There is an urban myth that says that fish memory only lasts from three to thirty seconds. It sounds plausible because how else do fish avoid boredom in the confines of their fish bowl? However, scientists have demonstrated that this is not true.
Research shows that fish can recall the location of a tasty morsel of food up to 12 days after encountering it. Fish are also capable of remembering details for years, and can even navigate mazes. On the animal intelligence scale, fish are below dolphins and rats, but far above cockroaches. As far as memory goes, fish are ahead of the game. So, the memory of the aquarium fish has been unjustly maligned.
I can now no longer say that my neighbors have the memory of an aquarium fish because that would be too great a compliment. I cannot even say that they have the memory of a cockroach because, believe it or not, researchers have also found that cockroaches do have one. In fact, in the laboratory cockroaches have been taught to salivate in response to neutral stimuli in the way that Pavlov's dogs would do. (I had no idea that cockroaches even had saliva.)
For that reason, the most that I can say is that people in my neighborhood and Spain in general are suffering an acute attack of temporal amnesia. They seem to believe that the pandemic is winding down. They are persuaded that life will return to the way that it was before, especially now that summer vacation is just around the corner. The only vague memory of confinement will be the mask that dangles from their wrist, like a charm bracelet.
We are currently in Phase 3 of pretending that the coronavirus has disappeared. It is a very nice phase since now every afternoon, health authorities appear in a veritable fog of self-congratulation to inform us of the relatively low number of new cases and the (artificial) absence of Covid-19 deaths.
The news conference usually ends with a few gentle warnings, telling us to be good, to avoid crowds, and to obey the rules, but health authorities seem to be quite content with the agreeable fantasy that they have created.
Another positive thing is that the death toll has not increased for the last month, largely because of the new and improved counting method used to report cases. As previously mentioned in other posts, this method is very effective because it makes coronavirus deaths magically vanish.
Nevertheless, that might soon end. Yesterday, the Minister of Health, Mr. Deer-in-the-Headlights said that he thought that numbers would be updated by the end of the week though no one is holding their breath until this occurs.
The message that the government is sending is that we have won the war, and that there is no more risk. The danger has finally passed. This belief has been further reinforced by the announcement that on 21 June, Spain will no longer be in a State of Alarm, which in itself is somewhat alarming.
The lifting of the State of Alarm has lulled my neighbors into complacency, and no one can blame them. From a semantic perspective, when a State of Alarm ends, it is reasonable to believe that there is no longer any cause for alarm.
The government is fomenting this carefree mindset. On 21 June, ten days before anyone thought possible, Spain’s borders with all European countries will open once again. The only exception is Portugal, who (not surprisingly) prefers to wait until 1 July before allowing Spaniards to freely enter their territory. The EU will probably start to allow travel to and from non-EU countries as early as July.
In the last week, de-escalation in Spain (and throughout Europe) has picked up so much momentum that we are now hurtling toward total normality and may even end up crashing into it. Madrid has even said that they will not bother with Phase 3 because on Monday, the State of Alarm will have finished for everyone.
From an economic perspective, the return to normality is, of course, a necessity. We are in dire need of tourists to help us emerge from recession. Now that the borders are falling down faster than London Bridge, we will be welcoming people from other countries, who wish to spend their coronavirus vacations here. Most will probably be from the UK and northern Europe. They will come to enjoy the good weather and recover from quarantine fatigue.
Of course, we prefer stodgy Germans, who divide their time between drinking beer and roasting on the beach like giant lobsters, or British senior citizens, who peacefully populate resorts and read long novels while sipping wine on lounge chairs by the swimming pool.
But in the current situation, we cannot permit ourselves the luxury of being overly selective. We would even welcome the rowdy tourists, who drink too much, carouse in the streets, and jump off hotel balconies in the wee hours of the morning.
Spain is currently negotiating against the clock with Great Britain. who puts everyone entering the UK in quarantine for 14 days. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs is saying that if the UK doesn’t lift the quarantine for Spaniards going to England, there will be a quarantine imposed on Britons traveling to Spain. She is probably not serious, but she should be because the statistics for England are much worse than those for Spain.
However, we are desperate for tourists and apparently willing to take risks. Desperation, unfortunately, is at odds with caution, and now there is even greater reason to be cautious.
There is a new outbreak of the coronavirus in China. Beijing authorities describe this outbreak as extremely severe and talk about a possible second wave. This outbreak, which also originated in a market, involves an even more contagious strain of the virus than the one in Wuhan. P
art of Beijing has now been sealed off as well as a few neighboring provinces. All sports and entertainment sites have been closed, schools have been shut down again, and travel curtailed. Even though Chinese authorities are in a wartime mode, no one knows whether this will be sufficient to contain the virus.
Chinese authorities mention more than 100 cases, but we all know that governments lie. China is no exception. A more accurate figure would be that number multiplied various times over.
However, China is far away, or at least at the same distance from Europe as it was in January. Starting in June and July, Europe (and Spain) will receive tourists from all over the world with open arms. We will welcome them, and we will also welcome their viruses. That was what occurred five months ago, and history may very well repeat it self.
But people seem to have forgotten. Perhaps if they had the memory of an aquarium fish or even a cockroach, it would be a different story.
