Coronavirus patients in Italy receive oxygen in their cars as health care system becomes strained again

Medical oxygen.
(Image credit: iStock.)

Italy's health care system is becoming strained once again.

Coronavirus cases are rising swiftly in the country, which was one of the first epicenters of the pandemic earlier this year. Back then, it was Italy's northern regions that felt the brunt of the virus, but now in Naples, the largest city in the south, the local health care system became overwhelmed this month. Infections, deaths, and hospitalizations are all surging, and NBC News reports that COVID-19 patients at one Naples hospital were administered oxygen while waiting in their cars because of a bed shortage.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.