Coronavirus outbreak 2020 (In Spain)

In the last days, we have witnessed how the coronavirus scattered across Spain, and the critical situation we’re experiencing right now with the draconian government measures. So, I thought it would be interesting to tell the world the political and social consequences of this stark scenario in this corner of Europe, but also the events that led to this situation. We’re flying in.

Before getting started, I think it will be helpful to introduce myself and set the general background of this discussion. I’m a political scientist, and I live in Spain. More specifically, in the northwest of Spain, in Galicia. So, If you are interested in the current situation of covid19 in Spain, this is your video.

A few days ago, events hastened, and the government established a national lockdown. Everything happened very quickly. Actually, between the 9th and the 15th, we witnessed how the virus escalated the number of new infections. On Wednesday 11, there were rumors that the government was considering strong measures to contain the virus. And on Friday 13, they announced they went to declare the state of alarm. That happened on Saturday 14.

The situation got worse, and probably the worse is still ahead. In any case, we’re experiencing an unprecedented situation. Although the government declared the state of alarm at the end of 2010 during the air traffic controllers strike, the current state of alarm is harsher because it involves much more restrictions on a broader scale.

Article 116 of the constitution, and more specifically, the law of 1981 that develops it, allows these limitations and regulates them. However, as I said, they are severe because they have involved the lockdown of people in all Spanish territory. Now, living in Spain is like being under house arrest. This country became a prison due to health reasons, and the reckless behavior of authorities.

This measure has vast implications in many different fields. It has entailed an unbelievable concentration of power in the government and the establishment of a de facto Police State. The central government took control of all police departments in the country. That includes the Civil Guard and the National Police, besides regional and local police departments, and also private security forces. We’re talking about roughly 450,000 people. But that’s not all. We have to include the military. Soldiers are patrolling the streets and developing police functions.

You are not allowed to go to the street but for a limited number of reasons such as work, to do the shopping, to withdraw money from the ATM, to get medicines, to walk the dog, and to escort or look after someone who needs special care. Except in the two last cases, you always have to go alone. And they imposed a social distance of no less than 1 meter.

Public events are forbidden, and all festivities were canceled. The police have taken control of the most important traffic routes, and they are overseeing and restricting communications on roads, highways, and so on. Some towns are confined due to the outburst of coronavirus. That is the case of Igualada, in Catalonia, with 40,000 inhabitants.

There is a shutdown in many different industries, such as hospitality. For instance, hairdressers, beauty salons, other shops different than supermarkets or computing and phone stores are also closed. Schools and colleges are closed too. Other industries related to supplying services are not affected. I refer to couriers, bricklayers, and other professionals of sectors related to transport, communications, medicines, and food.

However, thousands of workers have been fired recently due to this pandemic. So, the social and economic consequences are profound, and the harm will continue the following weeks and months.

In addition to this, the government has closed the borders, and no one is allowed to enter but Spaniards. At this moment, authorities are considering suspending the air traffic.

Experts say this is just the beginning of the pandemic in this country, and some members of the government are suggesting extending the state of alarm beyond 15 days. To do so, they would need the Parliament’s approval.

Anyways, the situation is not good, not even for the ruling elite. In fact, some ministers are infected, and that’s the same with some regional presidents and other politicians.

And in the meanwhile, the king announced he gives up his father’s heritage and stripped him of his salary. That is related to the former king’s scandals because it seems he is involved in money laundering, bribery, and other illegal activities when he was in office. The current king, Philip VI, knew all of this at least since January of 2019. Still, he announced his decision the last weekend, although it had already been taken in April of 2019.

That’s the current situation, but let’s take a look at the political implications of the latest government’s measures.

The government announced an economic stimulus of 200 billion euros to relieve the hardships of unemployed workers and companies’ losses. However, they haven’t spelled out how they are going to get the financial wherewithal for that daunting task. They speak about endorsements, but such amount of money represents the 20% GDP, and the State, with its spending, represents 40% of the whole economy. Probably they expect not to use most of these endorsements, or simply they are lying for political convenience to appease the uneasy mood of many people.

The government also talks about granting supplies and prevent the rise of prices. But the reality is that they can’t grant most of what they promised because they don’t have enough means to do so without harming the economy. For this reason, the state of alarm they issued last weekend allows the government to have special powers during this time. In this regard, the law empowers the government to intervene and temporally occupy industries, factories, workshops, farms, or locals of any nature. As well as nationalize companies and confiscate goods and properties with no compensation for their owners.

