'From the frying pan, to the fire': Why teacher in Sicily doesn't want to come back to Hawke's Bay

Daniel Simmons in Cefalu, Sicily pre-coronavirus. Photo / Supplied

Italy-based Hawke's Bay English teacher Daniel Simmons has never seen anything like it.

Streets empty, no sign of life but a truck with a loudspeaker rolling around playing a recorded message that tells everyone to stay inside.

Coronavirus has effectively locked down the Italian island of Sicily.

But Simmons doesn't want to leave, doesn't want to come back to Hawke's Bay. Despite the region's lack of cases he feels its inevitable there will be one, two, maybe plenty.

Moving now would be like jumping "from the frying pan to the fire", he says.

"I moved because I had this romantic notion of Italy, the rolling hills, the surrounds," Simmons said.

Simmons, from Napier, is now in his second week of self-isolation.

His job, until last September, meant he was living in northern Italy's Lake Maggiore or Verbano, one of many areas in Italy bearing the brunt of Covid-19 cases.

"I moved out just in time, I live in Siracusa, Sicily now," Simmons said.

"It [coronavirus] happened really quickly, people were guilty of thinking 'we'll be fine'. In Sicily, it started with one case in Palermo, and now it is 111 and that was only two weeks ago.

"It was just mindboggling how quickly it spread."

Now Sicily, foreign media has reported, is pinning its hopes on patron saint Saint Rosalia who they say rescued the city from a deadly plague in 1625, to rid Italy of coronavirus.

Simmons who saw the impact in Sicily first-hand said people needed to be more practical.

"People underestimate coronavirus, they take it too lightly, and I don't think people have played their part," he said.

"I teach, and when the first case occurred every class was advised to follow social distancing, one week after that everything was shut down.

Aftermath of coronavirus: This street is one of the main streets of Siracusa which is normally bustling with traffic, people and filled with cars. Photo / Supplied

"Now to walk out on the street you have to have a piece of paper stating your reason, either work, food, or medical. If you say you just wanted to go for a walk, that's not a good enough reason.

"You get fined for being out on the street."

He said supermarkets and pharmacies were the only places still open.

"There is a civil service truck that is parked outside the supermarket. It is surreal," he said.

"The truck has a speaker on top and there is a recorded message which plays constantly 'please stay indoors, coronavirus'. The truck goes around the city with the message.

"The main industry in Siracusa is tourism, and this time of the year the streets are usually packed with tourists and cars. Now the streets are dead, there is no one around."

He said the mood around the region was "sombre".

"It's unreal, although there is plenty of toilet paper here," he said.

"I admire the spirit here, people have put their flags out and they are playing music for the streets.

"I have a balcony with a sea view and put the music on, and dance like a maniac. I am trying the best I can to keep sane."

He said his family had expressed their concerns and wanted him to return to Hawke's Bay.

"But it will be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. I think it is better to sit it out here," he said.

"My Dad is worried, but I am in a good position here. I have a good job, and chances of me getting coronavirus are slim.

"I am 31, and I have a small social circle, I feel fairly optimistic.

"If I had an elderly grandfather here, I'd be worried. I am worried though about how New Zealand would cope."

His brother Ben Simmons said they were concerned for Daniel's welfare because of how prolific coronavirus was in Italy, but didn't doubt that he would survive.

"Of greater concern to us are the wider evolving circumstances where his teaching work could dry up leaving him in a situation where he cannot support himself financially, as well as being unable to return home due to travel restrictions and diminishing flight availability."

For now though Daniel believes people need to play their part in minimising the risk regardless of what part of the world they were in.

"This is not just about you, it's about everyone. Play your part, don't take it too lightly, don't underestimate it."