Chronicles of the Virus Day 46. The Light Brightens.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Okay, it's more of a candlelight that's swiveling around, the wind threatening to blow it out with a barely bigger huff. But it's been lit and it's there, shining with a heart borrowed from the sun.

A four stage de-escalation has been presented. Apart from the children that can now go out for an hour, and the adults that will have a daily hour of solitary exercise from Saturday onwards, on the eleventh of May begins Phase One of de-escalation.

• Phase Zero: The one we're in now. The only thing that will change is that as of Monday, restaurants can open to provide take-out, only.
• Phase One: As of the eleventh of May, some small stores can open, allowing a reduced number of shoppers according to total area. Bars will be opened, but only the terraces. People will be able to book hotel rooms, but there are no public areas allowed. People can visit friends and families, though not inside their homes, and funerals can be held, but with a minimum of mourners. Churches can open, and so can schools, but only to be disinfected. Only thirty percent of total capacity will be allowed in public places. 
• Phase Two: Weddings are allowed. Restaurants can open, but only with thirty percent capacity. Malls will be allowed to open at forty percent. Theaters and movie theaters, with pre-assigned seats, and you better sit in your own seat. Thirty percent capacity allowed in museums and conferences. Seminars and shows in closed areas with a maximum of fifty people. Shows in open areas with a maximum of four hundred, and all seated, no milling about. Fifty percent capacity for churches. Fishing and hunting will be allowed. Schools for children up to six years of age whose parents work. Voluntarily, last year students (16 year-olds, 18 year-olds, and those finishing vocational courses). 
• Phase Three: More people allowed at weddings and funerals. People can begin to return to work who have been working at home. Masks to be used outside the house and on public transport (I don't know if this is a recommendation or obligation, yet.). Maximum of fifty percent capacity in stores, restaurants, and bars. Re-opening of discos and after-hours at a third of capacity. Theme parks with a maximum of eight hundred people. Hiking trails. Gyms, with a maximum of thirty percent capacity and no dressing rooms.

After that, we are back to the "new normal", whatever that may be, with a re-opening of everything else, beaches included. Though there will probably still be some kind of restrictions. Each phase will take two weeks, if all goes well, so perhaps by the end of June or beginning of July, this nightmare will be almost over. During each of those phases, however, we can't leave the province we're in. So, if I get a hankering to go over to Vilagarcía, I can't. I live in the province of A Coruña, and Vilagarcía is in Pontevedra. But my daughter can come home. Only, one of her roommates, who lives in Vigo, can't return to the apartment to pack up his belongings before the end of June, when their contract expires. I'm sure an exception will be made, though, by the landlord.

I assume that, as of the eleventh, I can return to my weekly routine of shopping over at the next township, at my preferred supermarkets. I don't know, however, if I can drive to Santiago, or if our daughter can come home. There is also no mention of whether driving schools re-open, or the course she was taking in ecological agriculture.

All these phases are not firm, nor are all questions answered. Many things still remain in the air, and as we go, things will be decided, and those decisions made firm or watered down. We are still at the mercy of Sir Corona. 

I just hope contagion keeps going down. But I fear that the phases will run for longer than two weeks each, and that the "new normal" will come in August, only to run back and hide when fall is upon us, and the virus comes into its own again. 

Let's hope the candle isn't blown out.

Life continues.