In addition to all of this, the law authorizes the government to limit and ration the use of services or the consumption of basic necessities. That’s not all. The government may issue orders to ensure the supply of the markets and the performance of the affected services and production centers. So, the law provides us with a clear idea of the exceptional situation we’re experiencing here.

That’s just the economic side of the new capacity of the government. There is the political side that involves the power to practice temporary searches of all kinds of goods and the imposition of personal obligations. The last provision is already enforced by the government to incorporate more doctors into the health department.

How do they expect to stop the pandemic? They think this combination of economic and coercive measures oriented to keep people in their houses, and relieving them with the promise of financial support, will contribute to stopping the expansion of this infection. In that way, they believe they will be able to confine the virus in certain areas, and, then, to eradicate it.

They resorted to fear to do so, the worst medicine. Mass media have been terrifying people by bombing them 24 hours 7 days with stark messages about the propagation of this infection, and the number of deaths.

We can’t deny the fact that covid19 is a very contagious illness, and it may be lethal. However, mass media have exaggerated its mortality. Two examples are very enlightening in this respect. One of these is the common flu that kills around half a million people in the world every year. And the other example is dysentery, which kills over one million people every year in the world, and most of them are children. Despite this, they don’t call them pandemics. Coronavirus has killed around 6,000 people so far.

Nevertheless, the Spanish case is special for the way events have developed. So, let’s take a look.

We’ve been reported by the press that there was a meeting between high-rank officials of the administration on March 2. Some of them considered necessary to take new measures to stop the pandemic by changing to the mitigation level of the health alert. At that moment, there were 16 cases in Torrejón de Ardoz, and Vitoria. Nevertheless, the health department dismissed the idea, despite the warnings from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and the news about the critical situation in Italy. If they had changed the level of the alert, it would have involved the cancellation of public events such as demonstrations on March 8. Indeed, the mentioned European organism was very explicit in this respect, and it advised the need to cancel this kind of multitudinous events. The reason was simple, they contribute critically to the propagation of epidemics, and to claim that they based their argument on data of the flu. So, the cancellation of these demonstrations was necessary to reduce the transmission of the virus. By March 8, the number of infected people in Spain was 119. Now, that number swelled up to more than 9,000.

That’s not all. On March 2, the Department of National Security released a report about the situation of the pandemic, and it revealed authorities were considering increasing the level of the alert.

Why didn’t anyone take any measure to prevent the transmission of the virus by canceling massive events despite all warnings? Those who had responsibility for this were aware of the risk of this kind of public events. Yet, they turned a blind eye and let the virus propagate in all directions in Madrid, the most affected area. And now, we witness how this virus expands across the country, causing harm and disruption.

When the press requires the government to set out why they behaved in that way, they claim that was right at that time and decline any further comment. That shows us the irresponsibility of the government and its reckless behavior that led to the current situation. Events have gone off the rails thanks to prioritizing the interests of a lobby, which is receiving billions of euros and thousands of posts for their leaders at all levels of the public administration.

That explains why the propagation of this pandemic escalated after the demonstration of March 8 in Madrid. The government response was to go on the people with lockdown and the threat of hefty punishments if someone breaks it. Indeed, you might end up behind bars. They coupled these draconian measures with fear. To do so, they found the support of the mass media. Although cases of people breaking the lockdown on purpose are the exception, the TV reports these cases by showing how the police punish offenders. In this way, they contribute to panic people and keep them at home.

And we can’t forget the responsibility of the State structures in all of this. I refer to high-rank officials who dismissed the clear threat of crowds on the streets for the public health. So, these officials, besides the government, are collaborators in the current situation in this country and have responsibility for hundreds of deaths due to their criminal misbehavior. 

That’s not all. We have to add the press release of the royal house and its involvement in criminal activities. I refer to the former king, but I wouldn’t discard the possible implication of the current monarch. They chose this moment of social havoc to disclose this information to cushion the public opinion backlash. I’m sure it would deserve a whole episode.

Question of the day

Question of the day! How are you experiencing this situation with the coronavirus? I’m interested in knowing your opinion.