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Will Coronavirus Change Europe Permanently?

Jamie Dettmer

   The bells are tolling in the villages of the north Italian region of
   Lombardy, registering yet another coronavirus death.

   North Italy has suffered epidemics before, albeit much more deadly
   contagions in the 17th and 18th centuries, which left more than 300,000
   dead. But Italians never thought they would encounter again a contagion
   powerful enough to test their country to its limits.

   Opinion polls suggest that more than 60% of Italians approve of the
   government lockdown. But cooped up in their homes for a second week,
   Italians are wondering how many more times the bells will toll sounare
   a morto (song of death). And how long the country will remain at a
   standstill because of a virus that first appeared nearly 9,000
   kilometers away in a Chinese city most had never heard of.

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