The first date that marked very strong the Covid-19 pandemic period in Italy started on March 9th, 2020. On that day, Giuseppe Conte, the Italian premier, declared Italy in lockdown. The whole country was a red zone. Many people were infected with the Corona Virus. People could only move to other Italian regions for reasons related to their jobs, health, and residence.
In Palermo, the situation started with the arrival of some Italian tourists that wanted to spend few days in a Sicilian hotel and to enjoy the city. Some of them started to get sick and the employees of the hotel decided to stay in quarantine directly in the hotel.
Valeria, of Palermo Street Food, standing in front of Palermo’s Cathedral in her mask during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Every day the city of Palermo was changing, less people in the streets but more and more people at the supermarkets stock up on groceries. There was a period in Palermo that was really difficult to find in the markets: flour, yeast and of course, toilet paper.
Everybody was trying to stay at home and safe, to cook nice meals, and to follow the rules that the Italian government introduced to reduce the effects of Covid.
Sicily became an isolated island because all the flights were canceled and the ferries from the Italian region Calabria were stopped to avoid the increase of cases.
During summer 2020, the situation changed a lot, because there were less cases and the people started to go out, to spend days at the beaches, and to visit the city center again.
Our friend Caterina, a biologist, administering Covid-19 tests in Palermo, Sicily
Perhaps because some tourism returned to Palermo then, the virus made a resurgence one more time after the summer, at the beginning of autumn 2020 and the second wave of the pandemic took over the city and lasted for most of 2021.
In late 2021 and into 2022, the Omicron variant took over Palermo. Temporary hospitals were set up to take on overflow from emergency rooms.
Covid-19 testing in Palermo, Via Marchese di Villabianca
Now, going into spring 2022, in Palermo the face mask protections, the Covid tests, and the vaccines are helping the the city against Covid.