Vo is a small town in Veneto, northern Italy, in which the first European victim of COVID-19 has been documented. It was the first area in Italy to be declared a ‘red zone’, and after the discovery of the first COVID-19 case in February 2020, no one was allowed to enter or leave. Luckily for Vo residents, they had a professor of microbiology locked up with them. Andrea Crisanti, a professor at the University of Padua, offered to test all 3,100 citizens early in the outbreak, with 95% of the city agreeing to the experiment. One hundred civilians were found to have COVID-19 and were kept in strict isolation. The exclusion succeeds in slowing down the spread of the virus, and this method will be used later in the world. The citizens also tested for the presence of antibodies in May 2020, and again six months later to follow up the immunity against the coronavirus.
Photographer Matteo de Mayda photographed the city as it went from a red area to an experiment to quarantine COVID patients in one of the healthiest places in Italy. “This information is important to understand how long the vaccination lasts and also about the development of vaccines,” de Mayda said.
“In the future, Crisanti’s work could help save thousands of lives worldwide,” de Mayda said. The information obtained during the testing and lock-up would not have been possible without the cooperation of the citizens, who also agreed to provide personal data and other sensitive information for the sake of the research.
De Mayda started photographing in April 2020 and captured an abandoned village that had just begun to emerge from a months-long closure. He photographed the healing process of the city, from the early tests to voluntary attempts to test Vo citizens for antibodies, as well as the residents who are still struggling with the long-term effects of the virus.
He hopes to keep up with the work of the residents and Crisanti as vaccines continue to roll out and Vo-burghers try to resume their lives.