Daniela Trezzi Italian nurse commits suicide after testing positive for coronavirus and fearing she’d infect others. Had worked in San Gerardo Hospital treating COVID-19 patients.
A 34-year-old Italian nurse working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic has killed herself after testing positive with the illness – over fears that she’d infect others, according to a report.
Daniela Trezzi had been suffering ‘heavy stress’ amid fears she was spreading the deadly bug while treating patients at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza in the hard-hit region of Lombardy, local media reports.
She was working in the intensive care unit while under quarantine after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
In Italy 5,760 healthcare workers currently have #COVID19.
Daniela Trezzi was one of them. She took her own life out of fear she was spreading the novel Coronavirus to others. Tragic, heroic, and heartbreaking story. Remember her name. #DanielaTrezzi pic.twitter.com/mFifsi5RSf— Christopher M. Youmans Jr. (@chrisyoumansjr) March 25, 2020
The realities of nursing:
The National Federation of Nurses of Italy expressed its ‘pain and dismay’ over Trezzi’s suicide death, which came as the country’s mounting death toll surged with 743 additional fatalities Tuesday – to stand at 6820 known deaths and just under 70K cases as of Wednesday morning.
‘Each of us has chosen this profession for good and, unfortunately, also for bad: we are nurses,’ the federation said.
‘The condition and stress to which our professionals are subjected is under the eyes of all,’ it said, adding that ‘a similar episode had happened a week ago in Venice, with the same underlying reasons.’
Hospital general manager Mario Alparone said Trezzi had been at home sick since March 10 and that “she was not under surveillance.”
The nurse’s death is under investigation the Daily Mail reports.
Just when Italy was hoping the mortality rate was finally reducing, the country recorded a staggering 743 new fatalities on March 24. However, the number of infections increased by just eight percent making it the lowest rate of increase since the country recorded its first coronavirus death on February 21.
About 5,760 health-care workers have been infected by the virus, according to figures released Tuesday by an Italian research institute.
Those workers account for about 8 percent of the country’s total cases, which stand at just under 70,000 known cases.
