Covid-19 Pandemic Year 1
The reality of the Covid-19 pandemic and what it might mean for the world is dawning on us...
We're here in Nerja, with Spain now operating under the newly imposed State of Alarm, which gives the government special powers to restrict movement etc. for 15 days. This will now become a no-travelling blog, I fear....
Here's a summary from El País of the announcement by the PM, Pedro Sánchez made yesterday.
In effect, we are confined to our house and allowed out, singly, only to obtain food and medicines; we must take our passport and Spanish ID and the Police and Guardia are enforcing the emergency powers using drones. Penalties for non compliance range from 100 Euros to prison terms. There is a published fine of 600 Euros for walking within the urbanisation other than for the above purposes .
Although incoming borders are closed to non residents and most flights are cancelled, we are booked in a flight on Sat 19th with Ryanair; we've also got our daughter Alessandra with us, booked out on a 'rescue' easyJet flight.
The beaches are, of course, closed:
[this image was taken the day before the lockdown]
Given the rise in Covid-19 infections in Spain, we're more than approving of this approach by the authorities, despite the slight twitch over the loss of our personal liberty.
Update #1
It's no surprise that the lockdown is likely to continue beyond the 15 days
Our Ryanair Saturday flight is cancelled later in the day but we are able to grab seats on a flight the preceding Friday; that's, er, tomorrow but one of the few remaining flights out as it happens. Naturally it costs a lot more and there is a glitch on the website that means it won't give me a refund for the cancelled flight. The alternative is sometime in April or even later. While I appreciate the difficulties the airlines are dealing with, each cancellation produces a chain of issues for each customer; it certainly does for us. Do we have faith that we're going to get to the UK? If it wasn't for a UK medical appointment, we would be happy to spend the next couple of months locked down here; it feels safe and there's always Skype and the like for the family. Alessandra's easyJet rescue flight whisks her off to London Stansted without a hitch, thank goodness.
Update #2
We catch the 17.40 Ryanair flight to London Southend without a hitch. The airport is quiet, with all observing the metre rule, which means long queues moving quickly! The 'plane is around two thirds full which is a bonus in these circumstances but we still wear our masks and refrain from food and purchased drinks on board.
It's a stark contrast in the UK, though, where 'social distancing' doesn't seem to have caught on as yet and, after Spain, it all feels alarmingly conducive to virus contagion; I actually feel mildly traumatised as we shop for essentials. It will be interesting to see how this is managed as the infection rate increases. We're going into lockdown for a couple of weeks in any event.
Fingers crossed...
Update #3
Decisive action.
On Monday 23 March, Boris Johnson has, in effect, locked down the UK in a similar manner to other European countries. Some may say that critical time has been wasted in 'advising' the population to keep 2m apart and failing to appreciate the impact of uncoordinated actions such as reducing transport services while not defining essential workers, resulting in scenes such as this on our local commuting line only yesterday.
So now we're confined to our home apart from:
Still, is this the start of a real impact on the spread of Covid 19 in the UK? Let us hope so.
Here's a summary from El País of the announcement by the PM, Pedro Sánchez made yesterday.
In effect, we are confined to our house and allowed out, singly, only to obtain food and medicines; we must take our passport and Spanish ID and the Police and Guardia are enforcing the emergency powers using drones. Penalties for non compliance range from 100 Euros to prison terms. There is a published fine of 600 Euros for walking within the urbanisation other than for the above purposes .
Although incoming borders are closed to non residents and most flights are cancelled, we are booked in a flight on Sat 19th with Ryanair; we've also got our daughter Alessandra with us, booked out on a 'rescue' easyJet flight.
The beaches are, of course, closed:
Given the rise in Covid-19 infections in Spain, we're more than approving of this approach by the authorities, despite the slight twitch over the loss of our personal liberty.
Update #1
It's no surprise that the lockdown is likely to continue beyond the 15 days
Our Ryanair Saturday flight is cancelled later in the day but we are able to grab seats on a flight the preceding Friday; that's, er, tomorrow but one of the few remaining flights out as it happens. Naturally it costs a lot more and there is a glitch on the website that means it won't give me a refund for the cancelled flight. The alternative is sometime in April or even later. While I appreciate the difficulties the airlines are dealing with, each cancellation produces a chain of issues for each customer; it certainly does for us. Do we have faith that we're going to get to the UK? If it wasn't for a UK medical appointment, we would be happy to spend the next couple of months locked down here; it feels safe and there's always Skype and the like for the family. Alessandra's easyJet rescue flight whisks her off to London Stansted without a hitch, thank goodness.
Update #2
We catch the 17.40 Ryanair flight to London Southend without a hitch. The airport is quiet, with all observing the metre rule, which means long queues moving quickly! The 'plane is around two thirds full which is a bonus in these circumstances but we still wear our masks and refrain from food and purchased drinks on board.
It's a stark contrast in the UK, though, where 'social distancing' doesn't seem to have caught on as yet and, after Spain, it all feels alarmingly conducive to virus contagion; I actually feel mildly traumatised as we shop for essentials. It will be interesting to see how this is managed as the infection rate increases. We're going into lockdown for a couple of weeks in any event.
Fingers crossed...
Update #3
 |
| source: twitter, @YourSouthend |
Decisive action.
On Monday 23 March, Boris Johnson has, in effect, locked down the UK in a similar manner to other European countries. Some may say that critical time has been wasted in 'advising' the population to keep 2m apart and failing to appreciate the impact of uncoordinated actions such as reducing transport services while not defining essential workers, resulting in scenes such as this on our local commuting line only yesterday.
So now we're confined to our home apart from:
- essential goods such as food shopping
- trips out for medicines or medical/support need
- travel to and from work, only where absolutely necessary
- one exercise trip per day, alone or with household members only
- gatherings of more than two people banned
- all non essential retail outlets to close
Essential needs a bit of defining - already we have Sports Direct claiming they are an essential retail outlet...
Still, is this the start of a real impact on the spread of Covid 19 in the UK? Let us hope so.
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