I'm gonna raise a fuss, I'm gonna raise a holler

About a-workin' all summer just to try to earn a dollar

Rock star Eddie Cochran died at the tender age of 21- 60 years ago - leaving us with unforgettable memories of sentiments that his lyrics captured so well, like the legendary 1958 Billboard Hot 100 Summertime Blues, a B-side release. Everybody knows this song, most likely in a version covered by another artist. Beach Boys made it a hit in 1962. The Who performed it on their tours, recorded first in 1967 at Monterey Pop Festival, electric guitars substituting Eddie's acoustic sound. Marc Bolan and his T-Rex got the audience vibrating covering Eddie's hit at Wembley in 1972 - Marc (Mark Feld) also left this world early at 29. French superstar Johnny Halladay's version in French La Fille de l'été dernier was on top of the lists in 1975, the same year that Olivia Newton John recorded it on her album Clearly Love. The Rolling Stones did a 1978 version at Woodstock. Glam rock legend and bad bitch Joan Jett covered the song at the Ashbury in 1982 on her white Gibson Melody Maker in a brand-building fast and furious version. Hard and heavy Pasadena group Van Halen covered in 1983, as did Bon Jovi. Alan Jackson's 1994 country version posted on youtube in 2009 got 30 million views. Progressive rock band Rush from Toronto played it at Radio Music Hall on their 30th anniversary tour in 2004. If heavy metal is your thing, Lemmy Kilmister and the boys at Motörhead do not disappoint, maybe the best version on youtube, posted in 2009.

COVID-19 in Italy looks to make an early exit, just like Eddie Cochran. I was 4 years old when the hit made the charts, and I probably first heard and got infected by the Beach Boys version. It has remained with me, unforgettable - and that is how even the youngest of us will carry with them the memory of the summer of the Corona virus. I made a long and incomplete list of famous artists who have covered the song for a reason: whatever your taste in music - from country to heavy metal - you are likely to have heard a famous category singer or band perform Summertime Blues. You will think of Corona virus from your personal experience and how it touched you and your dear ones. We risk seeing many seasons of the virus, cover versions - although we cannot know - scientists are preparing us for this unpleasant recurring annual event, a little bit like the song perpetuated through the generations. We will be suffering the summertime blues across the world, and many will struggle to make a dollar, sacrificing the pleasures a summer may bring in ordinary times for survival, as jobs in many places are scarce and perhaps many having to accept a little less pay in locations away from dear ones, including the girl from last summer. COVID-19 certainly is the black version of a musical hit, a B-side of life. Many - way too many - will suffer the blues as friends, colleagues, or family was taken by the pandemic.

The Italian statistics are coming in ahead of forecast from a week ago (400 new cases, expected 440; next week 250 -- 78 deaths, expected 99; next week 54), suggesting the summer heat may be a factor and that distancing continues to work because it is practiced well and with the required diligence. We did get the "Tuesday Bounce" after the weekend of 8 days ago, but it was just shy of again causing an increase in the virus reproduction number. The virus is dying.

• total cases remain at 240.000 (probably some 5.500 new cases to go)
• total deaths remain at 34.000 (about 1.200 still to go)
• last new case pushed back from July 12 to July 24
• last person passing away pushed back from July 12 to July 24
• last person dismissed from treatment pushed back from July 18 to July 25 (probably a bit later if the last new case is registered July 24, and the recovery period on average is 36 days).

What we fear the most is that my frivolous juxtaposition will be more than that:

Sometimes I wonder what I'm a gonna do

But there ain't no cure for the summertime blues