COVID-19 Diaries: The Situation In Spain, 121 Days In

Heather Rowsell is a retiree from the UK living in Spain, 9,767km away from Wuhan, China. She told us how her household has been coping with the National Emergency declared by the Spanish government and also how the 3 of them worked out how to share a single Netflix account. 

Q: Hi Heather, thanks for speaking with us all the way from Spain! When did you first hear about the 2019-nCoV novel coronavirus and what did you think of it then? 

A: The first time I heard about the COVID-19 virus was in January 2020, it was on the news about Wuhan in China with cases spreading very fast. It was also said that a doctor there tried to warn the authorities in advance, and was ordered to say nothing. But as the number of cases grew so fast, people were posting photos and expressing their fear online. Social media announced the truth while their government regime seemed more concerned about an economic downturn and how other countries would react. 

Even when it started to spread to other, smaller “hotspots” in China, it would never get to Europe right? Even when experts said it would spread to other countries, it would never get to Europe right? For Europeans the subject hardly got a mention here, life carried on as normal for us. We had sympathy for the Chinese population and could only imagine what it must be like. We did not dwell on the situation at all.         

How concerned are you and the people of Spain now? How many are infected or dead because of the virus in Spain at the moment of this interview?

Very concerned, it hit home hard when the shutdown first began, and makes me wonder just how long such a heavily restricted life will last. The Spanish Government is discussing further restrictive measures today, but what else?!   

As I write this..
Current figures in Spain:
Total cases: 78,799.
New cases: 5,564 (last 24 hours).
Total deaths: 6,606.
Deaths: 624. (last 24 hours).

Spain has the world’s 4th largest COVID-19 outbreak. Second highest in Europe behind Italy. Double the total number of deaths in China.

The situation in Madrid and Barcelona is horrific, beyond critical, the Spanish people there say the system is devastated. There’s an acute shortage of equipment, and believe this or not: Healthcare workers account for 13% of COVID-19 cases, so there’s a huge shortage of medical staff.

Hotels are being turned into hospitals for those with less severe symptoms. A massive ice skating rink is now a morgue. A huge conference centre is now a field hospital. Coffee shops have turned into food banks, and the army delivers to those in need and helps with sourcing supplies. A car manufacturer is changing production lines to making ventilators and an airline is now building other vital medical equipment. Bear in mind this country has one of the best medical healthcare systems in the world, even prepared for something like this, but not on such a phenomenal scale.

Concern varies from how devastating it is for people, families, especially the elderly on their own, and how the emergency services put their lives on the front line every day despite the risk of contracting the virus.

Experts worldwide talk about “flattening the curve” so that hospitals and emergency services can cope with the number of cases. But look at any chart and beyond a spike the virus doesn’t just go away, it’s still there in a straight line. With a return to free movement are we back to square one with numbers increasing rapidly again?

Who were the first few coronavirus infected people in Spain and where did they contract COVID-19 from?

On January 31^st 2020 the first confirmed case of coronavirus was reported in the Canary Islands, part of Spain, but not mainland. On the same day Spaniards were evacuated from the place where COVID-19 originated from Wuhan in China, and landed in Madrid. A few days later another case was reported on the island of Mallorca, both had just returned from Italy.

On February 26^th 2020 several confirmed cases were reported in both Madrid and Barcelona, mainland Spain. So I can only assume those 2 clusters of the virus originated from Wuhan and Italy.

How did most people in Spain contract COVID-19? Can you tell us about the biggest clusters and how those happened?

I think we’ve all had time to learn the several ways COVID-19 can spread from person to person so easily. It’s the same on a global scale. It might be helpful to know that in the past couple of days 2 more symptoms have been reported. Lack of smell or taste, and that it can sit in the digestive system and cause symptoms similar to food poisoning.

Density of population is a major factor worldwide, Madrid, Barcelona and Catalonia are examples of the authorities being so overwhelmed so quickly, perhaps speed of containment was secondary. Even so, free movement in those huge regions turned into voluntary isolation then enforced isolation in a short space of time. (This happened before the whole country was quarantined).

So, for several weeks of emergency quarantine being 500 kilometres away from us, life here on the coast still carried on as normal. 

New clusters have recently been reported in smaller regions. Fortunately we have zero cases where we live on the Costa Blanca.

What measures has the government of Spain imposed to keep the COVID-19 outbreak under control? We know the whole of Spain is in lockdown but what does that really mean? What can’t you do and what must you do?

