- Direct. Last minute about the coronavirus crisis
- The map: the advance of the coronavirus in Spain
- De-escalation: What should the walks, sports and outings of children be like?
Pilar and Enrique are walking along the left sidewalk of Rodríguez San Pedro street, towards the Plaza del Conde de Valle Suchil, in Madrid. They wear masks but turned inside out, with the white side facing out. They are both 71 years old.
- They have narrowly taken the walk, which is from the age of 70 - we told them.
- I wish he would have caught us with 18! - they joke.
Enrique has come out of something in the 50 days we have been confined by the state of alarm caused by the coronavirus. To the supermarket and the pharmacy. But Pilar is the first time on the street since March 16.
"I have not quit, firstly, because I could have passed without it, and secondly because I am a person with difficulty in the lungs, because I have been a smoker forever and how this affects the lungs ...".
Pilar is an amateur photographer and has dedicated the confinement to ordering for years her images - thousands - that she had stored here and there. The task has served him to make a trip for all his life. "I am a very street person, not to go home all day, and I have been surprised at how well I have adapted," she says of the running of the bulls.
It is 10:30 this Saturday. It has been 30 minutes since the veto has been lifted for the elderly to go out and they have timidly joined the street, not like the athletes , who have thrown themselves onto the asphalt first thing in the morning. Many older people, still afraid, have decided to stay home.
This is not the case with Pilar and Enrique, nor with the friend they have called on the phone.
- Go out to the balcony, we are going to go through your door and we greet you.
- Oops, if I'm already on the street.
Enrique misses playing tennis a lot and does not understand why he is still not allowed to practice this sport. "It is played in an open place and there is no possibility of contagion. There are details that are not thought of," he complains.
One of his tennis partners, younger than him because he has just retired, has been in the ICU for eight weeks due to the coronavirus. And they have suspicions that perhaps they have already passed it. "I was admitted there three days with pneumonia in mid-March, when they were still very green," says Enrique, pointing to the HM Madrid University Hospital .
And Pilar returned on March 9 with six friends from a trip to Gerona. Three of them were infected and two required hospitalization. "She has passed it for sure," says Enrique. "Maybe nicotine protected me," she responds, citing the theory that smokers have a lower risk of infection.
Enrique and Pilar have four daughters for whom they are concerned. They are all self-employed: one owns a painting school, the second is a physical therapist, the third is a photographer, and the fourth is a tattoo artist in Berlin. "Look at the difference with Germany, that the tattoo artist just started this the German government gave 5,000 euros," he says when the conversation turns to the economic horizon, which they see very dark.
In her wheelchair pushed by her daughter Belén , 92-year-old Marina Argos , who suffers from Alzheimer's and does not wear a mask because she takes it off. "He is going to be 93 years old, because he is going to be sure," says the daughter. Marina has not been out since the state of alarm was declared and has been quite disoriented during confinement due to the breakdown of her routines.
He would go to a day center from 09:00 to 18:00 and then they would take him for a walk in the afternoon. "He knows that you cannot leave, because I am telling you, but he soon forgets it. He knows that something is happening but he does not fully understand it," explains Belén.
Algeria , 70, approaches a perpendicular street, leaning on a cane with her right hand and holding her husband, Justo , 72, with his left. Both well equipped with masks and gloves. Except for his exits to the pharmacy - "once a month" -, they have been in absolute confinement these 50 days. "The children bring the purchase to us," he says.
- And weren't you a little afraid to go out today?
"No, no, no fear, what has to happen will happen," says Algeria.
Joaquín , 76, is sitting on a bench next to the Glorieta de San Bernardo. Since he lives alone, he has usually gone out to buy, so the walk permit is not a special relief, he says. He has walked around the block and has leaned against the bench. Now he will go home, clean up a bit and prepare his aperitif, which he takes every day with the radio tuned to a "modern" music station.
Not far from where he is, in the same roundabout, at 10.00 in the morning there was a police control to prevent the athletes, who were allowed to leave from 06.00 until just that hour, sneak into the time slot of the elderly. "I live right there," says a cyclist who is drawn to attention at 10:03. "They have to withdraw now," agents warn a couple of minutes later two girls dressed in sportswear. "Yes, yes, we are going home now."
We asked the agents how the population is behaving on this first day of massive exits to the streets. "Well, some very well and others very poorly," they respond. "There have been people who have removed the seals in Madrid Río and thrown away the fences at Casa de Campo, " they say, referring to the hundreds of runners and walkers who have ignored the closure of parks and green areas and have had to be driven out.
Among those who have behaved well is Julio , 69, who has to take off his glasses for photography because they are tarnished because of the mask. We find him walking at a good pace along the sidewalk that borders the esplanade of the Temple of Debod , which is also closed, although a few have jumped the seal and are seen running in the distance.
"Let's see, March, March, March ...", Julio murmurs as he checks the calendar on his mobile phone for the last day he stepped on the street. "March 14!" He finally says. "I was at the supermarket where I worked before I retired to pay a visit and shop."
- And why haven't you gone out to buy or to the pharmacy? Because of fear?
- No, no, it wasn't scary. I am not afraid of death. Now this has come to us, but soon something greater will come to us. I have not left because they said that it was not possible to leave and I live with two nephews who told me not to go out, that they were already going to shop, and I stayed at home with a lot of pain, because I really like the countryside.
On his return to sports practice -that Julio was already walking before the state of alarm was decreed-, he found a bottom. "Lazy, very loose legs, because at home, no matter how much gym you do, it's not the same."
A few meters away from him, Carlos makes his boxing gloves bang furiously against a tree. On the bench next to him he has unfolded all his things: a yellow towel, some weights, elastic ropes, his backpack, a bottle of water ... He is 40 years old, he is a personal trainer, a former boxer and he lives confined to a flat 30 square meters.
"I have come running from La Latina [a couple of kilometers] with a heavy backpack; I have skipped rope; I am going to finish boxing, I will do another assault; then stretching, knee exercises and a little yoga," he details. about the marathon sports day that has been planned.
"I do not get up early in life, it is my weak point, my kryptonite, but today at 6.00 I was already up," he says about the excitement of the first day after seven weeks without exercise outdoors. "I am a solitary athlete, but I really liked the feeling of seeing people go out to do sports, without cars. It is time for athletes."
There are many who mention the pleasure that sports have brought them through the center of Madrid, with little circulation, especially cyclists. The marriage formed by Lola and Juan Carlos , both 57 years old, whom we find in Gran Vía / Plaza de España is divided.
- Madrid without cars and you with the bike around. It was an impossible dream. If it weren't for the financial issue, my goodness - he says.
- I was very sorry, Madrid has to be like this to be able to enjoy it - she says.
Josefina , 47, from the Dominican Republic, was one of the early risers and at 8:00 am, San Bernardo is heading home. He has the record of staying at home for this report, since it has not been published since March 2, 61 days ago. "Neither the supermarket nor anything. I work with an older lady and the children leave the shopping for us at the door. I am diabetic, a high-risk person and that is why I have not gone out before, because I am afraid, but I already needed to walk."
- And how did you feel when you left after two months locked up?
- Free, free, free. I felt like imprisoned and today for the first time I saw the light.
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