You can continue to have breakfast at the bar, buy your newspaper at the stand, shop in your favorite stores, buy shoes and clothes in the newest styles, meet up with friends for aperitifs, eat in your favorite restaurants, plan the vacation of our dreams at your travel agent's office, and stay in hotels. Continue to live your life as usual, purchase and plan as you normally do, and trust your local merchants."

That said, we suspect it's only a matter of time before we see greater quarantining here. Umbria already has had a few diagnosed cases. We, honestly, are minimizing our time out as much to protect others as ourselves. We are absolutely washing our hands religiously as soon as we get in and multiple times throughout the day. I'm very aware of using my cuffs or sleeves to scratch my face rather than my hands.

So far, so good, though...thank goodness.

Love,

Alexandra

P.S. As of tonight, it was announced that all Masses are suspended here until April 3, including funerals and weddings.

P.P.S. It is now March 9, and we are on essentially a town quarantine. Bars and restaurants are open from 6-18:00 (no dinners out), but must have seating that allows a distance of 1 m between tables. We are not allowed to move between towns, and must stay in our own village/town unless we have a legitimate reason (basically, work if you’re a delivery person or courier, or medical appointments).