Day 43 – Monday 27th April
I woke up this morning feeling good. A sense of calm and contentment had come over me. I suspect this is due to the fact that I may be allowed out for a daily walk as of next week. It’s not just the opportunity to walk, though God knows I’ve missed that, it’s the fact that Spain is beginning to loosen its strict quarantine rules. A sign of better things to come. Now I know we still have a long way to go and that we’re likely to experience further spikes of new cases in the future, but it’s a step in the right direction. That’s all I need. It doesn’t take much to keep me happy.
It helps that many other European countries are also loosening their restrictions or looking at doing so in the near future. Then there is this week’s statistics. I have put my usual table below and you can see that new cases and deaths have significantly dropped this week. There is light at the end of this tunnel, though I appreciate it is still a very long one.
Apparently the expert health committee advising the government on lockdown measures has now presented their recommendations for what needs to be in place at each regional health authority to allow further deescalation of the lockdown. I won’t bore you with the details of this and I have no doubt the regional authorities and central government will need to go through their usual bickering before this criteria is finalised, but again it is a step in the right direction and something concrete to aim for. Having read a summary of the criteria, they are not the easiest to set up so I’m not expecting a rapid response.
Finally with the exception of a few pockets of idiots, who will always exist no matter the crisis, the majority of families throughout Spain kept to the regulations laid out for allowing children one hour of outside exercise a day. This is according to the Guardia Civil and National Police, and I’ve no reason to doubt them. To be honest I have been quite proud of the way most of Spain has behaved and come together to support their health service during this lockdown. The Spanish are masters at public demonstrations and I rather expected more protests against authority. However they are also very family oriented and now is the time to focus on those nearest and dearest to you. Mind you the rumblings of discontent have already started against the present administration, hence the pots and pans. I have no doubt the Spanish public will soon be back to their usual hobby of public protest.