CORONAVIRUS IN MADRID

The coronavirus robbed us of our streets, deprived us of our travels, our routine, our social lives, our travels, visits to our family and friends…. and above it robbed our freedom. It won’t rob us of our fighting spirit to stop it.

The Situation

Since mid-March, Madrid has been fighting the coronavirus with drastic measures decreed by the government: closure of all commercial establishments, such as shopping centers, restaurants, cafes, bars, cultural centers and museums. In order to avoid contagions, any type of movement is extremely limited. Civilian air and land traffic has been considerably limited with severe restrictions. Madrid residents are only allowed to leave their homes to go to food stores, supermarkets or pharmacies. Citizens must keep a distance of one meter from each other outside their home and before entering one of the establishments mentioned. The figures for the coronavirus are frightening: currently Spain is the 4th country in the world most affected by coronavirus with around 40,000 people infected and nearly 3,000 dead.

The Streets

The few people we see in the streets wear gloves and masks. It is allowed to leave your home only individually. There are slogans “Quedate en casa” (stay at home) everywhere. The routine of going and coming back from the supermarket is similar to the quality procedures in the pharmaceutical industry. Madrid is a desert but it is the only way to reoccupy the streets that this virus has stolen from us. The sooner we stay at home, the sooner we’ll go out to enjoy the city.

Uncertainty

At this time of great uncertainty, we wonder what is going to happen: when are we going to be able to fight the virus once and for all? Is the worst to come as the government tells us? How long will containment last? When will we return to normal life after quarantine? These questions are difficult to answer because we are living in an unprecedented situation on our planet: there is no history, there are no references, we have never known a similar situation in our times.

Every day we learn a little more about the virus and how to stop infections, people cheering from their balconies in solidarity with the health workers and everyone else who continues to work to ensure minimum services. Stopping the virus is in our hands, if we all come together, we can stop the infections by following the instructions from authorities and government.

Questions

Uncertainty is not just about health, it is also about economic and social environment. How long can small and large businesses withstand this situation? Can layoffs be avoided? How will the markets react to the collapse in general demand? What imbalances are we facing? Is the world about to change? There was a before and there will be a post coronavirus: the way we travel, socialize, go shopping, take care of ourselves, eat, will our routine change?

All of these questions still do not have a clear answer, we cannot yet assess the long-term damage and changes that the coronavirus will cause in our society because it is still too early: for instance we are all focused on fighting it. However, the only thing we can affirm is the sooner we fight it, the less damage it will cause in the future and in our lives.