Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, his then Minister of Health and other politicians have to answer to the judiciary: if they had isolated the city of Bergamo, in northern Italy, in March 2020, thousands less would have died of Covid.
Bergamo was once an insider tip for anyone traveling to Italy. Herman Hesse loved the palaces and squares in “Bergamo Alta”. Today the northern Italian city is world famous, but not for its beauty: it is a symbol of the immeasurable suffering that the corona pandemic has caused. In the spring of 2020, military vehicles transported the bodies of Covid victims to crematoria in Bergamo. There were too many dead to bury. Coffins were lined up in huge halls, and new ones were constantly being added. Many dead had no names.
“We Die Like Dogs”
In March 2020 alone, 5,100 people died in Bergamo and the province, the average monthly death rate was 800 deaths. Overworked doctors and nurses worked day and night at the hospital, but without triage it was not possible. In the chaos of hospitals, relatives lost contact with sick relatives and often searched desperately for weeks for dead bodies. “Here we die like a pig, like a dog”, was the furious video call asking for help from a resident at the time.