Madrid - Day 1
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We are in Madrid and we are fine. And given the restrictions in place we are confident that we are in a very safe environment with the best chance to get through this. In short we’re in lockdown…but it took too long to get to it. Despite having much more ongoing testing than in the US and the example of Italy nearby, life went on as usual until this past Monday. Government was understandably IMO trying to balance economic concerns with the available evidence of infection.
Well, on Monday they closed the schools and that got everybody’s attention, but still shops and restaurants etc were open…but not many people in them. Friday bars and restaurants closed and as of this morning only grocery stores, pharmacies will be open and only those in transit to those places or to work will be allowed on the street... so we are at the Italy model…France will be next.. All of this to prevent worst case scenarios which in Italy, sadly are already being experienced…where medical care is overwhelmed and Drs need to make “wartime like” triage decisions about who they’ll treat and who not.
The US situation scares me more. We have 2 kids “back home” so you can imagine our concern. An example much too close to home….A family member lives in Scottsdale and has had all the symptoms for a week, Despite having urgent care and physician who wanted and needed to test him, no testing is yet available. He is now in the hospital with pneumonia and still has not had a COVID 19 test.
I fear that the lack of testing is vastly under reporting the numbers and has made this much more dangerous than it needed to be. I am encouraged by the leadership that businesses and leagues and such have taken, as well as local communities and some state governments but there is still too much misinformation that is causing both denial and confusion. And sadly our polarized society makes any notion of appealing to a common good that much more difficult.
Politicians here made decisions that stalled the response all in the name of not causing undue economic disruption, and regardless of their motivation it made things more dangerous. What’s going on in the US seems far more dangerous. . I’m glad to see that the State of Emergency has been declared and pray that everyone does their part to mitigate this. Dr. Fauci is the real deal and, he is the right man and now in a stronger position to provide the real leadership required. But in the end it will have to be about people putting their politics and opinions aside and all doing the right thing.
Prayers and best wishes to all.