Italy's call for urgent help was ignored as coronavirus swept through Europe

Some of the quotes here kind of cause cognitive dissonance with those who actually saw the crisis unfold from the ground, like myself.

1. The Italian government and many experts downplayed the issue at first: on January 31st, Giuseppe Conte declared "we're fully prepared", but it wasn't so: he was far more worried about his unstable coalition.

2. The ban on China flights was so only for direct flights: passengers coming from China through other Schengen areas were not screened at all.

3. Testing policy was inconsistent: at first, test everyone, then only those with symptoms, and it took months to increase testing capacity (also privately-owned labs were forbidden from performing tests)

4. Forbidding autopsies and thus delaying findings that were found to be useful later on (when first thrombosis was found in dead patients' lungs and use of heparin suggested, some experts called the finding "colossal idiocy")

5. Procurement of PPE and ventilators was done in the most inefficient, over-bureaucratic way possible. Disclaimer: it would've been objectively difficult given the shortages, but one could've done better. The appointed person to handle the job went through all the complex bureaucratic steps to do the calls to procure tests and masks, failing to get them in time. Then, when some companies converted themselves to producing masks, the price was arbitrarily fixed at lower-than-cost (and subsequently raised for obvious reasons). The first shipments of masks to some of the hardest-hit regions weren't even close to being PPE (they looked like dust towels). The way the government also paid, 30 days after invoice, made it slower than others who were willing to pay cash immediately. In short, a lot of initiatives were delayed for, to be frank, fear of being then accused of "corruption".

6. The coordination of the emergency response teams was, for a good while, largely inefficient. Some donated masks took a while to go to the hospitals due to bureaucratic reasons.

7. Lockdown was unnecessarily harsh, shutting down stuff that could've been kept running (some factories), and totally blanket, locking both regions with lots of positive cases and regions without significant signs of community spread

8. Inconsistent mask policy (granted, there aren't clear cut data even now)

9. At first reopening, a "secret" (and not signed by anyone) report full of epidemiological errors was leaked, warning of "150,000 Italians needing ICU care" by June if activity would resume (it was then torn apart by other experts)

10. There wasn't even a clear plan of reopening. No one even mentioned it, until a politician from the majority raised the issue and then the debate started.

11. Little to no financial aid to the sectors impacted by the lockdown, and extreme delays in providing it. OTOH, massive promises were and are still being made with plenty of numbers.