Coronavirus outbreak near Hilton Head’s Italian ‘sister city’ region is news to officials
Hilton Head Island’s sister city, Verona, Italy — a relationship started last summer when two town officials traveled there at taxpayer expense to sign a friendship pact — is among the epicenters of an international virus outbreak.
Hilton Head Mayor John McCann said Friday that he didn’t realize the coronavirus had infected anyone near the town’s sister city but that he would call Verona’s mayor, Federico Sboarina, on Monday to see how the island could support Verona as it copes with a lockdown from the coronavirus.
“I didn’t know about it,” he told a reporter for The Island Packet. “I heard on TV that it is affecting Italy, but I didn’t know it was that part until you told me.”
Italy has 821 confirmed cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to The Guardian. Most of the cases are in Veneto and the neighboring Lombardy region. Eleven people have died in Veneto, the northeastern region where Verona is located, according to Reuters.
As the virus continues to spread, other American cities partnered with areas affected by the outbreak are sending medical supplies and raising money to support their sister cities, most of which are in China.
The relationship between Verona and Hilton Head Island has been mostly unremarkable since McCann, Town Manager Steve Riley and his wife, Mary Jo, traveled to Italy last June.
The trip, paid for by the town without a vote by the town council, cost taxpayers nearly $15,000. It was widely criticized by residents in public meetings and in Letters to the Editor of The Island Packet as exorbitant spending for a mostly symbolic designation.
While the trip was promised to be the start of a “cross-promotional relationship” between the countries that would address issues such as the island’s workforce shortage and promote cultural exchange, McCann said Friday that he’d corresponded little with Mayor Sboarina outside of a few official letters back and forth.
Asked Friday about whether he’s happy with how the relationship has gone, McCann said “yes and no. We haven’t heard from them in a couple of months.”
Helping out
Elsewhere in the United States, cities are using their sister city partnerships to help fight coronavirus.
Toledo, Ohio, is part of the sister cities international program and is a sister to two cities in China: Qinhuangdao, a city on the northeastern coast of China, and inland Nanchong, China. Toledo is raising money to send medical face masks and disposable gloves to the two cities, according to the city’s local NBC affiliate, 24 News.
“We not only want to have our sister cities share cultural differences with us, we need to be there for one another when they’re in need,” Toledo City Council member Gary Johnson said at a council meeting earlier this month, the TV station reported.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvannia; Dubuque, Iowa; Tacoma, Washington; Red Wing, Minnesota and other American cities have also reported receiving requests from their sister cities affected by the virus and have mobilized to help.
Coronavirus in Italy
The coronavirus, a disease with 83,800 confirmed cases and responsible for nearly 3,000 deaths worldwide, has troubled hundreds of thousands across China and led health officials to impose self-quarantines and travel restrictions.
Most of the cases are centered in China, but attention is increasingly turning to other countries, including Italy, Iran, South Korea, Singapore and the United States, as more cases are confirmed there.
Health officials worry the virus went undetected for weeks in Italy, making the eventual outbreak worse.
The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a public health emergency on Jan. 30 and on Friday, raised its risk assessment to “very high,” the highest level short of a global pandemic. The disease causes fever, coughing and shortness of breath, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were 60 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States as of Friday, including 40 former passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. Among the states with a confirmed case: California, Washington, Arizona, Nebraska, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, according to the New York Times.
This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
