Venice, Italy, March 15, 2020 (Manuel Silvestri/Reuters)

Italy experienced the most deaths in a 24-hour period of any country during the pandemic, including China:

The coronavirus continued its assault on Italy, the hardest hit country outside of China, with officials on Sunday reporting the number of deaths rose to 1,809 — a 25 percent increase over the day before and the largest one-day uptick yet of any country. The 368 deaths Italy reported exceeds the highest single-day number China reported at the height of its outbreak. China’s highest daily toll was on Feb. 13, when the country reported 254 new deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

According to this Reuters report, the health-care system in Italy is stressed, but not yet completely overwhelmed:

The head of the civil protection authority, Angelo Borelli, said that Lombardy had been able to transfer some patients to other regions. He also said he was so far unaware of any cases of patients dying because of a lack of intensive care facilities. But the health systems in Lombardy and in other regions like Emilia Romagna and Veneto at the epicenter of the Italian outbreak have been pushed to their limits. “The numbers have continued to grow. We’re close to the moment where we will have no more intensive care beds,” Lombardy governor Attilio Fontana told SkyTG24 television.

On the Sunday shows this morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci emphasized that whatever you think you are currently seeing of a virus is really a snapshot of the past; if you aren’t anticipating what’s next in your response, you will inevitably get behind the curve. He cited Italy as an example. Let’s hope and pray that the drastic measures imposed there over the last week begin to squelch the disease’s spread.