A beautiful Spanish woman leaves football fields and tackles Corona's victims as a hero

Female referee in Spain left the football field without its pioneers during the suspension of matches, and went out to help those infected with the new coronavirus in their country, which has become the second globally in terms of deaths.

While authorities in many countries of the world, especially in Europe, recommend hundreds of millions of people to remain in their homes as part of efforts to combat the "Covid-19" epidemic, some rulers in Spain have moved from the lines of the green rectangle to the front lines to confront the deadly virus, including Iragarte Fernandez. She left a whistle she was carrying part-time, and wore a protective medical mask as part of her work as a full-time nurse.

"I am only doing my duty," Fernandez told AFP.

The 26-year-old has moved from leading matches in the first-degree Spanish women's league, and the second and third men's, to her work as a nurse at the Ricaldi Health Center in Bilbao.

The outbreak of the "Covid-19" epidemic stifled the sports movement around the world. In Spain, all competitions, including soccer, were suspended for nearly two weeks. Fernandez went out to play her medical role that she had been practicing for five years, and help care for patients, as hospitals reached their maximum levels of absorption of the growing number of patients.

Spain has become the second country to be affected by the emerging coronavirus in the world after Italy, as it announced on Thursday morning the death of more than four thousand people and the number of infected people exceeded the threshold of 56 thousand.
"When someone arrives suffering from cough and fever, my job is to analyze his symptoms and I wear full protective clothing (...) The risk of transmission to us is very high, because we live near him (the virus) constantly. It is a very stressful experience," Fernandez explains to AFP. Because you are always fighting against something you cannot see. You are always playing at a disadvantage. "

Football showed remarkable solidarity in this ordeal, as a number of coaches, players and fans collected millions of dollars to enhance the efforts to combat the epidemic, while several clubs offered their modern facilities for use as part of the efforts to provide health care, in an attempt to reduce pressure on the facilities.

- I am not a "superwoman" - however, Fernandez is among the few in the sports world to have taken a place on the direct front line with "Covid-19".

And she says, "I just do my duty, I'm not the + superwoman + or anything else like that. I do my duty as everyone does."

And Spain entered its eleventh day in the state of mandatory formal isolation, with at least two more weeks remaining, after extending this case earlier this week.

Fernandez said that in the corridors of the health center, she faces similar situations as she was testing in the stadiums. The state of anxiety, fear, and frustration that many in Spain currently experience is sometimes reflected in the way they deal with the people involved in providing health care, to the extent of insulting them.

"Maybe in football, we talk about that more (...) But as a nurse I have to face many abuses as well, from people who may not want to wait or want to be examined first because they think their situation is more dangerous than the person next to them," she said.

But in return, the Spanish showed a lot of community solidarity since the imposition of isolation, as residents go out daily to their porches around the country at eight o'clock in the evening to applaud a salute to health workers, like Fernandez.

"This applause every night is unbelievable (...) I worked at the same medical center for two years, and frankly, no one has ever told me thank you so far. It is really encouraging to see an appreciation for our work," the nurse-referee considered.
- "I miss everything" related to football - For Fernandes, sport is more than a part-time job.
"Working out is usually my sanctuary. At work, we live with the emerging coronavirus, and come in contact with it. I go home, run TV and talk about it (the virus) only (...) The only thing that separates me from reality is exercise," she explains. It helps me forget about everything. "

Fernandez is not the only female referee working to combat "Covid-19", as her colleague Judit Romano, assistant referee of the second degree, works as an anesthesiologist in the resuscitation department at the Central University Hospital of Asturias in Oviedo, and Elena Pelaez, the referee in the Women's League , Midwife at Rio Carrion Hospital in northern Spain.

Fernandez asserts that the Spanish Federation is eager to ensure that they all remain as present as possible "to send us videos and tests on how to make decisions. We also have physical tests to pass it, with suggestions for how to exercise it according to the equipment we have at home (...) We adapt."

Fernandez is looking forward to blowing her whistle again and starting her first match.

"When I think about football in the limited free time available to me, (I realize that I) I miss it. I miss matches, I miss competition and of course most of all it is arbitration. I miss everything related to it," she says.