Chronicles of the Virus I
Am I scared? No. Am I anxious? A bit. No one likes to get sick, much less so sick they have to go to the hospital. Will I be bored? Hell, yes.
And so begins the two-week, general quarantine of the Spanish people. Well, half quarantine. No one is allowed outside unless they go, specifically, to work, to a grocery store, to a bank, to a gas station, to a hair dresser (no, I have no idea why that is a priority), to check up on elderly, dependents, etc., or to return home. There are a few other exceptions, but that's it.
Of course, to prepare for that, everyone had to go shopping yesterday. I swear, some people must have had to buy chest freezers. No other way is all the meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables they bought going to last without being thrown out in a mushy heap at the end of those two weeks. And they must have a whole extra room to store the five year supply of toilet paper each family acquired. Along with the cleaning products, canned goods, and UHT milk. One would think World War Z is about to begin.
The nut cases are out there, too. People last week in Madrid, which started earlier closing schools, went rabid at the supermarkets. To protect themselves, some of them wore clear plastic bags over their heads. I think the oxygen was missing long before they pulled them on. Fights over toilet paper have emerged, even around here. I think half the people who post memes on hoarding toilet paper, have hoarded toilet paper.
Then there's the guy in Laracha, near A Coruña, who attacked a gas station attendant with a screw driver for coughing in his vicinity. And there are those criminal idiots who, knowing that the virus originally came from an animal, have decided to abandon their pets, thinking they are vectors. And let's not talk about the mindless imbeciles who attack Asian people because the virus is "Chinese," or "created" in a "Chinese laboratory".
Perhaps one of the worse reactions came from those Madrileños wealthy enough to have second homes elsewhere in the country. Without a thought to whether they were infected or not, they set out en masse to occupy those second homes, sometimes in areas where the infection was still trying to get a foothold. After their arrival, contagion bloomed. Because, of course, they could go out for an apéritif, or just stroll along the waterfront, rubbing shoulders with the locals. Among those, oh, so generous people, are the ex-prime minister, José María Aznar and his wife, Ana Botella. They went down to their chalet in Marbella. Just like the wealthy tried to escape the Black Death by leaving the cities, and taking the plague to the countryside with them.
And I won't say anything about a group of about 200 tourists in Benidorm, mainly British, that drunkenly refused to return to their hotel rooms when the police came to close the bars where they were liberally imbibing. There was almost a riot. Seriously? Travelling to a hotspot of contagion just to get drunk? Travelling anywhere, anytime, just to get drunk?
Last night, the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez went on television, explaining the state of alarm that had been declared. As of midnight, everyone indoors. Normally, that would have been impossible. The Spanish people are not known for staying home when they could be going out on the town. But, with everything shut down, and fines from three hundred to thirty thousand euros as an incentive, they did. Today being Sunday, the cars would have been few, anyway. But now, if it weren't for the rain, I could sit down in the middle of the road in front of my house and read a couple of chapters before having to move over to let a car by. And, if anyone is tempted to go out, let it be known. My brother-in-law came by for one minute to collect a hoe he left here yesterday. He was stopped by the Guardia Civil and asked where and why he was travelling. It's serious.
It's not all bad news. There was a moment of calm and beauty last night. In Italy, quarantined neighbors had been gathering in windows and balconies to sing in the afternoons. At ten last night, Spaniards did the same, but to applaud and say thank you to all the doctors, nurses, technicians, and everyone else who is breaking their backs to have this pass as quickly as possible. Tonight, word has gone out that the same will happen, only at eight o'clock this time, for the children to join.
Life continues.
And so begins the two-week, general quarantine of the Spanish people. Well, half quarantine. No one is allowed outside unless they go, specifically, to work, to a grocery store, to a bank, to a gas station, to a hair dresser (no, I have no idea why that is a priority), to check up on elderly, dependents, etc., or to return home. There are a few other exceptions, but that's it.
Of course, to prepare for that, everyone had to go shopping yesterday. I swear, some people must have had to buy chest freezers. No other way is all the meat, fish, fruit, and vegetables they bought going to last without being thrown out in a mushy heap at the end of those two weeks. And they must have a whole extra room to store the five year supply of toilet paper each family acquired. Along with the cleaning products, canned goods, and UHT milk. One would think World War Z is about to begin.
The nut cases are out there, too. People last week in Madrid, which started earlier closing schools, went rabid at the supermarkets. To protect themselves, some of them wore clear plastic bags over their heads. I think the oxygen was missing long before they pulled them on. Fights over toilet paper have emerged, even around here. I think half the people who post memes on hoarding toilet paper, have hoarded toilet paper.
Then there's the guy in Laracha, near A Coruña, who attacked a gas station attendant with a screw driver for coughing in his vicinity. And there are those criminal idiots who, knowing that the virus originally came from an animal, have decided to abandon their pets, thinking they are vectors. And let's not talk about the mindless imbeciles who attack Asian people because the virus is "Chinese," or "created" in a "Chinese laboratory".
Perhaps one of the worse reactions came from those Madrileños wealthy enough to have second homes elsewhere in the country. Without a thought to whether they were infected or not, they set out en masse to occupy those second homes, sometimes in areas where the infection was still trying to get a foothold. After their arrival, contagion bloomed. Because, of course, they could go out for an apéritif, or just stroll along the waterfront, rubbing shoulders with the locals. Among those, oh, so generous people, are the ex-prime minister, José María Aznar and his wife, Ana Botella. They went down to their chalet in Marbella. Just like the wealthy tried to escape the Black Death by leaving the cities, and taking the plague to the countryside with them.
And I won't say anything about a group of about 200 tourists in Benidorm, mainly British, that drunkenly refused to return to their hotel rooms when the police came to close the bars where they were liberally imbibing. There was almost a riot. Seriously? Travelling to a hotspot of contagion just to get drunk? Travelling anywhere, anytime, just to get drunk?
Last night, the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez went on television, explaining the state of alarm that had been declared. As of midnight, everyone indoors. Normally, that would have been impossible. The Spanish people are not known for staying home when they could be going out on the town. But, with everything shut down, and fines from three hundred to thirty thousand euros as an incentive, they did. Today being Sunday, the cars would have been few, anyway. But now, if it weren't for the rain, I could sit down in the middle of the road in front of my house and read a couple of chapters before having to move over to let a car by. And, if anyone is tempted to go out, let it be known. My brother-in-law came by for one minute to collect a hoe he left here yesterday. He was stopped by the Guardia Civil and asked where and why he was travelling. It's serious.
It's not all bad news. There was a moment of calm and beauty last night. In Italy, quarantined neighbors had been gathering in windows and balconies to sing in the afternoons. At ten last night, Spaniards did the same, but to applaud and say thank you to all the doctors, nurses, technicians, and everyone else who is breaking their backs to have this pass as quickly as possible. Tonight, word has gone out that the same will happen, only at eight o'clock this time, for the children to join.
Life continues.
Oh my word. I never knew it was so bad there. Thank you for this. I'm so appalled and shocked about the poor pets who've been abandoned, not to mention the irresponsible behaviour of people travelling to other parts of the country and taking their infection with them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words.
ReplyDelete