How Profit Collided With Public Health in Italy’s Wealthiest Region

How Profit Collided With Public Health in Italy’s Wealthiest Region

The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesVaccine TrackerState Restrictions and Mask MandatesFAQFuneral parlor workers in Lombardy in March, when the affluent region was the epicenter of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy.Credit...Fabio Bucciarelli for The New York TimesLombardy has been overwhelmed by the pandemic, in part because of a poorly executed medical privatization program.Funeral parlor workers in Lombardy in March, when the affluent region was the epicenter of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Italy.Credit...Fabio Bucciarelli for The New York TimesBy Peter S. Goodman and Gaia PianigianiNov. 19, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ETLONDON — Dr. Chiara Lepora had never imagined being deployed in her home country of Italy. As a physician for the international relief agency Doctors Without Borders, she was accustomed to caring for people in countries like Yemen and South Sudan, amid extreme poverty and war.But early this year, as the novel coronavirus spread from Asia to Europe, Dr. Lepora found herself pressed into service in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, one of the wealthiest places on earth.Anchored by Milan, Italy's financial and fashion capital, Lombardy boasts sophisticated industry and world-class medical facilities. Yet it was overwhelmed by the first wave of the global