Before last March 15, few had thought that they would experience a confinement or a curfew like those seen in the movies. It is repeated like a mantra that we are living in an exceptional moment and it is certain that the history books will reflect in the future how the coronavirus pandemic was. Although vaccines are expected to return to a certain normality, there are changes that will not happen when the masks and hydroalcoholic gels disappear. The footprint of the covid in many daily areas is deeper than one might think and new customs have been internalized to alter daily behaviors such as greeting, shopping or coughing in public. It is still unusual that in a country like ours the time to have a coffee on the terrace is limited or you have to make an appointment at the hairdresser. All this has occurred in the last twelve months, in which even the sacred celebration of Christmas – few more familiar events than this one – was limited by dinners for no more than six people and by the suspension of Christmas carols festivals and parades .
Teleworking arrived in a rush, but it already has legal regulations because more than three million people in Spain have been pushed to work from home. Zoom, Teams and Skype are part of our lives. “Although this digitization was planned, everything was advanced by about five years in just three months”, explains sociologist Miguel Valdés, who gives an example of how even in 2021 schoolchildren have celebrated a Carnival more ‘online’ than in person.
“The pandemic has brought back doubts and destroyed the illusion of infinite security with which we lived in advanced societies”
The changes have also been profound in the field of leisure. Some discos, in order to survive, have signed up for the ‘tardo’ or, even, have been enabled to serve breakfast: the croquette has won the pandemic pulse to the shot. Perhaps the most paradigmatic change is that of the emblematic Oasis room, which has chosen to reinvent itself as a ‘scape room’.
The curfew has even affected our hours and many shops – see El Corte Inglés – have advanced their opening hours that now seem more European now. “The brain has an internal clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus, which is turned on and paid for with light, darkness and melatonin,” explains health psychologist Sandra Sánchez, who assures that time changes can help “acquire biologically healthier habits ‘, But also produce a feeling of’ emotional lethargy ‘.
The macro-concerts seem still far away –memory is the protest of the show technicians and their ‘red alert’ in the Pilar– and the only musical refuge for the moment is the Auditorium with performances of less than 200 people. The same problem occurs with sports competitions, with the Romareda, the Alcoraz or the pavilion of the empty planes fans (and the financial backing of ticket sales).
Rural exodus
In parallel, and after the bad experience of going through a confinement of 30 square meters, the rural exodus has been strengthened, where the confinement was better managed thanks to “the kindest landscapes and open skies.” Is it possible that the next census will reflect an increase in registrations in Spanish towns? It is practically safe. However, few geographers trust this trend and assure that “empty Spain will continue to be empty” because interest only grows in the municipalities closest to the cities.
The pandemic has caused a series of syndromes that will take time to fade. Those who are afraid to go outside suffer from the “cabin syndrome” and those who hate masks experience what they have come to call the fear of “the empty face.” Everything is the consequence of a very prolonged crisis and, of course, “pandemic fatigue” is more than present. There are those who with so much gel and gloves have developed an obsession for cleaning (they spend hours disinfecting their mobile or doorknobs) and those who prefer not to be invited to weddings or communions because the mere fact of imagining a crowd puzzles them.
«The difficult thing comes now. To date, we have been compliant with confinement, people have complied; Even in southern European countries, with a reputation for being unorganized and formal, we have been socially disciplined, ”explains Sociology professor David Pac, who fears for the coming de-escalations, if they ever occur. The coronavirus is not going to disappear overnight and virologists warn that it will be a controlled disease, but probably endemic. When, thanks to vaccination, the covid is no longer a threat, the antigen will continue with its infections in a slower but persistent transmission. Other diseases that were pandemic at one time (tuberculosis, leprosy, measles, polio…) have not been totally eradicated, although they have been domesticated.
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More distrustful, but also more supportive
A group of sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists and economists from the University of Zaragoza have long been studying the impact that the health crisis will have on the Spanish population. According to their first inquiries, the Spanish will be «More fearful and distrustful but more supportive and creative after the pandemic». This is one of the conclusions of the report on the ‘Social perception of covid-19’, which since last spring develops the research group Society, Creativity and Uncertainty, which Directed by Professor of Sociology José Ángel Bergua.
Researchers are collecting information through surveys on Facebook, in each of the waves of the pandemic, to know the degree of vulnerability and uncertainty, but also of cooperation and solidarity, which is generated as the months go by. In the first weeks, the ‘state of shock’ of the citizens caused the illusion of security to disappear suddenly. «Modernity had sold us the idea of a society where uncertainty was zero. However, this pandemic has destroyed the illusion of infinite security that we lived with in advanced societies. We have suddenly realized our vulnerability and fragility as living beings ”, explain the researchers, among whom are Juan Miguel Báez, Maribel Casas-Cortés, Diego Félix Gastón, Iván López, Jaime Minguijón, Cristina Monge, Laura Moya and sociologist David Pac.
Las ‘fake news’
“Covid-19 is the tip of the iceberg of vulnerability, there is a collapse of data and saturation of information, which favors the appearance of ‘fake news’,” they explain, while criticizing the transmission of information 24 hours without an interpretation or the proper context. “Our research group speaks of ‘half an epidemic’: it is the ideal context for the proliferation of false news that is viralized through WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter,” they point out.
Fortunately, in the face of serious difficulties, “a wave of social creativity, cooperation, solidarity and a sense of community has also emerged. There have been countless proposals for collaboration with the most vulnerable, which – we trust – will continue after the pandemic.
HERALD will publish next day 15 a special supplement that reviews how the year of the pandemic has been in many different areas. Information, reports, testimonies and round tables with Aragonese personalities will also be offered.
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