Image of exhausted nurse become the symbol of Italian fight against corona
Literally tired with her head resting on a pillow on her keyboard. Elena Pagliarini (40) didn’t make it to the end of her shift and collapsed. It is the image that touches the Italians – an iconic photograph that symbolizes the relentless struggle against the new coronavirus.
Elena Pagliarini completes one substantial shift after another at Cremona Hospital near Milan. The catchy snapshot was taken by a colleague and then posted on the Italian Facebook page NurseTimes. “Thanks for what you’re doing,” the caption read. In the blink of an eye, the message collected thousands of likes and shares.
“That night was very hard, and we all worked together to help as many people as possible,” Elena said. “I still had an hour to go before I finished my shift, but I just collapsed. It was just before six o’clock in the morning when the picture was taken. I was completely devastated,” she explained. “Sorry, I didn’t make it to the end of my shift.”
Elena emphasized that she and her colleagues can only achieve results as a team in the fight against the coronavirus. “If we succeed in helping and saving people, it is thanks to the fact that we work together as a real team.”
After the photo went viral, the nurse received a lot of support from all over the country. “In normal times, anyone would have criticized me. But now a lot of people call me to thank me.”
More than 9,000 coronavirus infections are currently registered in Italy. More than 460 people have died from the disease.
At present, there are 4,012 deaths worldwide from the coronavirus, and there are 113,605 confirmed infections. Sixty-three thousand six hundred sixty-three people have now been cured of Covid-19.