"The coronavirus pandemic has shown that positive developments are primarily taking place at municipal and district/provincial level - that is why the partnership must be strengthened at this level and should be targeted there," said District Administrator Allgaier. He continued: "The EU now has the opportunity to learn from the crisis. In the long term, cross-border cooperation must be significantly expanded. In the medical sector, this means recognizing that the cross-border care of patients and the distribution of protective clothing in the event of bottlenecks offers advantages - for everyone involved."
At the height of the coronavirus crisis in Bergamo, the district of the province of Bergamo in Lombardy offered to treat seriously ill patients at the Ludwigsburg hospital. In the meantime, Porsche Consulting, with the support of private and public partners, has created a unique COVID-19 laboratory in Italy for 500,000 euros at the Franco M. Passi Hospital in Calcinate, which the delegation visited: robots and computers make it possible to analyze up to 5,000 samples per day - for comparison: "normal" laboratories manage around 300 samples.
The delegation also visited the central cemetery in the city of Bergamo. There have been around 6000 coronavirus deaths in the province so far. District Administrator Allgaier laid a wreath at a memorial stone for the victims of the pandemic and bowed his head. He praised the courage and perseverance of the people. Another item on the agenda was a visit to the 500,000 square meter Bergamo research district "Kilometro Rosso", where entrepreneurs, academics and start-ups are working on inventions.
Around 1.1 million people live in the province of Bergamo and around 120,000 people live in the city. Like the district of Ludwigsburg, the province of Bergamo is an important industrial and business location with a focus on mechanical engineering and the automotive industry. The friendly relations between the district of Ludwigsburg and the province of Bergamo began in 2002.
