Italian medics swapping Covid-19 ward for Christmas at home – for one day only

How one Roman household tries to spread family love to patients with the virus in intensive care

Maurizio and Glenda place decorations on a Christmas tree at home with with their children. AP Photo

Nurse Glenda Grossi, right, talks with her husband and fellow nurse Maurizio di Giacobbe at the end of her shift in a Covid-19 ICU. AP Photo

Glenda tends to a patient. The coronavirus pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for families around the world managing work and home life with children kept home from school and after-school activities. For the Di Giacobbe family, the juggling is even more complicated. AP Photo

Maurizio holds his son as they place decorations on their Christmas tree. Maurizio and his wife Glenda spend their days tag-teaming shifts, trying to give their patients the level of personal care and attention they would give their own children. AP Photo

Maurizio checks his suit in a mirror before entering the Covid-19 ICU. AP Photo

Maurizio reacts upon seeing that a patient's medical condition has worsened, at the Covid-19 ICU. AP Photo

Glenda drinks a cappuccino in her kitchen. AP Photo

Glenda poses for a portrait at the end of her shift. AP Photo

Maurizio helps a patient with a video call. AP Photo

Maurizio plays with his children as Glenda looks on. AP Photo

The pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for families struggling to manage work and home life.

For the Di Giacobbe family in Italy, this juggling act is even trickier because the parents are both intensive care nurses in the same hospital treating Covid-19 patients.

The mother and father spend their days trying to provide these patients with a similar level of personal care and attention that they give their children.

The family will celebrate Christmas together this year as parents Maurizio Di Giacobbe and Glenda Grossi have both managed to take 25 December off work.

However, they won't have grandparents, aunts and uncles around their table as they want to protect them from potential infection. Their decision comes as Italy heads for a Christmas lockdown with Covid cases surging.

“We will be with our three children, the dog and the two cats,” Ms Grossi said on a rare day when both parents were at home, decorating the Christmas tree with Tiziano, 4, Arianna, 9, and Flavio, 10.

When the outbreak of the virus erupted in Italy in spring and no one knew how to mitigate its spread, the parents took the precaution of wearing surgical masks around the children and developed a 'virtual hug' to express their love. For the children, it was a game — but their parents knew just how deadly Covid-19 was.

Over time, however, doctors figured out which therapies worked better, which has seen a marked improvement in treatment at the hospital, he said. Still, Italy now leads Europe with the most Covid-19 deaths, with 67,220 recorded up to Friday.

In some ways, the couple bring the love of a family into the Covid-19 ward, appreciating the value of video calls between patients and their loved ones in the outside world, who are barred from visiting the hospital.

Ms Grossi tears up when she remembers one of her first patients at Rome’s Tor Vergata Covid-19 hospital. Fabio was a 43-year-old father of three who married his partner in March while he was in hospital with the virus.

“I remember that day when Fabio made the video call to his wife and children, he touched his chest with his hand and said: ‘They need to intubate me, I’ll see you soon.’ As her husband sat by her side, Ms Grossi’s voice cracks: “‘See you soon’ never came true, unfortunately, because Fabio didn’t make it.”