Italians have issued a warning to Americans not taking the potentially deadly coronavirus seriously.
In a chilling new compilation clip, which has received over 3.7 million YouTube views, Italians in quarantine share messages talking to their past selves about the precautions they should have taken over a week ago to stop the spread of CORVID-19.
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They are warning America that a “huge mess is about to happen” as more and more states roll out restrictions, such as closing schools, bars, restaurants, and other non-essential businesses, amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
The video was created by Milano-based creative collective called A THING BY, and co-founder Olmo Parenti admits to Yahoo Lifestyle that their city did not initially take seriously the impact of the disease. They have now made it their mission to better inform the public to prevent other nations from making the same mistake.
“When we were first informed by Italian media about the coronavirus reaching Italy my friend group and I (along with the majority of the country) really underestimated the issue; we were almost mocking the few people who believed the issue was serious from the get-go,” Parenti says. “But once we saw what was happening in Italy’s hospitals and we found ourselves stuck at home we decided we had to redeem ourselves in some way.”
Italy is now the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 30,000 cases and 2,158 dead, including 350 in a single day, government officials announced.
“We all realized how much our viewpoint had changed so quickly,” Parenti says, which inspired A THING BY’s latest video.
“We weren’t sure how people would react to our request; filming yourself talking in first person to yourself from 10 days ago directly into a camera isn’t the most comfortable thing to do (I know cause I tried). So we first asked our family and friends to do some tests and then — once we saw their videos — we also asked people on social media from all around Italy to send us their videos,” he explains. “The response was very surprising.”
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“A huge mess is about to happen,” one woman says in the viral video, Today.com reports.
“The worst-case scenario? That’s exactly what will happen,” another woman adds.
“Hospitals are literally blowing up,” one man notes. “Lots of infections, even among young people.”
“We underestimated this,” one person admits. “You don’t have to do the same.”