Different Slants

You may not remember me since I have not posted here since December 2013. My name is Rick Munden. My wife Mary and I left the US in June 2010 to buy a sail boat in the Netherlands and explore Europe. We have been doing that for the past ten years during which time we have visited 25 countries spending six or more consecutive months in six of them.

We had already been in Lisbon, Portugal for eight months when the covid-19 pandemic broke out. I think it would be instructive for American readers to learn what that looked like from the perspective of someone in Portugal and to compare and contrast the American and Portuguese approaches to the crisis and their results. It should be noted that Portugal is a very small country with a population of about 10.5 million.

First a little background. The World Health Organization confirmed the existence of the new corona virus on January 12, 2020. The first case was confirmed in Italy on January 31. Italy entered its first of many lock downs on February 22.

So the threat of the disease, if little else, was already known when the first case reached Portugal on March 2. It took only 10 days, March 12, for the Portuguese government to begin mitigation efforts. There were 78 confirmed cases in the country at the time. These efforts took the form of the near total shutdown. Gas stations and food stores were allowed to open with restrictions. There were long lines outside supermarkets. These were made longer by people standing 2 meters apart. Each store allowed only a small number of customers inside at a time. A guard stood at the door to let one customer in each time one customer left. No one was allowed in without a face mask and the guard would spray your hands with disinfectant as you went in. Yes, there was a run on toilet paper.

The requirement of masks is interesting because, at that time air borne transmission of the virus was not thought to be a significant vector. Scientists thought the virus spread primarily through surface contact.

In mid April, special restrictions were added to prevent gatherings for Easter celebrations. Bridges were closed and commuter trains were stopped. My neighborhood in Lisbon looked like a ghost town. There was no traffic. People left their homes to buy food or go to the hospital. It was also allowed to go outside for exercise but only one or two people together. Police watched the jogging paths and enforced separation. Social distancing billboards went up everywhere. Compliance was universal and no one protested. We could all see what was happening in Italy.

The easing of restrictions began on May 4. Small shops of under 2,000 sq feet were allowed to open but could admit only one or two masked customers at a time. In June, restrictions were relaxed further with the opening of large shops and malls. Most restrictions were lifted in July except in Lisbon where transmission rates were still considered too high. Although most businesses have reopened, people are still not allowed to congregate in groups larger than 10 and masks are required in all indoor public spaces except restaurants and bars. Again, compliance is universal.

The results of these restrictions can be seen at https://covid19.min-saude.pt/ponto-de-situacao-atual-em-portugal/. New cases are stable and less than 200 per day and deaths per day are in the single digits. No one expects this to be over in less than another year and economic impacts are of course severe but, the people have adapted to the conditions.

The first confirmed cases of covid-19 in the US happened in January. There was never a nation-wide lockdown – it is a big country. The first local lockdown was in Puerto Rico on March 15 soon followed by lockdowns in San Francisco and New York. Different cities, states and counties set and relaxed different restrictions at different times. This sounds reasonable and might have worked if Americans were less mobile.

The biggest contrast from the perspective of some one living is Europe is people’s attitude. Here in Portugal the citizens have followed the rules and cooperated with the guidelines presented to them by the government and the medical community. My impression (my news sources are NPR and Aljazeera) is that this has not been the case in the US. I hear for example that only about half of Americans are wearing masks when appropriate. Why is that?

The result is, that to date, Americans have died at three times the rate (per capita) of Portuguese (479 vs 167 per million). And the gap is growing. The US still has more than one thousand deaths each day whereas Portugal has about five.

I understand that the messages Americans have received from their politicians have been mixed and contradictory when not ill informed and ridiculous but the medical community has been providing the facts as they are learned and rational advice. I have to wonder why is it harder for Americans to follow the scientific advice than it is for Europeans?

My travel photos are at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rick-pic/