Stay at Home. It is difficult to find the words to describe this truly unique experience shared by people all across the world. Surreal, bizarre, terrifying, sad, eye-opening, life-changing. It’s not over yet, so there will be more descriptive words to come.

Portugal declared a state of emergency and went on lock-down on March 18; one day after the first death from Covid-19 here. Most schools were closed even before that as parents chose to keep their kids at home. Compared to other European countries, Portugal acted swiftly and decisively. Seeing the tragedy unfolding in Italy and Spain, the Portuguese government and people took the threat very seriously. It made a big difference. Numbers continue to change, of course. But, as of today, Spain (right next door) has lost 42.9 people per 100,000 of population to the virus whereas in Portugal that number is 6.68. The consensus is that we have passed our peak in number of deaths per day, but that the plateau will be long and slow to drop. It is still a dreadful situation, but it could have been so much worse. The Portuguese people, overall, have been very cooperative and civil. There have been countless heart-warming stories of people helping one another.

Our situation and rules in the lock-down are similar to many other places. All restaurants are closed except for a percentage that are offering pick-up and delivery. Bars, tourist attractions, and other non-essential businesses are closed. Parks and beaches are closed. All events are canceled. Even the country’s largest national event, the festival of São João which is an all-night party on June 23rd, has already been canceled. We are directed to stay at home except for trips to the grocery store, pharmacy, and similar trips which are supposed to be kept to a minimum.  Places that are open have limits on the number of people allowed inside at one time.  Many have lines you must stand behind and cashiers are protected by mask, gloves, and plastic sneeze shields. You can go out each day for exercise but are expected to stay close to home on your walk. Metros and buses are running for people that have to work, but they are virtually empty. If you ride public transit, it is essentially free as they don’t want drivers handling money or riders swiping cards on machines. Our only border, with Spain, remains closed to all except transport of goods and workers that must cross. Very few flights are operating. Over the busy long Easter weekend, travel outside your local area (about the size of a county) was strictly forbidden and heavily enforced to discourage large family gatherings. People are encouraged to wear masks and the municipalities are starting to distribute them to all homes. Soon wearing masks will be required in public places like the grocery stores.

Portugal is essentially a socialist country with a national health system that is quite good. Political opinions aside, it has been interesting to observe how much faster policies can be implemented here. The government was very quick to declare that everyone would have access to health care even if their applications for residency were not yet processed. They started immediately coming up with creative ways to assist small businesses and people laid-off. The current thinking is that restrictions will be gradually lifted starting sometime in May. When they are, students and out-of-work people are encouraged to take jobs with small farms to help get more fresh produce to market. They can earn money tax-free if they do. 

For Wayne & I the isolation started about 10 days sooner – on the day we returned from our road trip with friends. We didn’t feel well even before the trip and really should have canceled it. After we got back, we both got much sicker and finally went to the emergency room at the advice of our doctor. It turned out that we had picked up severe bacterial respiratory infections. The symptoms were similar to Covid-19 but bacterial instead of viral (thankfully.) It is assumed that it was caused by inhaling fine concrete dust for weeks during the remodeling of our two bathrooms. It was probably the sickest either of us have ever been in our lives. Unlike the virus, however, our illness was treatable with antibiotics so we started feeling much better quickly after starting the meds – just in time for the official lock-down. So, at this point, we have been house-bound for about 6 weeks.

Fortunately, Wayne & I are accustomed to spending time alone together as we worked side-by-side for years. We enjoy each other’s company. However, we are anxious to regain our freedom to travel, and we dearly miss seeing friends. We have had a few video happy-hours and such to break up the monotony and keep in touch, but, it’s just not the same. It’s hard to imagine we will ever go back to the local custom of kissing both cheeks when meeting friends.

I am especially fortunate that Wayne has taken up cooking as his retirement hobby and become quite an extraordinary chef. Eating all meals at home has not been a hardship. (Not getting fatter has been a real challenge, however.) We also appreciate having a roof-top terrace so we can at least enjoy the sunshine and a slight ocean view on nice days. We often think about how much worse others have it. People who live alone with no one to talk to. People who have lost income, especially small businesses. We are very thankful this happened more than a year after our relocation so we were already settled and acclimated. We know of others trying to make the same move that are caught in a terrible, uncertain limbo. We are not really suffering in any serious way and have no right to complain. We are only inconvenienced.

Of course, I have not been able to get out to take pictures as I would like to. I’ve only taken my camera with me a couple times on our exercise walks because it makes me feel too conspicuous. I did snap just a few photos to try and document these strange times and the emptiness of the public places like the beach.

There is no doubt that the virus will have a severe and long-lasting impact on the economy and life here, but the can-do attitude of Portugal is palpable. We are very grateful to be here and there is nowhere else we would rather be for this crisis. This short youtube video does a good job of showing why we are happy to be in our beloved Porto.