Toilet rolls, that’s one way of fighting the recent pandemic. I’ve tried to think about all the possible scenarios in which you could use them and I’ve come to term there has to be only one answer: toilet paper forts. What else would you empty the shelves of toilet rolls for? Or maybe people are more and more scared so the widely used “shit-scared” way of saying has finally become our renovated reality?
Nevertheless, whether we like to have more or less toilet rolls at our sides, one thing is becoming clearer and clearer, this global pandemic of Coronavirus (for friends and relatives also known as COVID-19) has put a big stop sign on everyone’s head. Businesses are closing, travelling is getting harder and in some places even going to buy basic necessities requires a government permit. Whether we like it or not, this latest corona-fashion is having a huge effect on people lives.
As some might know, I’m currently based in Madrid but deep down I’m Italian and Italy is where my family lives. Funnily enough, this puts me in a position where I get to experience both effects of the COVID-19, from either of the most badly-hit countries in Europe. Believe when I say that trying to be objective is pretty hard but here’s a small update on how things are going.
© Miguel Medina, Marie-Laure Messana & Vincenzo Pinto on Getty Images
Coronavirus in Italy
At the moment, in Italy you’re required to have a permit to do literally anything outside your private property. Whether you want to go buy groceries, walk the dog, go to work (those who still go) or even simply take a look on the outside world: you need that piece of paper.
The permit itself is a self-certification where a single person/entity explains the reason behind “leaving the quarantine of his house” to go wander in the real world. Behold that the permit doesn’t give you infinite power on what you can do. Currently, there are just few activities that are allowed to be undertaken outside your home but what and to what extent each of this is allowed, seems to vary from time to time. Just not long ago, Italians have been given the chance to leave the house if they wanted to exercise or do sport outdoors.
Nonetheless, from that faithful day back in 31st January when Italy declared state of emergency, things have increasingly snowballed to schools being shut down, soon after all places/events where people meet (e.g. bars, restaurants, discos, malls, cinemas, theatres etc…) eventually got shut down too and things took a turn for the worst.
On the 7th of March, the country went in complete lockdown and thats when the permit came into place. Then, following the closure of schools on the 21st of February for Veneto and Lombardia, on the 9th of March schools all over the country were permanently shut down. On the same day, special measures were said to last until the 3rd of April but is that date really gonna be the end? Some days ago, a heavy “fake news” has been spreading around the country where it stated that the emergency measures were going to be pushed to the 2nd of May. Nonetheless, even though it may be fake now, doesn’t every lie hold a tiny little bit of truth?
Last but not least, one of the major issues many Italians (and other travellers alike) have been facing is related to travel. Many of us are living abroad (me included) and going back to our families and friends waiting for us in our home country has become a mind twisting feat. Countless were the times I overheard fellow countrymen trying to plan a “viable” route to get back to their homes due to trains, planes and buses being cancelled. Some have opted to rent-a-car paying extra drop-off fees whereas others are still awaiting, somewhere around the world, for the “planned” official Alitalia flights to be repatriated and quarantined.
© Albert Gea on Reuters
Coronavirus in Spain
If in Italy the pandemic panic has exploded like the wall street crash on a sunny day, here everything has took a turn for the worst with a two-week delay. At first, the prime minister of Spain was rock-solid in trying to avoid measures, similar to Italy, which would limit the citizens movements but then quickly changed sides.
On the 14th of March, there was a government meeting which eventually lead to Spain entering in the so called “Estado de Alarma” (state of alarm) aimed to limit movement throughout the country. This obviously lead to Spain starting to check all the boxes that Italy checked just a couple weeks before; schools permanently closed, business shutting down and leaving the house only for basic needs/activities.
On the 17th of March, all borders of Spain were closed and nothing was allowed in or out. To some extent even travelling between certain cities (the most badly hit) was not allowed. Even for citizens outside the country, heading back to their house in Spain ended up being next to impossible. Thankfully, no permit has to be carried around all the time and there seem to be no plans for its introduction anytime soon. That said, if you happen to be stopped by the police you could be fined but most importantly you’d be considered a “criminal” for breaking the state of quarantine. After the recent push of the Estado de Alarma to April, things might be reaching a peak this coming week.
The most amazing thing is walking around Madrid and feel as if you were taking a stroll through a ghost town back in the far-west. The streets are empty, just a couple of people here and there, but the rest are just policemen, postman or the essential Uber Eats/Rappi/Glovo adventurers sailing through a see of despair. As if this was not crazy enough, today I saw a Rappi driver having to take a piss on a wall cause nothing is open so toilets are not available. Hard to tell who was on the right side there.
Out of all is one thing is clear: nobody is enjoying this shitty situation. Some countries might be doing better than others but we’re all connected. Thanks to the crappy media spreading mostly fake news like a sprinkler (it has become a challenge to identify real facts these days), a global pandemic of this scale is having a huge direct and indirect effect on people lives. Whether China, Italy or Spain are the COVID-19 epicentre, it doesn’t look like the rest of the globe is just on a nice work-free vacation.
The world like we used to know it has gone for good. All that’s left to do is hide in our toilet paper rolls forts, wait for this sandstorm, or better shitstorm, to be over and start back again like we always do. Cause let’s be honest here, we’ve been through some nasty situations in the past and the last thing we gonna do is loose against a “beer-virus”.
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