MILAN – The coronavirus pandemic did not produce Elena Simone's first budgetary rough patch. The 49-year-old single mother found herself out of the job market when the 2008 global financial crisis hit Italy and never fully got back in, but she created a patchwork of small jobs that provided for herself and the youngest of her three children.
That all changed with Italy's first COVID-19 lockdown in the spring.With schools closed, so went Simone's cafeteria job. Her housecleaning gigs dried up, too.
While others returned to work when the lockdown ended, Simone stayed frozen out. “There was a period when I was only eating carrots,’’ she recalled from her kitchen decorated with colorful plush characters shaped like vegetables.For the first time.