And just like that…all of a sudden, the news disappeared. Since the pandemic has hit, there is only news related to the coronavirus. The entire world has come to a standstill. There is no more talk of the conflict in Syria, the Rohingya genocide in Myanamar, or the revolution in Venezuela. No one cares any more about the Afghanistan war or the nuclear testing in North Korea. Icebergs have suddenly stopped melting, and global warming appears to have come to a halt. Or at least, we do not read about these things any more. We only hear about the pandemic and read the unconvincing explanations provided by the government, based on mathematical models that no one has much faith in. If the models were unable to predict what has occurred so far, one cannot expect that they will be more accurate now. And if three weeks ago, our leaders were unable to foresee how badly things would go (even with Italy as an example), there is little reason to think that their powers of clairvoyance have significantly improved. In the immortal words of Judge Judy, “Beauty fades, but stupid is forever.”
The statistics were particularly bad yesterday. Reaching the PEAK two days ago meant that we fleetingly caught up with Italy and for about six hours, were the second country on the coronavirus blacklist, at least until the Italian statistics came in. Now we are third again…. at least until today at noon when new daily figures are published. Unless a miracle occurs, we will again be second.
The first country on the blacklist is, of course, the USA. Since one must take the size of the country into consideration and its population, the proof of the pudding is really the number of deaths per million inhabitants. Spain and Italy have 240 and 243 deaths per million, respectively, whereas the USA currently has 22 deaths per million. So, the USA still has a long way to go to catch up to us, but the way things are going, rest assured that they will eventually get there.
Since I first began looking at this rather sinister statistic, the USA has gone from 4 deaths per million to 22 in only a few weeks. I still have friends in the USA who rejoice in the belief that those who die from coronavirus are merely those who did not follow prevention protocols or those with other pathologies who were going to die anyway. Given this type of mindset, it is entirely possible that the USA may eventually win the grand prize, thanks to the marvels of exponential growth.
Quite understandably, most Spaniards, at least those with an IQ above room temperature, are no longer delusional and are now afraid of catching the coronavirus and dying. By now, almost everyone knows someone who has had the disease or who has died from it. Three of my acquaintances are now dead. However, fear of contagion and death is often not a sufficient deterrent to keep people at home.
Being in lockdown is not easy for many because Spain (like Italy) is a gregarious country where the sun invites the inhabitants to be outdoors. It is a country of small restaurants, wine bars, and coffee houses. A great deal of social interaction thus takes place outside in bars and cafes. Downtown is a pedestrian area where people stroll from one place to another for drinks, tapas, and a meal at one of the outdoor terraces.
With the coronavirus, all of this has ended, and everyone must remain inside. Social interaction is confined to the grocery-line social club or the computer screen. However, even so, it has not stopped people from exercising their ingenuity to find an excuse to walk around despite the rather daunting fines that range from 600 to 30,000 euros. Every morning the local newspaper publishes the latest arrests.
or example, today the police found a lady 3 kilometers from her home, who claimed that she was looking for a toilet. The police also stopped a man in a neighboring town seven kilometers away from his residence. He was in quest of an open Wi-Fi network to which he could connect his cell phone. Yesterday, a couple was fined for having sex in a photo booth.
Even our government, where signs of intelligent life are relatively infrequent, knew that they could not publish guidelines and expect people to self-regulate their own behavior. So confinement was accompanied by a set of hefty fines, which are enforced by policemen who have taken the same course in people skills as the TSA workers in USA airports.
Not surprisingly, people have become nervous and irritable. Many have lost their jobs and are now on unemployment. All of the hotels, restaurants, shops, and bars are closed. The only hotels still operating are those that have become improvised hospitals. The few restaurants still open are those that prepare food orders to be collected or delivered. Only people with “essential” jobs are allowed to work.
Worse yet, when the lockdown is finally finished, no one is sure whether they will get their job back. Despite government promises of credit and low-interest loans, business owners do not know whether they will be able to open their shops, restaurants, or hotels again. Those not eligible for unemployment benefits have no idea how they will pay their rent or mortgage. The threat is so real that the government has passed a law prohibiting evictions during lockdown. It is not a good time to be without shelter. Even the beggars have been taken off the streets and are now sleeping in camp beds in the soccer stadium, which has now become a giant homeless shelter. Granada has never been so quiet and peaceful.
These times are especially uncertain because Spain is a country whose economy depends largely on tourism. And just like that…all of a sudden, there are no tourists, not even the bottom-feeders in the gene pool, like those UK visitors, who vacation in Spain, usually in the spring, drink themselves into a stupor and jump off the balcony of their hotel room into the swimming pool (with greater or lesser accuracy). This practice, known as “balconing”, is the reason for various deaths each year. However, this spring, the bottom-feeders will remain in the UK and be spared the consequences of their idiocy.
The truth is that no one in their right mind travels any more, least of all to Spain, where all resorts and hotels are closed. The warnings (now up to Level 4) issued by the American Embassy to Americans, who are not permanent residents of Spain, have become increasingly virulent and menacing. The latest one was published on FaceBook this morning. Freely summarized, it says something like the following: “There are no more flights to the USA from Spain. Any Americans so pathetically stupid as to remain in Spain at this time should be aware that the USA will not repatriate its citizens. Don’t ask us to help you. If you want to get home, we suggest that you buy a life-raft, pair of floaters, and shark repellent”.
One of the favorite pastimes here now is to try to guess the exact day when we will finally be allowed to go to work, take a walk in the park, or visit friends and family. We have thus begun to value what we have lost and realize the importance of little things previously taken for granted, such as greeting people with a kiss on the cheek, hugs from friends and family, cherishing others with closeness and touching, feeling love’s warmth through human contact instead of on a computer screen.
As for me, I look forward to the return of family chaos, when all of my children will be sitting around the kitchen table again, teasing each other about their divergent political beliefs, tattoos, and crazy ex-partners, while my grandchildren chase each other up and down the hall, squabbling over who has which toy.
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