Convent in Turin isolated after the death of 5 nuns from coronavirus
Among the latest victims of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic in Italy are five sisters belonging to a convent in the northern Piedmont region of the country, pushing for immediate isolation and quarantine of the remaining diseases.
About 90 miles from Milan, Turin has 10 of more than 30 deaths in Piedmont, which borders on Lombardy, the region most affected by the coronavirus epidemic. As of Wednesday evening, there have been 74.386 cases in Italy, an increase of 3.491 since Tuesday.
The casualties between Tuesday and Wednesday increased by 683, for a total of 7.503 recorded deaths from the epidemic. However, the number of those is guaranteed to rise, currently to 9.362, according to the Italian Ministry of Health.
About two weeks ago about 32 of the 41 sisters in the home of the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity in Turin started complaining of flu-like symptoms. Several sisters from the convent linked to the city's Mater Dei retirement home, about 10 people had tested positive for coronavirus, about three of whom died.
According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, it took several days for the nuns to realize their symptoms possibly being compatible with COVID-19.
Once called, the coordinator of the Piedmontese crisis unit, Mario Raviolo, arrived and installed twice outside the convent, where more than 40 people, including 41 sisters and several lay people, were taken and tested. At the time, around 20 showed true coronavirus symptoms.
Those who were found positive were immediately taken to hospital in a series of ambulances.
Five sisters had died in the convent since March 26 - between 82 and 98 years old. Among the dead is the mother superior of the convent, who had been in office since 2005. There are 13 nuns still hospitalized with the coronavirus.
On March 20, the 81-year-old confessor priest of the community was also reported to have died of COVID-19.
The remaining sisters who did not prove positive were transferred to another building within the city, where they will remain in quarantine. The convent workers were sent to solitary confinement at home and are under observation.
This is just one of many small outbreaks in convents with experience in Italy. Last week, almost 60 religious nuns in two convents outside Rome tested positive and are sent to state in isolation.
Most of the nuns belong to the convent of the Daughters of San Camillo in Grottaferrata, which is located on the outskirts of Rome, while the rest comes from the angelic nuns of the convent of San Paolo in Rome, which includes 21 sisters.
After the news of the outbreak of the convents of Rome, the Polish cardinal Konrad Krejewski, the pope's almond tree, visited the two convents, brought milk and yogurt from the sisters to the pontifical villa of Castel Gandolfo to communicate "the closeness and affection of the Saint Father "