-We were in quarantine Posteour homes for about 10 weeks. This was enforced by the federal government countrywide, even though some regions had very few cases of COVID.

-During the lockdown, only one person per family was allowed out at a time.

-When that one person went out, they had to carry with them an “autodichiarazione”. It was a form that needed to be filled out every time you went out, dated and signed. You had to explain who you are, where you live and where you reside, where you were going and why you were going out. The only reasons permitted were food shopping, medical necessity, or if you were an essential worker.

-You were not permitted to leave your town borders except under extreme circumstances that had to be documented.

-You could be stopped by the police at any time and required to show the autodichiarazione (and other documents). Matt was stopped twice, in our town of around 8000 people.

-If you didn’t meet the criteria, or were caught outside your town borders, there were fines up to €3000 and potential jail time.

-Masks were required in all spaces, indoors and out, during the lockdown. When you went in to a store, you had to use hand sanitizer, then put on gloves afterward. (It took a long time to master putting fruit and veg into a thin plastic bag while wearing thin plastic gloves!)

-People gathering outdoors in groups, even just two people chatting in the square and at a 2-meter distance, were broken up by carbinieri immediately. Socializing was not permitted more than a passing hello.

-There was also a curfew, basically sunrise to sunset.

-People with dogs were permitted to walk them, but only within 200 meters of their home.

-It's worth noting that in this lockdown time, we were reading articles by doctors in China (where they experienced their surge of Covid several weeks earlier) who were saying that Italy wasn’t being nearly strict enough.

-During the lockdown, the government released daily figures telling us, by region (and town) how many were diagnosed with COVID, how many hospitalized, how many died, how many recovered. It was all very transparent and new figures were released every day. Tests were free, of course - the entire medical system here is not-for-profit.

-All these restrictions were for the general, "not-infected" population. If someone was diagnosed positive for Covid, a whole new and much more strict set of rules were imposed, including complete isolation quarantine, special handling of trash, delivery of food and other necessities, and other regulated details. Local businesses that previously didn’t deliver went out of their way to provide contact-less (and usually free) delivery to the town and surrounding areas, to help people stay home. For example, we had tomato seedlings and gelato delivered to us. (The gelato was a gift from a friend - thanks, you-know-who-you-are!)

-There were significant government programs to help people manage. Rent/mortgage suspensions, suspension of electric and utility bills, grants for businesses, grants for food shopping.

-After about 10 weeks, they relaxed the rules somewhat, based on the fact that we flattened the infamous “curve” to the point that hospitals were not overwhelmed.

-For a week or two after that, we were allowed to travel within our region (analogous to states in the USA), but absolutely not to cross “state" borders.

-After the initial reopening, when numbers didn’t skyrocket, they allowed us to travel freely within the country.

-In the meantime, rules have been relaxed a bit. For example, masks are no longer required outdoors unless safe distances can not be maintained. But many people wear them outdoors anyway. Masks are required in all indoor spaces and everyone adheres to it. I have not seen a single meltdown or tantrum over it. Everybody just does it and gets on with their business.

An analogy that occurred to me is this: “Reopening" is like running a marathon. No one can run a marathon without preparing. Trying to run one without preparing would be disastrous. Italy (and other countries who followed the advice of health professionals and other scientists) went through a financially and psychologically devastating period of time, in order to get to the “new normal” that we are experiencing now.

Integral to the relative success of Italy’s pandemic response (and that of some other European countries who have done well) is a nationwide public health care system. No one is reluctant to go to the doctor if they’re not feeling well for fear of incurring a huge bank-breaking bill.

When Italy started the lockdown, it didn’t really have a model to show how long it would last or what an end would look like. That was very intimidating for us because we didn't know when we might be able to leave our homes... 10 weeks? 10 months?

But if you are in the US reading this, you do have a model....Italy's. These measures were tremendously expensive and frustrating, but they saved lives and they worked. They sound extreme, because they are; but a pandemic is extreme, and requires a proportional response."

"If you are one of the Globe's disproportionately white, well-off, well-educated readers, the past few decades have been pretty good for you. The status quo has delivered. Ed Markey has done just fine," Clemons wrote. "But if you are one of the hundreds of thousands of normal, working people in this Commonwealth, if you are Black or Brown, if you are an immigrant or a veteran, if you are sick or struggling or suffering — you know that business as usual isn't working."

"We are 98 days away from Election Day," Alysin Camerota said on New Day.

"And public opinion polls show President Trump slipping over his handling of coronavirus. I sat down with a group of voters in Florida and Texas, two of the states hardest hit by the virus. All voted for Trump in 2016. Half of them regret that. Here is our latest pulse of the people. Show of hands, how many of you voted for President Trump in 2016? Okay. All of you voted for President Trump. Show of hands, how many of you plan to vote for him again in November? Okay. Three hands went up. Daniel, tell us your thoughts."

"I believe that his handling of the pandemic has been horrendous. I think his lack of accountability and an old political term, he waffles on everything. He did say this, he didn't say that. and he meant this, but he didn't mean that. He's totally unpredictable," Daniel Turner said.

"I don't think anyone could have handled it any better. Listen to the health experts. When President Trump says something about ingesting Lysol, don't take it -- obviously an absurd statement. He should not be speaking on health matters, frankly," Ellie Bernstein said.

"Well, they didn't get extremely sick and die, but I had a nephew and several friends that have tested positive for covid. I will say this. I'm a business owner. my wife and I own a fitness, 24/7 fitness center. We had to close our gym for 84 days. We have had the business for seven years. I just want to point out, again, this all happened while Donald Trump is president," Tommy Stallings said.

Law enforcement in New York City took a page from the Portland protest playbook Tuesday when plainclothes officers detained a protester from the street in a van lacking any discernible insignia. Those on the scene captured the arrest on video and said the protester was transgender. The NYPD issued a statement on the video but did not confirm the origin of the officers detaining the protester: “In regard to a video on social media that took place at Second Ave. and 25th Street, a woman taken into custody was wanted for damaging police cameras during five separate criminal incidents in and around City Hall Park. The arresting officers were assaulted with rocks & bottles.” The protester was later named by the New York Post as 18-year-old Nikki Stone. She was reportedly released early Wednesday after being slapped with several unspecified charges. Federal officers in Portland sparked nationwide outrage after video showed them in military-esque uniforms without badges detaining protesters in unmarked vans.

“We’ve done more than I think any administration has done,” Trump told the NBC-affiliated station when asked to reflect on his term as President, adding that “nobody even challenges that.”

Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and joint fundraising committee. The campaign and its committee violated the law by laundering nearly $170 million in campaign spending through firms headed by Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, and other firms created by Trump campaign lawyers.

The campaign reported millions in payment–American Made and Parscale Strategy—which disbursed the funds to the campaign’s ultimate vendors. Ultimately, this hid millions in payments to companies engaged in significant work for the campaign, as well as payments to Trump family members or associates like Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle.

“Voters have a right know how campaigns are spending money to influence elections,” said CLC President and former Republican Chair of the FEC Trevor Potter. “This scheme flies in the face of transparency requirements mandated by federal law, and it leaves voters and donors in the dark about where the campaign’s funds are actually going. This secrecy could also disguise other campaign finance violations, but we don’t know, because the campaign isn’t disclosing these routed payments.”