Good News From Spain

My friends Ann Minton and Mary Luti are in Seville, Spain as they like to do each year.

Here Mary reports on "non panic" buying in their neck of the woods.

We alter our route a little every day to be sure we get at least 2 miles round trip and varied scenery. And we walk together, but at a distance, since the lockdown regulations mandate that you can go out only singly, unless you are accompanying an elderly person or a handicapped person. Unwilling to think of ourselves as elderly, we walk "alone"!

At the store, physical distancing... no more than 10 inside at a time. One comes out, one goes in. At the register, lines on the floor mark a safe distance. Credit card payments only, except in rare circumstances, to minimize the handling of cash. Yesterday I waited about 15 minutes to get in. Once in, you can take all the time you need.

There are no shortages. Shelves are full, there's produce, meat and fish--as in ordinary times. People tend to shop daily anyway, so very few people appear to be hoarding or "stocking up." Can't say for certain that it's the same elsewhere, but life in the grocery store seems pretty normal here, except for all the masks and gloves and lines on the floor--and the fact that you're not bumping into a zillion people in the aisles.

We still can't get sanitizing products, however--Lysol spray, sanitizing wipes, etc. Bleach is also not always on the shelves, either. This is not a result of panic buying so much as the re-direction of these supplies by the suppliers to hospitals, nursing homes, and public facilities.

Distancing in line for the supermarket

Safe space markers in the supermarket