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Europe's Nursing Homes Are Likely Coronavirus Hotspots, Officials Fear

Jamie Dettmer

   The small Italian village of Celleno thought it had escaped the
   coronavirus -- nearly a month into Italy's national lockdown. No
   confirmed cases of the potentially deadly virus had been recorded. The
   more than one thousand residents of the village on the outskirts of
   Rome breathed a collective sigh of relief.

   But in the past week all that has changed.

   First there were seven cases -- stemming from a dinner friends had on
   the eve of the lockdown announced last month by Italian Prime Minister
   Giuseppe Conte. And then came a big shock last week when a nursing home
   in the village for the elderly, Villa Noemi, recorded more than 30
   cases among the frail residents.

   The virus has now spread.

   One of the nursing-home residents died midweek from coronavirus,
   shocking the closely-knit village. Celleno and its modest little farms
   dotted around the rugged northern Lazio hills has now been sealed off
   by alarmed regional authorities with police checkpoints mounted on the
   four roads leading in and out of the village to prevent anyone leaving
   or entering, except for emergency workers.

   "The situation is quite tough," says Moira Emidi, a 36-year-old
   restaurant worker.

   Celleno's mayor, Marco Bianchi, says the whole crisis feels "surreal"
   and that village is fearful.

   The cases at the nursing home have "shaken the entire community." And
   he added: "Currently, 35 of the residents are positive for the virus;
   another four are negative and they have been transferred to a nearby
   farmhouse where they are being looked after." He says he finds comfort
   from how Celleno is pulling together, though, saying the village "has
   never been so united." He adds: "The beautiful solidarity of many, many
   citizens comes as a great relief."

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