Dr. Annalisa Malara tested a 38-year-old athlete named Mattia for coronavirus on February 20, 2020 after his second visit to the Codogo Hospital emergency room within 48 hours. Although Mattia did not meet the national criteria for coronavirus testing, Dr. Malara insisted since the severely-ill patient had attended a dinner two weeks prior with a colleague who had just returned from China. The test was sent to Milan at noon and nine hours later the first postive COVID-19 case in Italy was reported. "Patient one" spent almost three weeks in a coma at the University San Matteo Hospital in Pavia. After his awakening from the coma on March 21, 2020, Mattia would soon learn that his father had succumbed to the dreaded disease. Everyday life would never be the same as the nation mourned the rampant loss of loved ones.
Three months after the reporting of Italy's first COVID-19 patient and the worst of the pandemic behind us, Codogno now returns to a semblance of normalcy with Codogno Baseball '67 activities in full swing on the diamond of Viale della Resistenza. FIBS president Andrea Marcon has pledged to support the area hit hard by coronavirus in Lombardy, Italy by celebrating the return of Serie B baseball in Codogno on Sunday, June 14, 2020. Prior to the scheduled 11 am first pitch between Codogno and Piacenza, an official FIBS ceremony officiated by the president will take place to commemorate the resumption of baseball activities and to pay tribute to all the lives lost to COVID-19. Forza #Italia!
by Roberto Angotti
