More reopening questions answered, and how Portugal avoided Spain's fate
English language coronavirus news in Portugal on May 5, 2020.
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By the numbers
It’s another positive day for the stats, with the lowest number of deaths since March. But it’s worth noting, per Diário de Notícias, that number included the youngest victim so far. The Directorate-General of Health revealed the man was between 20 and 30 but didn’t share any more details. There was also a relatively small increase in new confirmed cases, continuing that trend we’ve seen in recent days.
What can you do? And what should you do?
It’s been a few days now since the government announced its plans for May but a lot of people still have some questions, which is totally understandable. Fortunately, Público has an article clarifying a few more things by talking to the head of the Epidemiology and Statistics Division of the Directorate-General of Health, Rita Sá Machado. Basically, the reopening plan will only continue if the pandemic keeps tracking in the right direction, so there are some things we’re no longer technically banned from doing, that we should still avoid.
Should we have dinner with friends and family?
The short answer is “no”. Sá Machado says even though this sort of thing is now allowed by law, it should be avoided wherever possible. She extends that advice to general social life, saying we shouldn’t “promote” this sort of behaviour, especially in such an early stage of the reopening plan. It would be better to continue to spend time with the people we love through video calls and other tech for the time being, she says.
Can we go to the beach, parks and gardens?
I’ve answered the beach part of this before. Surfing and other water sports are ok but hanging out on the sand or going for a short swim is off limits. In terms of parks and gardens, not much has changed. Some remain closed, particularly children’s playgrounds, and you can walk through the others, within reason. Sá Machado advises sticking to the parks that are close to your house and that it’s “still not the time” to sit on a bench for hours reading a book.
Taxis and Ubers can only transport two people
Obviously, it’s best to avoid going anywhere if you can. But, if you absolutely have to take a taxi, Uber, Bolt, Kapten or something else, you’ll be limited to two passengers, Diário de Notícias reports. A law limiting five-seater taxis and vehicles in the TVDE scheme (you’ll know the sign from the back windows) two passengers came into force on Monday. On Monday, police stopped 320 people not wearing a mask from taking public transport and fined three.
How did Portugal avoid Spain's fate?
I’m a day late highlighting this one but it’s a really interesting read and written in English so I encourage you all to take a look. The Financial Times, which has been doing an incredible job of tracking the pandemic worldwide, sets out the danger Portugal was facing as the virus ripped through Italy and Spain. Essentially, Portugal locked down at essentially the same time as Spain but the pandemic was much less advanced here at that time. That, combined with extensive testing, turned out to be a huge advantage. But there’s much more to it than that so I’d encourage you to read the article.
Everyone seems to be in a reflective and analytical mood because Spanish newspaper El Mundo has examined the striking difference between two very similar territories in Spain and Portugal. I can’t read Spanish but the Diário de Notícias report describes how the neighbouring regions of the Alentejo (in Portugal) and Extremadura (in Spain) share a border, a similar population density, a landscape dominated by agriculture, and relative scarcity of cities. In fact, the big difference is in hospitals: there are 130 in Extremadura and only five in the Alentejo. Yet 460 people have died in the Spanish region and only one in the Alentejo. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Elvas Mayor Nuno Mocinha, whose council is just 20 kilometres from the much bigger Spanish city of Badajoz, which is closer in size to Lisbon than any city in the Alentejo, also pointed to the Portuguese government’s early move to shut schools, services and declare a state of emergency.
Elvas is well worth a visit when this is all over. Photo: Angel de los Rios
Lisbon already has lines outside shops and difficulty with parking and masks
Diário de Notícias spent some time exploring Lisbon yesterday to mark the first day of the slow reopening. The journalist saw lines at shops, banks, post offices and other places and frustration at the finance office bureaus (Finanças), where people were told to make an appointment using a phone line that was overloaded. On the metro, some passengers were travelling without masks as a worker at Marquês de Pombal station remarked a vending machine selling them alongside disinfectant and gloves looked like it had jammed.
In brief
It’s World Hand Hygiene Day, so don’t forget to wash them!
A quarter of businesses don’t have money for a month of salaries. Público reports the lack of savings isn’t necessarily a bad business practice, until a pandemic arrives.
April electricity consumption fell to levels not seen since 2004. The monthly drop was 12%, with a 2.6% drop for the year to date.
On a lighter note
A Portuguese food delivery startup has launched a service to let you buy meals for homeless people, Time Out notes. EatTasty’s new solidarity service started as an initiative between friends on WhatsApp and has delivered more than 5500 meals since March, through associations such as ReFood Comunidade Vida e Paz (Community LIfe and Peace). A soup and a meal on the Help us to Help platform is only €4.99.
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