Welcome back to the wonderful bittersweet world of spain news. Today morale is lower. Not amongst the general population they're having a blast. But amongst healthcare workers. The hospital's had 2 outbreaks now (the ones I reported before) so of course people demand more protective equipment. But there's not. There's less. Because madrid took most of it like fucking feudal warlords yesterday. So you can imagine...
Worst part however comes from being less. The sweet part also comes here. On the sweet part, we got people engineering all sorts of shit to fight the shortage. Most of my work right now is being the voice of reason and telling them what can't be used. On what can for instance we got mandiles made out of garbage bags, improvised plastic screens, etc. On what can't but it still melts my heart. We recieved a cache of cloth masks from the local population. Of course I had to warn direction those can only be used for propaganda purposes and are worthless against the virus. But I also get reminded of north korea and tell them it's still a luxury in some countries.
On the bitter part we got the nurse chiefs doing some fucktarded shit. One of them put the morning masks to dry under the sun after rinsing them with running water then phoned the afternoon shift to tell them where they were and told them to grab them when they came in. Which has to be the most retarded thing I've ever heard by the by. Another one proclaimed only nurses and above needed masks and tried to get the celadores (the guys that actually MOVE THE PATIENTS THAT CAN'T MOVE THEMSELVES AROUND) to wear NOTHING! Even worse the Junta de Andalucia just sent a memmo saying filter masks need to be reserved for airborne diseases and the wuhan flu only needs surgical masks. You can imagine how that felt to the workers.
So, that's what I had to deal with since I woke up. My union contact is feeling better than yesterday actually but she droped this on my ass for 2 reasons. 1) she doesn't actually have medical or scientific studies, she got to the union from the informatic branch, she knows a lot about organization, psychology and computers, fuck all about masks. 2) I told you many unions got hit by red lung last outbreak. She's been handling everything from home, some really really aren't. So between that and the panic, her workload's been more than she would be able to handle even if she wasn't sick. But biggest chunk of what I heard her talk on the phone was people seeking ways to gtfo. One case I asked her about is a nurse that got a severely mentally challenged kid. Now, his adult brother is taking care of him, so chances of her getting a leave are close to 0. But can you blame her for being scared when she's seen 2 outbreaks in quick succession then been told to stick to the front line practically naked? I sure as shit can't. I wouldn't want to bring that shit home and my union contact (god I swear trying to reduce power level gets awkward) can't tell her to not be scared with a straight face when she's brought this shit home.
Talking about that. I still feel like shit. The rest of the household either hasn't caught it or is asymptomatic. They're taking care of the cooking, buying, and their stuff. We'd rather not get them exposed to reduce the amount of shit we pass between each other so they don't get infected.
Now, not everything is bad. After the first wave of excuse making to attempt to get leaves seems people are calming down, memes and emotional strength are coming back, and it seems people are focusing on beating the situation again. But stress was high. Therr was however one very worrying factor...
Yesterday the government promised part of our production was coming back. They said it would be here at 8 in the morning. It wasn't. Inditex said they were giving masks, every other autonomy has seen their cache, madrid has blocked Andalucia's from coming here. We have no fucking clue what the fuck they're thinking but the metapgorical bomb has been primed and launched already. It's beyone me at this point. The populace has been told by their medics madrid has as of this morning officially tried to murder us all. I don't know how they're gonna fix this. But let me say for sure. Sanchez isn't getting reelected. The PSOE is likely to end with him. And I doubt the PP will survive either. CATALONIA tried to save us and Moncloa took the aid from their hands and stole it while lying through their teeth. The cognitive dissonance of the entire situation is enough to make my head hurt... I mean more than through just corona. Now, don't take this to mean morale is low. As I explained before. We're used to the switch going into full "THE PRESIDENT'S BEING AN IDIOT AGAIN" alarm every fucking time there's a crisi and a lot of times when there's none. And andalucia is used to being the battered mule that pulls the cart known as spain. People are thinking about this productively and I've seen so many initiatives to fix the supply shortage it makes me cry a little to see people standing together like this, and the memes are still glorious. But, man, we're not forgetting this one. Not in a million generations. Hope you're having a better day. Remember, mental health IS health, get ready but don't stress, and don't forget to treat yourself and your family members.
Translation: "the day the quarantine ends"
(Here's the pic from the junta so you see I ain't lying)
www.themoscowtimes.com
