Surreality

As of this writing (Sunday March 1) Linda and I are now back in the United States. Our final few days in Venezia were truly surreal.

Coronavirus started appearing in Italy about a month ago, with 2 cases reported in Rome. Then about 3 weeks ago a couple cases were reported in the Lombardy region, in small towns not far from Milan. 2 weeks ago Carnival started in Venice, attracting thousands of tourists from around Italy and from all over the world. 10 days ago the virus cases in northern Italy were reported to have taken off, with 100+ cases of infection reported in those same small Lombardy towns, and one case reported in a small town about 40 km from Venice. Veneto region authorities at that time closed universities and schools for a week, closed museums and cancelled school trips, and cancelled the last 3 days of Carnival. About 5 days ago the reported cases in northern Italy started increasing by 25% just about each day. Between yesterday and today the reported cases increased by 50%, to over 1600.

In Venice itself there are no reported cases of the virus. After the Carnival crowds left, life returned to a customary slow Jan / Feb pace. Few people wander the streets. Universities, schools, museums are scheduled to reopen tomorrow, Monday March 2.

Wake Forest had been in touch with me about the situation. We had collectively agreed to lay low and shelter in place for a few days, until the uncertainty of the situation from two weeks ago was further clarified. Since local universities were cancelling classes, the local Italian faculty started delivering their instruction remotely. I continued to conduct my classes normally, since we are a completely self-contained living and campus facility. Early last week Wake issued a policy to prevent Casa Artom students from traveling across Europe this weekend. Everyone was required to stay in the house. We still went shopping down the Zattere at the Conad grocery store. But it’s easy to avoid crowds and any possible exposure.

The sun came out in springlike fashion this week – warm and beautiful. We ate lunches in the back patio, drank cold beer, enjoyed the mellow Italian days. The Grand Canal water was a spectacular shade of green/blue – green because it’s still cold but bluish because warmer weather is not far off.

In America only a small number of cases had been reported. And the news media had some other things to occupy their attention for all these days – the impeachment hearings, the Democratic caucuses and primaries, the Mike Bloomberg entry, a possible peace deal in Afghanistan with the Taliban. But all of this became olds, not news, so the media organizations started in on the virus. From afar with our daily streaming of NBC Nightly News, we watched the virus story rise from 4th item covered, to 3rd, then 2nd, then finally it became the main deal taking up half the show. We also read opinions (and not on Fox !) that news orgs believed Trump might be vulnerable for slow response to the virus, another reason supposedly for its suddenly much-increased visibility.

With increased US media attention, for the first time parents of Casa Artom students became increasingly vocal about what was going on, what might be going on. We watched the volume level increase in parallel to the rise of the story in the media to top story. Even though US infections had not changed, and there were still zero cases in Venice. Parents started calling Wake Forest senior administration daily, and writing long letters. Phrases like “in locus parentis” and questions like “if it was your son there, what would you do” mounted unbearable pressure on senior administration. NYU, Syracuse, BU and other programs in Florence were cancelled, which ramped up the pressure enormously (very different circumstances since those programs all house students in apartments around the city and require them to use public transport to get to classes).

Back in Venice I was receiving daily calls and emails, and providing daily updates in status. Nothing had really changed, although the students had a little cabin fever after being inside for a few days straight. We arranged for a special bike excursion on the Lido, picnic lunch away from crowds, a catered dinner, and other plans in the works. A couple remained semi-anxious, but nearly all were perfectly content to ride it out for a few more days until we knew more.

Thursday night the provost’s office held a conference call with about 7 people including me. The decision was made to terminate the Venice program, bring everyone home right away, and continue classes back in North Carolina in March. I prevailed on the group to delay the announcement until I could hold a house meeting on Friday morning. So at 10 am Friday (just 2 days ago !), the decision was announced to students sitting in our beautiful living room overlooking the Grand Canal, and simultaneously emailed to parents around the U.S. Students started rearranging all their flights, working out housing and meal plans for when they return, and asking a million more questions.

Late Friday a group of parents started calling the provost office with a waiver agreement in hand, signed by a number of the students in the house. About half wanted to stay, and wanted to do so while others could leave. They wanted us to conduct two Venice programs – one there and one back in NC. One of the students came to me and asked me to endorse the waiver agreement and convince other non-signing students to join. This I did not do, refusing to take sides with one group over another.

Saturday night we all enjoyed a delicious dinner catered by water taxi to the house – fresh seafood, patatine (potatoes), artichoke casserole, tiramisu dessert, nice Prosecco, and dessert wine. One student from Raleigh, Ben, provided a solo on the cello as a prelude to the meal. Toasts were made and small tokens of our appreciation for Laura and Roberta, our two house administrators, were presented. Then everyone finished packing. The last student left this morning at 10 am. They are all going home, and will then return to campus March 15 after the Wake Forest spring break. Linda and I caught a water taxi to the airport at 5:15, flew to Frankfurt at 7:30, and caught a Dulles bound United Airlines flight at 11:10. We arrive home tonight, stunned at the rapidity with which our circumstances changed and our entire agenda for March and April was cancelled.