Two years ago Francesco Passerini was the first mayor to be confined, with the neighboring municipalities, in a red health zone . Codogno , 2 years ago, became the symbolic city of a drama with the certification of the first Italian case of Covid and the first in Europe. What do you remember of February 21, 2020
“Between 20 and 21 February 2020 at 00.10 I received a phone call from the prefect announcing the discovery of the first Covid case. Checks began immediately with the two neighboring municipalities of Castiglione and Casalpusterlengo, where patient 1, Mattia Maestri, had had the greatest contacts. The situation became dramatic during the night: there was not only the case of Mattia in the hospital, but 300 emergency calls in the queue. At 7.30 I called my council and at 8 the order of total closure was signed. Our resistance had begun ”. What happened in the following days
“Then I remember the meetings with the crisis unit in the Region, with the Istituto Superiore di Sanita, with the minister Speranza, with the prefect Cardona. On February 22, the list of ten municipalities to be confined was ready and the next day the Council of Ministers signed the first red zone with dispatch of the army. We were isolated from the world and it was a shock for all of us, we had to lock ourselves in the house, looking back on it I still get goosebumps, I still feel the shivers on my back but in hindsight it was the right decision. “. What was the most dramatic moment“The most dramatic moment was the decision to transform the church into a morgue. It was mid-March 2020 and we no longer knew where to put our coffins. I thought I could not make it. With 54 deaths in just one day I thought: there was a mistake. But it was all true. ” Today in Codogno there is also a Memorial for the victims of Covid
“Inaugurated a year ago, and a memory park dedicated not only to the Codognese victims of Covid but to all those who have suffered the effects of the pandemic and the health professionals who have helped us to get out of the drama “. From greasers to the Codogno model
“At the beginning and in the following months we were seen as infectors, even rejected by hospitality structures despite the fact that the world was in full pandemic by now, I remember the suffering. Then something changed. In these two years we have received a wave of important support from all over Italy and beyond. We have become the Codogno model thanks to the perfect integration between civil protection and civil voluntary work and also that human cordon to protect fragile people. And the tenacity shown by our citizens who, with a very high civic sense, have adapted to a war scenario life that no one would ever have thought they would have to face “. Today is the day of remembrance, which emotions prevail
“The emotions are many, we want to remember the victims, those who are no longer with us and thank those who were close to us in the hardest moments such as health workers, volunteers and law enforcement. Let’s hope this is the last celebration in a time of a pandemic. Compared to pain, however, today the hope given by the vaccination campaign prevails. Today he remembers, but with the desire to leave again and with the spirit of community that has guided us over the years “. What are the initiatives planned for this day
“This morning there was a visit to the Memorial and the cemetery where there is also the plaque donated by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella and dedicated to the victims of Covid. We laid the wreaths and celebrated a mass in suffrage for the victims. In the afternoon, the president of the Lombardy Region Attilio Fontana, in collaboration with Asst-Lodi and the Municipality of Codogno, organized a celebration at 5.00 pm at the former Soave Hospital in Codogno. There will be the mayors of the municipalities of the first red zone of Italy, the military and religious institutions and the doctors from Lodi who fought on the front line against the virus “.
