Covid, l'impressionante notte di Milano. "Mai vista una situazione così grave"

Covid, the shocking night in Milan. "I've never seen such a serious situation." Emergency rooms and hospitals overrun, ambulances waiting in line everywhere. NEWS (Milan). "I'm rarely shocked, but walking in there (the Emergency Room), you can't help but be shocked. I've never seen a situation like this. Never!" These are the words of one of the many 118 emergency responders outside hospitals in Milan and the surrounding province on a night of coronavirus warfare. The city is deserted, and ambulances remain on the streets, transporting people with Covid symptoms, hoping to find an available hospital. "More and more often these days, I leave the station and don't return for my entire shift," says one of them. "We're left waiting for up to five or six hours; some colleagues have even been left here in the parking lot with a patient on board from 11:30 PM to 10:00 AM." The Soreu operations room at Niguarda Hospital reflects the dire situation: "We've gone from receiving around a thousand calls to over two thousand," says Alessandra Sforza, head of the operation. "We're seeing the escalation in cases firsthand, and this is alarming." Operators are fielding all kinds of calls, trying to manage an emergency and panic-stricken situation. "We can't send an ambulance just to check on you, ma'am; we've blocked them all," responds a switchboard operator, trying to explain the situation. "We have no more space here in Milan; you could end up in Treviglio, Cremona, or even Bergamo. I know you're fifty and scared," another operator reassures, "but you're not the only one forced to fight this virus alone at home." (Maviglia/Perillo)