#Lazonarosa: the heroes at the time of the Coronavirus

Not all heroes wear capes. That's what they say, isn't it? Our heroes, at the moment, actually don't wear cloaks, but masks, gloves, suits and protective lenses. They are doctors, nurses and health workers, tireless workers who, unfortunately, are often not recognized either the compensation or the dignity they deserve. Now take the front line in this battle that is not only against the virus, but against time as well. Yes, because time is starting to run out, and nurses say it through an appeal drawn up by the National Federation of Nursing Professions.

"There is no more time. We no longer have beds where to shelter people, we are forced to reuse personal protective equipment, because they are scarce, and in many situations those available are not suitable. We are in constant danger, we know we risk contagion every day as well as experiencing the constant fear of bringing the virus into our homes. There is no longer even time to cry, if not at the end of the long grueling shifts. […] We are like soldiers at the front. We need hospitals, people. Immediately. Now. Not tomorrow. We also need you dear citizens. Lock yourself in the house. Each release opens the door to the virus ".

Alessia's marked face

Their faces have become the symbol of the fight against the Coronavirus. Distorted faces, marked by the prolonged use of protective devices and grueling shifts. Faces like that of Alessia, a 23-year-old nurse, whose shot posted on Instagram has been around the web. Alessia is afraid, she is afraid of going to work, she is afraid that the mask may not adhere perfectly to the face, but despite this, despite the tiredness and despite even struggling to go to the bathroom during the shift, she would choose that profession again, again and again, because, for her, it is a vocation.
"I will continue to treat and take care of my patients, because I am proud and in love with my work", she writes in her post, which does not want to be a source of commiseration, but the stark testimony of hell lived daily by those who, like she is called upon to save lives in an emergency that does not involve stopping. It is therefore that, then, Alessia takes the opportunity to appeal to all those who have the privilege of staying safe in their homes and that is to stay there, respecting the rules imposed to avoid the spread of the infection.

“What I ask of anyone who is reading this post is not to frustrate the effort we are making, to be altruistic, to stay at home and thus protect those who are more fragile. We young people are not immune to the coronavirus, we too can get sick, or worse still we can make us sick ".

Silvia's dermatitis

And then there is Silvia, a 29-year-old nurse, who bears evident signs of dermatitis on her hands, caused by those gloves that, in recent days, have become like a second skin.

“Lately, he often has to work 13 hours in a row. Thirteen hours with gloves, each change of gloves a hand wash, each wash a disinfected and again another pair of gloves. In a week I broke my hands. He fights with the Corona, with the hope that he won't be punching us. "

She too renews Alessia's invitation to stay at home, a "sacrifice" to which we all have to undergo "if you and you love us", as she herself writes under the post.

The Chinese nurses, the first to face the emergency

We also remember the Chinese nurses. Those who, first, had to face the Coronavirus drama. Women and girls who have had their hair shaved to zero for hygienic reasons, equipped with diapers to fulfill their primary physiological needs and who have been given birth control pills to forcibly block the menstrual cycle, thus avoiding that sense of exhaustion that derives from it.

They are the heroes the world needs. It is up to us, then, to prove that we deserve them, for example by staying at home.