The Come-Back, Day 35. The New Normality.
Galicia is in its last day of the state of alarm. Tomorrow, ahead of the rest of the country, it will enter the new normality.
Which is not that much different from Phase 3. There still exists a health alarm, and people still have to be careful about getting infected. The rules are much the same, except the minimum distance between people is now 1.5 meters. People still have to wear masks in public, and will be fined €100 if they don't.
From what I've been noticing, the new normality and Phase 3 only mean that people can now start living their lives again as usual. People care very little that they can't be less than a meter and a half from others they don't live with. As for masks, if they don't feel like it, they don't wear one, period. Some don't even seem to have one on their person when they go out. I admit to lowering it to my neck on the street, but I also admit to swerving away from people who don't seem to care about bumping into me. The fact that the infection rate in Galicia is the lowest in the country doesn't mean the virus has completely disappeared.
This new normality will last until there is an effective treatment or a vaccine, whichever comes first. I am starting to think that the José Luís Perales concert, which was to have been this month and for which we have tickets, will not be held next March, to when it was bumped. And if it is, and we have to wear masks, I am almost willing to forego it, and let my husband go with someone else if we don't want my ticket to go to waste. Scientists are making headway, but, as we were warned when this began, it takes time. It takes time to research a vaccine, to develop it, and then to make it and market it. As for a treatment, if existing medications are shown to not be effective, researching one might take even longer than a vaccine. Now, with stuff like this, is when we realize that public investment in medical research is better than leaving it to the pharmaceuticals. Public money decides which research is for the public good. Private money decides which research can make more money.
The outside borders are supposed to open as of July 1st. Okay, good. It will mean our suffering tourist economy might survive. But, what provisions will be made to check any possible infection that might come from abroad? Who is fancy-free enough to travel for pleasure during a pandemic? I would propose that all tourists pay for their own PCR test before a flight, to make sure they're not infected. Checking temperature doesn't mean anything, if people can pass the virus without any symptoms. If a person is willing to travel for pleasure in these times, surely they can include in their travel expenses a PCR test. Wearing a mask and keeping 1.5 meters away from people won't stop infections because people don't follow the rules. These days, in a couple of hospitals in Euskadi, there has been a foci of infection. Yet, the rules in place are supposed to prevent that. When the infection rate starts to rise again along the Mediterranean coast, we'll see what really happens to our tourism economy.
Yes, there will be a second wave. I predict it will start in areas with heavy foreign tourism, or where visitors from heavily hit areas in Spain travel. And it will become more generalized in the second half of September when schools re-open. Once again, like in 1918, the fall, with cooler temperatures and a general increase of colds, sniffles, and the regular flu, will bring with it the right conditions for the coronavirus to re-bloom. The severity of the wave will depend on various factors; how fast we are to close up, again, and whether or not the virus has lessened in severity or worsened. We are not out of the woods, and the new normality is more of a happy mask than anything else.
Life continues. With bumps in the road.
Which is not that much different from Phase 3. There still exists a health alarm, and people still have to be careful about getting infected. The rules are much the same, except the minimum distance between people is now 1.5 meters. People still have to wear masks in public, and will be fined €100 if they don't.
From what I've been noticing, the new normality and Phase 3 only mean that people can now start living their lives again as usual. People care very little that they can't be less than a meter and a half from others they don't live with. As for masks, if they don't feel like it, they don't wear one, period. Some don't even seem to have one on their person when they go out. I admit to lowering it to my neck on the street, but I also admit to swerving away from people who don't seem to care about bumping into me. The fact that the infection rate in Galicia is the lowest in the country doesn't mean the virus has completely disappeared.
This new normality will last until there is an effective treatment or a vaccine, whichever comes first. I am starting to think that the José Luís Perales concert, which was to have been this month and for which we have tickets, will not be held next March, to when it was bumped. And if it is, and we have to wear masks, I am almost willing to forego it, and let my husband go with someone else if we don't want my ticket to go to waste. Scientists are making headway, but, as we were warned when this began, it takes time. It takes time to research a vaccine, to develop it, and then to make it and market it. As for a treatment, if existing medications are shown to not be effective, researching one might take even longer than a vaccine. Now, with stuff like this, is when we realize that public investment in medical research is better than leaving it to the pharmaceuticals. Public money decides which research is for the public good. Private money decides which research can make more money.
The outside borders are supposed to open as of July 1st. Okay, good. It will mean our suffering tourist economy might survive. But, what provisions will be made to check any possible infection that might come from abroad? Who is fancy-free enough to travel for pleasure during a pandemic? I would propose that all tourists pay for their own PCR test before a flight, to make sure they're not infected. Checking temperature doesn't mean anything, if people can pass the virus without any symptoms. If a person is willing to travel for pleasure in these times, surely they can include in their travel expenses a PCR test. Wearing a mask and keeping 1.5 meters away from people won't stop infections because people don't follow the rules. These days, in a couple of hospitals in Euskadi, there has been a foci of infection. Yet, the rules in place are supposed to prevent that. When the infection rate starts to rise again along the Mediterranean coast, we'll see what really happens to our tourism economy.
Yes, there will be a second wave. I predict it will start in areas with heavy foreign tourism, or where visitors from heavily hit areas in Spain travel. And it will become more generalized in the second half of September when schools re-open. Once again, like in 1918, the fall, with cooler temperatures and a general increase of colds, sniffles, and the regular flu, will bring with it the right conditions for the coronavirus to re-bloom. The severity of the wave will depend on various factors; how fast we are to close up, again, and whether or not the virus has lessened in severity or worsened. We are not out of the woods, and the new normality is more of a happy mask than anything else.
Life continues. With bumps in the road.
Hi Maria. Your blog throughout this health crisis has been most interesting. Nice to read about local Galician life in English. Colin did well with his plugs....
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad you've like reading it!
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