American couple stuck in Italy during coronavirus lockdown
Eszter Vajda, along with her boyfriend, are self-isolating while in Sicily, Italy.
Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
Trapped in Italy due to the country's coronavirus shutdown, Massachusetts native Eszter Vajda on Thursday described the extreme quarantine conditions to stop the spread of the virus there.
“We received the mandate on March 8th for a partial shutdown – the cafes, restaurants closing at six – and then two days later came that entire shut down where schools, all bars, all restaurants, all public gatherings — no masses, no funerals, no weddings,” Vajda told “Outnumbered Overtime.”
Quarantined in Sicily with her boyfriend, Vajda said that only supermarkets and pharmacies are allowed to open. During the shutdown, Vajda described the process required to leave your home.
“You can have a piece of paper where you fill out your name, passport information, or whether you have the virus or not and what the purpose of your [exit] is.”
WORSE THAN WAR: HOW CORONAVIRUS IN ITALY PROLIFERATED TO A BREAKING POINT
Once the beacon of European fun, frivolity, fashion, food, and passion, Italy has fast fallen into the shadows of a ghost nation, debauched by the coronavirus, a cracking medical infrastructure and rising death toll.
Outside of China, the illustrious nation of 60.5 million has become the focal point of the outbreak, with the second-highest number of infections. As of Thursday afternoon, over 41,000 people were documented to have contracted the disease and more than 3,400 people have already died. Only on Thursday the virus claimed the lives of over 427 people.
A new report published on the Open Science Framework by researchers at the University of Oxford over the weekend affirmed that Italy bestows one of the oldest populations globally – 23.3 percent of citizens are over the age of 65 – and many households are multigenerational, either still living under the same roof or close by with frequent large family interactions.
And even though the government-mandated shutdown across the country has been enforced through to April 2, the vast majority of Italians are preparing for it stretch out significantly longer.
Yet for many trapped inside the painfully somber nation, it has come down to mourning and waiting game, steeped in tragedy and the unknown. In some of the hardest-hit areas, local cemetery churches have been hurriedly converted into makeshift morgues, and the days ahead are only set to become darker.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Vajda said that she has stocked up on groceries to prevent having to go back to the supermarket, considering the government's mandate to stay indoors
“Supermarkets are really keeping into that minimum number of people inside and staying away from people.”
Vajda urged Americans to “stay inside” because the spread of the virus is a serious matter.
Fox News' Hollie McKay contributed to this report.