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In rapid succession, reports of the disease came from coun-
tries around the world. The fi rst case in Europe was announced on
February 14, when offi cials in France said an eighty-year-old tourist
from China had died in a Paris hospital. It was the fi rst known death
from the disease outside Asia. On Febru-
ary 21, the disease surfaced in the Middle
“What makes me most East when Iran reported the deaths of four
angry is that we had COVID-19 patients. The African nation of
a month and a half
to get ready after our Nigeria reported its fi rst case on February
rst case, and we had 28. Two days earlier the disease had sur-
weeks to prepare after faced in Latin America. On February 26 Bra-
watching what’s hap- zilian offi cials announced that a sixty-one-
pened in Italy.” 8 year-old man from São Paulo had tested
positive after returning from a business trip
— Ángela Hernández Puente, a
Spanish labor leader to Italy. In fact, Italy as well as Spain were
among the hardest-hit countries in Europe.
By late April, Italy had reported more than
201,000 cases and some 27,000 deaths, and Spain had reported
more than 232,000 cases and more than 23,800 fatalities.
As the pandemic spread throughout Europe, leaders of Spain
and Italy received criticism from public health offi cials for not real-
izing the dangers posed by COVID-19. Critics charged that lead-
ers of the two countries let public activities in Spain and Italy go
on too long before they issued stay-at-home orders and similar
measures to stem the spread of the disease. Italy did not issue its
stay-at-home order until March 10, and Spain waited until March
15 to order citizens to remain in their homes. “What makes me
most angry is that we had a month and a half to get ready after
our fi rst case, and we had weeks to prepare after watching what’s
happened in Italy,” said Ángela Hernández Puente, a leader of a
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health care worker labor union in the Spanish capital of Madrid.

Lockdowns Across Europe
For citizens of Italy and Spain, as well as other European coun-
tries, the lockdowns were diffi cult to endure. Spain and Italy are

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