Spain

MThe pronunciation is failing. But hardly any German escapes the issue of tonnies and the situation in Gütersloh these days in Spain. Many Spaniards are concerned about the latest Corona outbreak, of all places, in the country that they see as a role model in the fight against the pandemic: if Germany fails in the end to stop the virus, how should Spain with its more than Make 28,000 dead? The fear of a second wave is great. Spain – unlike the neighboring country Portugal – only records smaller foci of infection. For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic in Madrid, there has not been a single new death within a day on Saturday – the capital, with more than 8,400 deaths and almost 72,000 infections so far, is the most severely affected region in the country by Corona.

However, caution is great. You can already see this on a Sunday walk in the Retiro Park. Most people there voluntarily wear face masks. About one in three even puts on the particularly dense and sweaty FFP2 masks despite the summer temperatures of more than 30 degrees. In Spain, the mask requirement only applies to buses, trains and in places where the minimum distance cannot be maintained.

“Society would understand restrictive measures much better,” says Catalan epidemiologist Antoni Trilla about the virus. Unlike in Germany, where exit restrictions were criticized as “deprivation of liberty”, 88 percent of Spaniards in the latest survey by the state CIS institute showed understanding of the much more drastic restrictions that applied in their country for several months.

Suspicion and caution continue to dominate even after the alarm condition has ended a week ago. “I’m not going on vacation in my apartment in Benidorm this year,” says a kiosk owner in the Retiro Park. The images of crowded British beaches have contributed to this. “I don’t trust British tourists,” says the Spaniard, who doesn’t believe that the guests in the seaside resort near Alicante will behave more responsibly. According to the CIS survey, just over a quarter of all Spaniards want to go on vacation this summer. If so, they would prefer to drive their own car to their second home on the coast. A flight trip scares the vast majority – whether on one of the islands or abroad.

There is an unusually large amount of space on the beaches

In the Balearic and Canary Islands, there could therefore be a lot of space for foreign tourists who are slowly returning. Hoteliers and restaurant owners are eagerly awaiting them, while not only the state emergency coordinator Fernando Simón warns against the “import” of new infections: for fear of having to be quarantined during their vacation, they could refrain from seeing a doctor if they have symptoms of corona. The conservative People’s Party (PP), which governs the capital region, is committed to making a negative PCR test a condition for entry into Spain. At Madrid’s Barajas Airport, the PP considers this to be essential, because it is the gateway to Europe for many people from Latin America, where the virus is still raging.

This Monday, the first major test of the Spanish warning app starts on the small island of La Gomera. It is supposed to work in a similar way to the application in Germany: users receive a warning if an infected person was nearby. So far, there are only apps in Spain that can be used to book a place on the beach. In the next few days, the virus on the island, which has actually been free of corona for more than two months, will have 300 “virtually” infected people with the help of which a new outbreak will be simulated. However, the Spanish government expects that the new app will only be available across the country after the summer season in autumn. That would be in time for the high season in the Canaries.

In the Balearic Islands, it should normally be in full swing long ago. But there is an unusually large amount of space on the beaches, the majority of the hotels are still closed. Even the regular guests from Germany seem to take their time. Almost 11,000 German holidaymakers could have preferred to travel to the islands for two weeks as part of a pilot project since June 15. But by June 24, just over 2,200 Germans had arrived, as the representative of the Spanish central government said in the Balearic Islands. The Spanish borders have been open again for a week now. Nevertheless, there are still restrictions that will also be felt in Palma de Mallorca. According to the latest law, the government will continue to prohibit cruise ships from landing. Only after the end of the Corona crisis should they be allowed to moor again in Palma and other Spanish ports.