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Dottoré!

Whose Healthcare Dictatorship? A Burst Of COVID Madness In Naples

A medical worker pushing an old person in a wheelchair

A mobile vaccination center in Naples

Mariateresa Fichele

An emergency room in downtown Naples.

The door is closed, no one lets us in because the security guards are all busy dealing with a man who had slapped one of them.

We finally get in and notice a woman in slippers and a robe — and without a mask — screaming between coughing fits : "They’ll let me die because my husband fought with the guards! Help me!"


You ask a colleague for clarification, and are told that the woman had arrived at the ER with a cough.

To see the other faces

She was examined, and tested positive for COVID-19. The woman was not vaccinated, but all her vital signs were good, including oxygen saturation. Since there was no emergency, she was told to go back home and talk to her general practitioner.

Hence the aggression.

I keep replaying yesterday’s scene in my mind — all those other patients waiting near this maskless woman screaming and coughing all over the place while her husband attacked the guards.

I wish I could have captured the moment for all those who keep complaining about “a healthcare dictatorship,” to show them what that really looks like — and the faces of those forced to suffer under it every day.

_______________________

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Dottoré!

A Woman’s Work Is Never Done

... unless she's a famous influencer?

Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni wearing her viral Dior dress at the Sanremo Music Festival

Mariateresa Fichele

“In the morning I get up at 5:30 a.m. I clean the house, then I wake up the children at 7. I get them ready, make them breakfast, then at 7:30, we leave for school. At 8:30, I start work. I clean two offices, then at 11, I go to a lady's house to clean until 3.30 p.m.

At 4 p.m. I pick up the children. I take them home and help them with their homework. Three days a week, I take my youngest to a physiotherapist at 5.30 p.m. The other days, there’s my daughter's catechism classes and my other daughter’s gym lessons. By 7:30 p.m. it's dinner time, because at 8 p.m. I have to go clean offices when they close. Then by 10 p.m. I come back and put them to bed.

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We are grateful for reader support to continue our unique mission of delivering in English the best international journalism, regardless of language or geography. Click here to contribute whatever you can. Merci!
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