Life in Ischia lately

Life has been pretty heavy these past few months, things that have nothing to do with covid and I’ve taken a break from writing on here. But I’m slowly emerging from my cocoon and I missed being here.

It’s been a year since the very first lockdown and we’re back in another lockdown as we’re facing a third wave. Unfortunately, vaccinations have been in short supply and there has been a delay. That and the spread of new more contagious variants  of the virus are creating a new surge in covid cases. So now all of Italy’s region (with the exception of Sardegna which is white at the moment) are either deemed an orange or red zone. The colour of the zones communicates the level of the restrictions.

But even with the strictness of these restrictions, red being the strictest, they don’t feel anything like that first lockdown a year ago where all life in Italy was shut down. Everything was closed, the island was completely quiet, and we were not allowed to leave our houses but for only the most essential of reasons. During those two months, I left my house 3 times to go to the supermarket and pharmacy.

After the lockdown, we were able to enjoy the summer, but once schools reopened in September, the cases started to climb back up and we were placed in lockdown again in October 2020. We’ve been living with restrictions ever since, with the Campania region alternating between being a yellow, orange and a red zone.

At the moment we’re in a red zone. For us on the island, that means that restaurants and bars can only serve take away, only some shops are open (like children’s clothing and toy stores, supermarkets, pharmacies, newsstands, and tobacco shops), visits to family and friends’ houses are to be avoided and no one can travel outside of their region unless it’s for work or health reasons. But we’re allowed to go for walks or jogging or cycling, so at least we can leave the house and spend time outside.

These are lonely times. I miss hanging out with friends, but I go for daily walks and coffee and sunshine still help to keep a positive perspective. But for us here on the island, as in the rest of Italy, we have no idea when (and if) the tourist season will be able to start. In normal times, the tourist season starts at Easter and ends in November, but this year no one knows. No one is allowed to travel within Italy as we’re restricted to stay in our region, and it’s impossible to make plans. And with the vaccine rollout progressing at a snail’s pace, we don’t know when the number of covid cases will start to decline.

Some people are more optimistic than others and say that we’ll be vaccinated by June and we’ll have a summer season, but others say that life won’t be back to what it was pre-Covid until 2022 or even 2023.

For now, the country will be under heavy restrictions until the Easter holidays are over. I’m hoping that while we’re under lockdown, the vaccinations will start to increase as more shipments have started coming in. Fingers crossed.