This period have been tough on everybody: thousands dying, the media exploding with crazy headlines, quarantine, people panicking and buying all the toilet paper. We've seen them all.
It's an unfortunate time for the Erasmus students since closing universities, canceling events and telling us not to have gatherings with friends, this had us unprepared. The friendly hugs turned into "Hi! Please don't touch me".
The streets became emptier but not for the reason you would think. The people use the free time to go to the beach. The first day they suspended the universities and some workplaces, Carcavelos and Cascais was fuller than in the summertime. Most of the Portuguese people didn't care about the dangers or anything the media or the World Health Organisation says. The youth still went to Bairro Alto to have a beer, dance to the beat of Reggaeton and do some shots for the sake of alcohol kills the virus mentality.
I was (un)lucky enough to go to the hospital before and while the quarantine officially started. Long story short I don't have Coronavirus but an average flu which has some of the symptoms. I really felt the need to go because it was such a controversial time to cough in public. When I first went to the hospital I thought I had an allergic reaction because the room in the hostel I ended up moving in from 1st of March had black mold on the walls.
Quick exclaim (not related to the current topic): Please go and see the apartment or flat or whatever you plan to rent cause it might look good in photos and maybe even in real life but whatsoever you can't smell the photos and black mold can be a danger to the lungs and the quality of living.
Back to the story. I called the healthcare hotline about my problems and they advised me to go to the emergency so I went. It was quite empty, I didn't have to wait for too much. The doctor was pretty chill even when I told her I have runny nose and I'm coughing all the time. She only advised me to move out as soon as possible (which ended up doing, even if I'm not allergic there are no regrets cause that place was horrible)
The second time was two days after they declared the national emergency and it was way more crowded. I had to go because even crashing at a friend's place, new symptoms occurred. I got there around 9 in the morning and I was only free to go after 1 pm. I talked with a guy who was waiting there from 3 am so I could only imagine his struggle. This time they were giving me so much more attention. When I saw the doctor, she immediately gave me a mask, made me wash my hands and use hand sanitizer. This time they actually made some tests, even an X-ray and sent me to the ophthalmology. They gave me 6 kinds of medicine and made sure that I understand that if it's not working then I need to go back.
Still, taking the precautions would not calm the people. The grocery shops are more crowded than the discos used to be and everybody is preparing for the apocalypse buying big piles of food and for some unexplained reason all the toilet paper on the market.
The grotesque in all is the contrast of the panicking and not caring at all because you can still see the people on the streets, you can still go and eat out with your friends but you can see the bouncer in the front of the shop only letting ten people inside at one time and the police starting giving out fees to people who come to Bairro Alto for a drink.
Today, on the 15th of March people will stand out in their windows and balconies all singing the Portuguese national anthem to show their respect for the doctors and nurses who work in these conditions risking their health and trying to find a solution for us. Yesterday, on the 14th of March there was another flashmob at the same hour: people all over Lisbon started clapping to thank the national health workers.
I want to optimistic and say this will be soon gone but I have a feeling that the virus marked the whole semester.
However, I think I kinda outlined my opinion about the situation but I like hearing others opinions about it because I feel like I don't see the whole picture, the fuss about one little flu-like infection (let's admit it, we had many worse illnesses and nobody freaked out this much about it). If you want to, you can try out the send a message function and write down your point of view.