Coronavirus Lockdown Spanish Edition - Day 9 - Let's extend this shall we?

So President Sánchez announced today that he's going to ask Congress to extend the State of Alarm an additional two weeks, until April 11th.

No surprise there. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was later extended one or two weeks past that! One of the reasons he mentioned for the two week time frame, is to make sure the country is still locked down for Holy Week, one of the key holiday weeks in Spain with millions of people on the road to holiday homes, hotels, grandparents' etc. The last thing they want is to have paralyzed the country for several weeks, let people out and then have a new spike in infections and have it all been for nothing. And by Easter there will still be contagious people. And sadly enough people have proven they can't even follow the rules when it's the law and they're at risk of paying a hefty fine, so there's no reason to believe they would follow simple "recommendations" to stay home, especially after having been locked up for so long. 😔 One of the reasons I think it might go on past the announced extra two weeks (at least one more) is that about a third of the country (including us in Alicante and the rest of the Valencian Community) has its Easter break the week after Easter Sunday... so the same reasoning applies. 

This situation is going to get worse before it gets better... The president has been warning of that in recent speeches, asking people to be disciplined and do their civic duty. He's been saying that new resources are coming (financial, medical material, emergency field hospitals). I wonderful if it will be enough? If people will see it as enough? Because of course people are angry at the government. Some for political reasons (leftwing coalition governing, so all the supporters of the rightwing parties are like "the others could have done it better"). Some because they're fed up with the restrictions. Others because they feel those same restrictions were too little too late! Last night after the 8pm balcony applause session for the health services, at 9pm there was a "cacerolada" (clanging of pots and pans) to protest the government. Caught me by surprise! I guess none of the WhatsApp groups I'm in are very political 'cause I didn't get that message (and wouldn't have contributed to it if I had).

The cracks in the "unity" front are starting to show along political lines. Shouldn't this be a time to put politics aside and just support the government any way possible? Especially when they're taking this seriously and taking strong measures, unlike some other countries and governments I will refrain from mentioning... 😬 Some measures are a bit slower or not as strong as many people would like, agreed, but we are talking about a country with a hefty bureaucracy and a coalition government, neither of those facilitates speedy action and smooth sailing. There is no solution that is going to make everyone happy, so just buckle down and follow the rules people! If you disagree, vote in a different government next time around.

#stayhome #quedateencasa #yomequedoencasa #restecheztoi