He is from Italy and has several family members who still live there. His cousin is a doctor but works in a rural hospital where they have only had a couple hundred confirmed cases and 2 deaths.

Here are some points he shared with me. Italy has a long standing tradition to not extend the lives of old people. He claims that his father and his fathers brother both died in their 70's with illnesses that would have likely been taken care of in the US. He said that his cousin told him the same thing is happening with COVID-19. The death toll and its high impact on the elderly is going to continue because they are not going to try and keep people in their 80's alive. Italy is letting those people die and focusing on younger patients in an effort to ration care. Just his assessment and not mine.

He said that nearly all of the problem areas are in very highly populated areas with housing and streets that are right on top of each other.

It was an interesting conversation about his return. The streets and airport were bare in Italy when he left but as early as Frankfurt things were running normal. No one even questioned him in Denver or anywhere else. He simply self quarantined for 14 days upon return.