Vo', a community goes to test

The story of the community of Vo’, a small town in Northern Italy that has become an open air lab to study and fight COVID-19.

Back in February, the small town of Vo’ was among the first areas to be cordoned off in Italy because of COVID-19 and the place where the first European victim of COVID-19 was recorded.

Andrea Crisanti, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Padua, offered to test all 3,100 citizens of the town, and 95% of the population agreed to participate. The town became a living laboratory to study the coronavirus. Such a thorough investigation of an entire population contributed to quickly zero the contagion in the town and advance the state of the research about the virus worldwide.

In the future, Crisanti’s work could help save thousands of lives at a global level. This would not have been possible without the goodwill of the citizens, who also agreed to provide personal data and other sensitive information for the sake of the research. The story of Vo’ is one of a community coming together to save itself and help humanity make one step forward.

The project consists in a series of 300 portraits taken during the 3 days of screening on the whole population.