COVID-19 Logbook: phase 2
“Football has stopped, from sixty million coaches we’ve turned into sixty million Council Presidents”. My partner complains while she leaves one of the thousand chats she visits.. I smile, thinking about how true those words are, we are good, very good in judging other people’s work.
On phase 2 I did not want to write, I am lucky enough not to have to choose between health and wage, between who has to work or who still has to wait, between having to make a contribution to survive and, at the same time, fighting for funds that are not there and never were. Without thinking about the enormous difficulties that some companies are experiencing, forced to reinvent themselves in technologies and working methods after decades of inaction and established practices. Yes, I am lucky. In a difficult moment like this I am able to remain silent and not have to decide.
What worries me is the perception that the world has not yet understood that the exit of Phase 1 will not be like the end of World War II, with the crowds in the streets, kisses, hugs and big parties. It will most likely be a dance between phase 2, phase 1, phase 3, phase 1, phase …and so on. There may be isolated focuses in certain areas, which will cause temporary lockdowns. It will be a slow and long journey waiting for a cure or a vaccine.
A lot of people will have to understand that the exit from phase 1, even when it comes to work, will not be a normal restart from where we stopped, but it will be something completely different. There will no longer be those few aids and social safety net that we had in Phase 1. We will have to do it on our own, dealing with economic and logistical problems for which we are not prepared. It will not be easy but we will have to get used to it.
Then I think about what I will have to do, I know that I will have to reinvent myself without drastic solutions (I will not produce masks), I will have to prepare for an exceptional transitional phase, review the work of our team and find the best solutions to continue operating with the maximum efficiency.
We are Italians, we have always shown great creativity, more than ever this will be the solution to get out of the crisis.
In the meantime the first days of phase 2 are passing, the news speaks of responsible Italians: no gathering, no assault on trains. I look ahead, with optimism.
Fabio Farneti
Photo by