Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his wife Calista have been stuck in Italy’s quarantine as the country grapples with a massive health crisis.
Gingrich said that Calista, who is the U. S. ambassador to the Vatican, has been working remotely as the couple handles the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. He told Fox 5 on Wednesday that the nationwide lockdown has been “a very sobering experience.”
“Everything is closed down. The only places that are open are grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations,” he explained.
With more than 80,000 cases, Italy is right on the cusp of eclipsing China for the country with the most confirmed infections. The country has also had at least 8,000 deaths, according to the latest reading by the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
“We’ve been here in the house for 10 days now,” the former speaker said. “We have really steadily restricted over the last two months as the virus grew.”
Gingrich said that people in Italy are only allowed to leave their residences to get groceries or medicine from the pharmacy.
“They have very strict rules about walking or driving. If you don’t have a good reason to be doing it, you can be fined up to $8,000,” he explained. “They’ve really gone all-out to try to get ahead of the virus.”
Gingrich said that he and Calista have been using Skype to communicate with friends and remain social, noting that they are “try to have a life that’s a little more than just hiding in your room, but we basically are stuck in our house.”
Worldwide, there have been more than 492,000 cases of the COVID-19 virus, about 120,000 recoveries, and at least 22,100 deaths.
