The health crisis unleashed by the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus will be studied in history books. No one, no government was prepared to assume a virus of these characteristics, with such a vertiginous speed of contagion.
Our response will also be studied, we did not know how to read what was happening in China, and the cultured and arrogant Europe, starting with Italy, and then Spain, was caught off guard, looking the other way, as if the virus originating in the Far East had nothing to do with our civilized countries and our population was immune. "Chinese thing" some thought, and not traveling to China was enough to avoid it.
We arrived late and badly -in some cases never- and our capacity to respond to efficiently address the massive contagion of the Coronavirus, control the expansion of the pandemic, avoid damage and suffering to thousands of people and save lives, has not been up to the task, it has not been fast enough as most of the population would have wished.
We lacked agility and had too much arrogance, and as a consequence of this we did not see it coming, we did not imagine that this would be so serious, that it would travel continents and sneak through different countries until it reached the heart of our old Europe and also that of our homes.
Arrogance transformed into blindness prevented us from seeing that we were not immune, that no one was safe from COVID-19, which affects all social classes, that if it has not touched us directly yet, it does so through our families, friends, or loved ones, sometimes in very painful and dramatic situations, exposing our vulnerability.
In our defense, as we said at the beginning, it should be said that no government, of any country, was prepared for this pandemic, ours neither, the central government and the autonomous governments did what they could, but when they were aware of its magnitude, it was already too late to have the appropriate and sufficient personnel, facilities and sanitary material to face the virus, avoiding contagion in sanitary personnel, essential services and, therefore, in the rest of the population.
We were late to buy and have the essential tests arrive in time to diagnose the disease, the PPE -personal protective equipment- for healthcare and social healthcare personnel, respirators for patients, masks for the population, etc.
We have been in confinement for a month in which we have learned a lot and have become familiar with concepts that we had not thought about until now. "Flattening the curve" has been one of them, almost like a mantra, an obsession, as if it were the best option while we do not have vaccines to prevent or effective medicines to cure COVID-19.
"Flattening the curve", as a challenge, that the peak is not very high, that not everyone gets infected at the same time, so that, when sooner or later we fall, our health system does not collapse and is sufficiently prepared to offer the attention that any patient needs without anyone running more risks than necessary.
Throughout this month, a series of exceptional measures have been taken, both the autonomous and state governments have not stopped working for a single day in search of answers and solutions to both the health problems and the social and economic consequences that have derived from the pandemic and confinement.
With respect to the health crisis, we can say that the situation has improved, that we are taking the reins and control of the disease, that we are finally beginning to see a little light, that we have more resources and material for both patients, health personnel, and the rest of the population, and that the famous curve is no longer so steep and soon, it seems, will begin to flatten, revealing something that did not seem so obvious, the devastated social landscape that the virus leaves in its wake.
If arrogance turned into blindness did not let us see, to react in time, what was coming upon us from the health point of view, let us not fall again on the same stone, and let no other blindness prevent us from seeing and taking measures on this social crisis of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion that is already brewing.
We are in time to act before it is too late, to prevent better than to cure desperately, to invest in preventing a peak of social collapse and that hundreds of thousands of people and families have to suffer the wear and tear of the struggle for survival.
Taking courageous measures now is to prevent the number of households without any income, without anything to bring to the table or without being able to cover basic needs from skyrocketing, it is to stop that "social curve" before it is too late and the damage is irreparable, which later forces us to spend resources and energies in flattening it.
We are in time. In the Canary Islands, from the Government and the Department of Social Rights, the first steps have already been taken, it is time to continue advancing in that line and the next thing, so as not to leave anyone behind, is to guarantee a 'Canarian emergency income'; a minimum income that attends, for the duration of the crisis, to all the people and families that have been left out, without anything, without employment, without PCI and without any other income or benefit that allows them to pay rent or bring a plate of food to their mouths.
More than 40,000 families in the Canary Islands are in that situation, our obligation is to promote all the necessary resources and measures, fiscal and political, so that those who did not die victims of the coronavirus, do not do so now victims of poverty, that if the virus does not understand social classes, poverty does have its breeding ground in the most vulnerable people and families.
José Saramago said in Essay on Blindness that "in an epidemic there are no culprits, everyone is a victim". We cannot say the same in the face of a social crisis, because as a consequence of poor management of public affairs, or inadequate redistribution of wealth, there are victims, and also culprits.
We are in time to avoid both poles.
María del Río Sánchez
President of the Sí Podemos Canarias Parliamentary Group
Secretary of Feminisms, Equality and LGTBI of Podemos Canarias
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