Chronicles of the Virus Day 47. Difficult Childhoods and Difficult Deaths.

Another neighbor from our parish died from Covid-19. He was seventy, and both he and his wife got infected when they went on an Imserso trip back in early March. 

Imserso is an acronym for Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales (Institute for Elderly and Social Services). It was created in 1978 and is like a frills package for those who need social services provided by the Seguridad Social. They provide all kind of care and administrative issues for elderly and special needs people. The most famous of which are the vacation packages for, mostly, retired people. 

Those packages are intended for those who don't have large incomes to be able to travel around Spain, and to bring some custom to touristy areas off-season. Many people take advantage of their offers, and sign up for trips. I have neighbors that go almost every year. But, this year, it was a poison pill for many. The elderly that first got sick here in Galicia, brought the virus from Lloret del Mar and Benidorm, on the Mediterranean coast. This seventy-year old neighbor went on one of those trips. Aside from his wife, his sons are also infected, though they are all recuperating.

Many of those who have died were over eighty years old. Many of those witnessed the Civil War as children and then suffered through the years of famine. Others were born directly into the famine, and suffered the rebulding of the country, with little schooling and working hard from a young age. 

In a way, it's a good thing my parents have already passed away. With their pathologies, if they had made it to now, it's very likely they would have died in an ICU, alone. My mother would have been ninety-one this year, and my father eighty-nine. When the Civil War started, my mother was seven, and my father five. They were young adolescents during the famine years, and my father started working with stone masons when he was nine. My mother wasn't allowed to continue in school after she had learned the basics of reading, writing, and math. She was needed at home, and there wasn't enough money for all the siblings to study. My father never went, and learned the basics from a priest who tutored him when he was laid in bed with a knee problem for a few months, as a child. 

Like them, others of their generation had to work hard as children to be able to eat, and then as adults to make decent lives. Many, like my parents, emigrated to work elsewhere. Some went to other parts of Spain, others to European countries. A few to Venezuela, or Cuba before its troubles, like my mother's brother. Those that could, went to the United States. Others to Mexico, or Argentina, or Brazil. This generation, that worked upwards of twelve hours a day during too much of their lives, and who had no safety nets other than family, is the one dying from this scourge. Their early lives were hard, and their deaths are harder. 

Those of us who remain healthy should appreciate this quarantine, however much it chafes, and however much we want to take up life where we left off. It's now our turn to make sacrifices. Many small businesses, especially small bars and restaurants, are against the scheduled re-opening, saying that they won't make enough money to pay their staff if they can only start with terraces at thirty percent capacity. It's understandable, because some small bars only have one or two tables outside. But it's also understandable that we can't start off congregating many people in small spaces. The government gave the blueprint the other day, but that blueprint has to be worked out. Hopefully, small establishments will be allowed to remain shuttered, and keep receiving some government compensation, so they can open in later weeks. However, it's known that some places will remain shuttered forever. It's not the government's fault, it's the virus' fault. 

So, those who are stoking anger against the government can cool it. They probably wouldn't have done it any better. People's lives come first. The economic side can be worked out later. It will take time, but health is more important. 

Now that we are at this point, some people are thinking over earlier choices. Such as the woman in Australia who is trying to sell 378 packets of toilet paper she panic-bought at the beginning of their lockdown. On top of insult, she was asking twenty dollars for each packet, when they retail around ten. When the irate reactions started coming in, she withdrew her ad from Facebook. Lady, you just bought yourself a lifetime of toilet paper. Enjoy.

Life continues.