On Friday 13th March (appropriate date) the Government declared a National Emergency, the whole country was initially shut down for 2 weeks, borders closed, airports, and normal transport don’t exist anymore. These strict measures are now Europe wide, some countries have slight differences on travel within their country. Last week leaders of the EU closed all external borders for 1 month. 

For us humans this means staying inside and only being allowed out for essentials which include visits to supermarkets, pharmacies, and gas stations. They are the only places that remain open. The few people who have to go to work are those who keep essential supplies available to us (even a till operator needs paperwork to prove where they work). And of course all emergency services are free to drive wherever they need to. Another exception to the rule are lorries crossing borders delivering life’s necessities. 

Just one person (the driver) is allowed in a car and has to keep a receipt of where they’ve been shopping in case of being stopped by the police. No unnecessary journeys are allowed, and no taxi services are operating. Banks, solicitors, doctors (doctors surgeries are closed, but we have a local emergency number to call if necessary, and a doctor will come out to the house), dentists, schools, nurseries, post offices, bars, restaurants, hotels, swimming pools, gyms, every beach and all shops that don’t sell food are shut down, including car garages. They are only available to service essential lorries/wagons.

One of our cars is nearing its ITV date—“Inspecction Tecnica de Vihiculos”. If it goes beyond that date the car would normally be classed as illegal on the roads. No problem, it doesn’t matter anymore, there’s nowhere open to get it done.  

There must be a few I’ve missed out there but it doesn’t matter considering all we have open are supermarkets, chemists, and petrol stations. No free movement for anything except essentials, let’s face it, that’s all there is available.  

Dog owners are the only people allowed out on foot alone, while walking their dog once a day. (We’ve even discussed borrowing someone else’s and taking turns.) Sadly, this is the first time cranes aren’t moving since the upturn here in 2010. Even building sites are off limits.

People are working from home, that’s not a problem, but they’ve had to free up bandwidth for the internet across Europe because everyone’s watching Netflix, YouTube, etc, or making video calls. Here at our casa, our son who’s working from home owns Netflix (and his PlayStation) during the day, and we have ownership of Netflix at night. It works quite well aside from arguing about who’s got the sound bar on too loud. What would we do without Wi-Fi?    

Drones with cameras are the only things airborne, and there are many police roadblocks. We wouldn’t be able to drive beyond our province (unnecessary travel) without it being an emergency.

This is a truly bizarre situation to be in when there’s no reported cases nearby. Liberty and freedom disappeared overnight. Sounds draconian? Leaders of other free countries thought so at first, yet within a week they were doing the same thing. Down here on the coast we feel “relatively” safe from an invisible enemy, however it also feels a bit like we’re a collective experiment!

Will this pre-emptive lock down work? Only time will tell, but whatever it takes right? At first we were told this situation would last for 2 weeks, Day 8 we were told another 2 weeks were added to it, and a couple of days ago yet another 2 weeks. A total of 6 weeks so far which takes us to the end of April. But looking at the number of new cases and deaths going up so fast elsewhere, who knows? There are places in this country resembling war zones.     

How effective do you think the above measures have been in stopping the spread of the virus? What was done well and what could have been done better?

As inconvenient as it is, at first I thought enforced isolation was a bit much when there are no cases, but now it feels essential. Here on the coast we’ve escaped the COVID-19 crisis. So now, as inconvenient as it is, we feel protected, strict measures have been put in place sooner rather than later. Distance and boredom are now a good thing, even though we all moan and whinge.

After watching other democratic countries dither about freedom vs human rights, let me tell you:
There’s “advice” which goes ignored by some idiots, therefore defeating the objective.
There’s mandatory lockdown between people, businesses, monitored provinces and closed borders which hopefully works.

IF and only IF full mandatory lockdown procedures are put in place soon enough does protection have a chance. For coastal areas in Spain, they may have timed total isolation right. But inland it’s too late, small clusters have appeared outside of Madrid and Barcelona.

I know it’s too soon to say, but as yet cases are still rising rapidly in the most affected areas I’ve mentioned, the death toll every day is alarming. Surely those figures should be dropping by now, but as yet they’re still rising.

2 Spanish ministers (the minister for territorial policy, Carolina Darias and the equality minister, Irene Montero) have tested positive for the virus. How do you think that happened?

