It's Day 4 of the quarantine. That's according to my count, after the State of Emergency went into effect on Sunday. But if you ask someone with kids, they'll say it's Day 6. On Friday, attendance at schools here was optional. I really feel for people cooped up in an apartment --especially with small kids-- which is most of the population. While spring is in the air, people can't even go outside for a walk (unless they have dogs or for the aforementioned acceptable reasons). But if it's what must be done to slow the spread of the pandemic, well, solidarity! We're staying inside not for ourselves, but for the greater good.
Some people, however, took the first indications of a pandemic as a joke. Madrid was the epicenter of Coronavirus in Spain. When schools, universities, and some businesses there closed last week for the health emergency, many left the city. That is, rather than staying in confinement as they should have, they spread the infection to other corners of Spain where there had been few or no cases. Granted, in some cases I understand: for example college students were in a tough spot and maybe saw coming home to Galicia as the best plan. It wasn't. My disgust comes from those natives of Madrid that came to Galicia to stay in their vacation homes. And they didn't come to lock themselves in their apartments, either. They came thinking this was an extra, federally-mandated vacation. They went to the beach. To bars. Spreading the disease. ¨I'm not sick, though.¨ Sure, maybe not now. But after being exposed to the virus for days, you really don't think you caught it? Even without symptoms you can be carrying it, infecting others around you. It's infuriating, really. Irresponsible and selfish! This is especially harsh in Galicia where there is a very large elderly population. While young people are more likely to live it like a common flu, the elderly are who's most likely to end up in the hospital or dead. Why didn't they just shut down the virus hot-spot immediately, like in Italy and China?!
So while the measures of confinement are all a step in the right direction, I'm afraid it's too little, too late. And if you're reading this from the USA, the same goes. We are just a few days ahead of you in terms of spreading. But if the government isn't going to take action, the best you can do is quarantine yourselves. I, for one, will try to take advantage of this time as I said, by reading and writing about fun, less apocalyptic experiences.