Until recent days, senior officials and dignitaries haven’t used the elbow bump on camera enough. Seems like they prefer grand announcements to be made while standing next to each other, shaking hands with someone who may have the virus, in what may be a place with contaminated surfaces.

I noticed this continued long after they’d announced their citizens should refrain from all of the above and use the elbow bump. While the rest of us are overloading Skype for conversation and video calling, there they were, doing exactly what we’ve been told not to and not doing exactly what we’ve been told to.  

A couple of days ago it was announced that Boris Johnson and the UK health minister both have the coronavirus. Oh the irony, I have no sympathy for those who arrogantly thought they were immune, it’s a kind of “justice” for ignoring the limitations they set for everyone else. For goodness sake even citizens of this country and others who do the double kiss thing gave that up yonks ago, but there’s more precaution required than that.

However, it seems they’ve finally got the message. I saw a video call with a Spanish minister in voluntary self-quarantine on the news last night. Donald Dump is moaning about being in the White House on his own playing with his Lego wall, and we the people have to put up with this crap.

Another disappointment came today: Prince Charles got the coronavirus and self-isolated for just 1 week. The rest of us Europeans have been told 2 weeks… Doctors have been following the rules, perhaps they should be in power.

What is the status of food, water and medical supplies in Spain right now? Are there any shortages? What is the plan for those shortages if so?

In our area, Day 1 of lockdown was all about panic buying, I have photos of empty shelves. We even bought serviettes as toilet paper! Since then we were told supermarket supplies would not be affected.

5 days later was a test run of this theory. Hand sanitiser and plastic gloves provided at the door plus a wipe-down of the trolley with anti-bac. The shelves were full, and the place itself devoid of people. We even had 4 different makes of overpriced toilet paper to choose from! What more could you ask for while in quarantine?

BUT, another 5 days later was a whole different story, I’d say shelves were almost half empty and no toilet paper of any kind. I really wish I could remember exactly what day and time it was “the day the shelves were full”. It might be the golden hour. Conclusion: Panic buying has stopped, but people are stocking up more than usual.

My husband just went down to the supermarket in our car, and our son in his (only the driver in a car). But they forgot about keeping 2 metres distance from each other while shopping, and got a stern telling off from a security guard. 

At first we thought a supermarket visit might be a possibility for social supermarket gatherings. For instance, message your friends round the corner: “I’m setting off now, see ya down the toilet paper aisle in 5 mins.” NOPE, even standing at opposite ends of the aisle wouldn’t work either, besides, what else is there to shout to each other about except which series you’re watching on Netflix, and on a scale of 1 to 10 how insane you feel today.

Today’s report about what’s on the shelves was interesting: well stocked on food, but no toilet paper, are people resorting to eating it now? There’s plenty of bottled water here on the Costa, there always is and many people have filter taps like us. No problem with water pressure either, our fresh water comes from desalination plants out at sea, and medical supplies are not affected. 

Have you and those around you done anything to prepare for the possibility that the novel coronavirus pandemic might get worse?

To be honest, with reference to the pandemic getting worse, there’s nothing we can do except donate to charity, adhere to quarantine rules and watch the news. There is no cheating the lockdown here, everyone knows how critical this situation is, so it’s a sit and wait situation for us. Meanwhile the coronavirus pandemic just gets worse in the cities. The number of cases continues to rise every day.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your life and that of those around you?

Self-containment, social distancing, washing hands more often, cleaning surfaces with anti-bac more than usual. Most of the time is spent online every day. Oh, and I’m still writing my blog, focusing on satire helps! I couldn’t be bothered doing a workout though, those days are gone for now. Forget maintaining my abs, the need for entertainment is more important.

It’s now got to the stage whereby we know the only places at any level of risk are the supermarket or the chemist. Gas stations are ok, no-one is allowed in, there’s a kiosk where you pay, and if you need anything from inside, just say and the guy passes it to you. Thankfully the risk is minimal, but who knows if ultra early quarantine works? We’ve all been told to use debit cards, not coins.

What will you do if you or those who live with you develop symptoms of the virus? What do the authorities of Spain want you to do?

To be honest, we haven’t seriously discussed the possibility of any of us getting the virus, probably because it’s so far away. Naïve? Perhaps, but we know what to do, isolate (whoever) in one room. However, even if the symptoms were mild, I wouldn’t take any chances about severity, ring the emergency services ASAP.

The authorities have given us regional numbers to call and as previously stated a doctor comes to your house to test and assess (everyone).

There’s 3 of us living in our house, my husband and I both took early retirement, and our son is an estate agent working from home now. As you can imagine there isn’t much for him to do except keep in touch with clients who can’t leave their own country, and wouldn’t be allowed in here!

If you did contract COVID-19, what do you think your odds of surviving it are and why do you think so? 

If I contracted COVID-19 I´m guessing my odds would be fairly good. All 3 of us have taken vitamin C and Vitamin B (iron) in soluble form for years. We each have our own exercise routines, which admittedly have gone out the window for 16 days. None of us are obese or have any underlying health problems. The last time I had a cold was about 2 years ago.

I’ve heard people talk about starting to take vitamin C now, sadly it doesn’t work that way, in order for it to improve immunity a person has to have been taking it for years, every day and not in tablet form. How do I know all this? My grandmother was a chemist, and a pioneer of how vitamins and minerals can help the immune system in the 1930’s. Never as a cure for anything other than a basis of resistance and prevention if taken regularly. 

When do you think this COVID-19 pandemic will end and why do you think so?

Dr Fauci is the leading expert of infectious diseases in the USA. I watched an interview of his today where he stated that this was the worst case scenario of any respiratory borne pandemic he has ever studied. One that easily spreads from one person to another with a high degree of fatality and morbidity. He called COVID-19 devastating. Even this leading health expert, the guy who’s advised several different presidents about infectious diseases, knows several outcomes. But not which one. He also said the virus is the clock and we can’t know when a turnaround will occur because it’s too unpredictable.

So basically my answer is this, if he doesn’t know, then neither do any of us.  

What are the best and worst examples of humanity you’ve seen since the COVID-19 crisis broke out?

In Spain, the best examples are the doctors, nurses, specialists, police, paramedics who are willing to enter this war zone every day, work for many hours, put themselves at risk of infection, and continue to do so. Even though their own colleagues are contracting this virus in the thousands. 14% of COVID-19 cases, are now medical staff.

Retired doctors and nurses going back to work. Coffee shops providing food for emergency services. Seamstresses are making masks. Car manufacturers switching production lines from cars to ventilators. Plane manufacturers making medical equipment. Donated food bank collection points, usually at ex-restaurants, delivered by taxi drivers. Overstretched emergency services, paramedics, police, helping in any way they can. The army, responsible for turning hotels into field hospitals. An ice rink into a morgue. A conference centre into Europe’s biggest field hospital. Disinfecting empty train stations, airports, and transport of desperately needed equipment in army trucks.

All these brave heroes get a round of applause, a tribute for their services throughout Madrid and Barcelona every night at 8pm. People sing from their balconies and let their gratitude be heard. It started in Italy, and other EU countries now do the same.

There´s even a YouTube video where 3 police cars drive down a road in Spain with sirens blaring and lights flashing. Then they all get out and sing in the road while one of them plays a guitar to the people, for the people. (They were on a shift change so don’t judge.)

Truly heart warming, it brings tears to my eyes.

Unfortunately the worst I’ve seen is a video of drunken Brit yobs fighting with Spanish police officers in Benidorm. Apparently they tried to break into a (closed bar) after they’d worked their way through several bottles of god knows what from a liquor store first.

Why is it always the Brits? Truly heart breaking.

Which 3 items or people are most useful for you right now?

2 out of 3, my husband and son, which is all about companionship, not usage, caring for each other remains the same under any circumstances.

And there’s a number 4, keeping my sense of humour alive.      

Lastly, what have you learned from this novel coronavirus outbreak that you didn’t know before?

What I’ve learned from the coronavirus is to remain positive, and stay safe while in quarantine. It’s also made me realise how precious FREEDOM is, and how under normal circumstances we take it all for granted.

Heather has no more goals for the future (“I don’t need goals anymore, I’ve been to so many countries in my life and experienced everything on the average bucket list.”) but you can find out what she gets up to in Spain on her blog, twobritsinspain.com or ask her more about the situation in Spain using the comment box below. 

Tomorrow we speak with someone closer to the pandemic, who is living in a building with 3 infected residents. Follow the latest in our COVID-19 Diaries series here.

If you’re in a country that has been affected by the novel coronavirus and would like to share information about the situation where you’re at, do get in touch with us here.

Photographs courtesy and copyright of Heather Rowsell. Interviewer: Sy
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