We just returned from a visit of two and a half weeks to the U.S. for family reasons. Traveling during the time of Covid-19 was challenging, for sure.  We first booked a flight pre-covid with Iberia. That was canceled. More than two months later, we are still waiting for the promised refund of our airfare. Then we booked with TAP. That flight was canceled just 4 days later. When we re-booked with TAP we ended up being over-charged. We will probably never hear back on the complaint we filed. We eventually made it to the U.S.. More importantly, we eventually made it back to Portugal.

While in the states, we were stunned by the level of angst and the extreme lack of cooperation with guidelines. Here, in Portugal, the vast majority of people have taken the health threat seriously and have been generally cooperative with rules regarding masks, distancing, and other restrictions. Of course businesses here have suffered greatly and are fighting for a speedier return to normal.  Sure, some of the youth flaunt distancing and act like they are bullet-proof. But we don’t see the level of anger and bold rebellion that we witnessed in the U.S.. 

In Portugal, most folks took the lock-down seriously and when the infection rates improved the reopening was gradual and cautious. There are still a few virus hot spots in the country, especially around Lisbon. However, here in Porto/Matosinhos, we have now gone 26 days without a single new case while doing plenty of testing. At the same time, the U.S. is reporting a dramatic increase in the rate of infections; (as of today) 50,000 new cases per day and trending higher. Even with our relatively good statistics, here in Portugal we must still wear masks to enter any public space such as stores, buses, the metro, offices, and such. Fines for not doing so are 100 to 500 euros which is a huge amount in this poor country. Restaurants have reopened with limited seating but you must still wear your mask when entering or heading to the bathroom. By contrast, in the U.S. we witnessed less than one-third of the shoppers wearing masks in the grocery stores and almost none in restaurants. We were certainly much more lax ourselves while in the states. We could have and should have been more vigilant.

When infections spiked recently in areas such as Lisbon, the reopening schedule there was reversed. Right now, in most of the country, gatherings of up to 20 people are allowed. In hot spots, only groups of 5 or less may gather legally.  Our flights in the US were packed and 20-30% of passengers removed their masks shortly after getting on board. Flight attendants are, understandably, not expected to enforce the clearly announced rules. We often saw U.S. airport employees wearing their masks on their chins. Whereas the airports in Portugal were strictly enforcing all the rules and police were visible.

The saddest thing we noticed in the states was how polarizing the issue has become. Arguments between the people that believe everything should be reopened at any costs versus the people that think masks and distancing are essential have ended many long friendships. 

During the time we were visiting the states, we felt like those cartoon characters that are running as fast as they can while the ground crumbles away under their feet. Just as we were nearing the end of our trip, the EU announced that they would be reopening to many foreign tourists on July 1. American tourists, however, are explicitly banned. The general feeling among Europeans is that Americans are out-of-control. We were only allowed back because we are legal residents. We feel much safer and saner being back now in Portugal where the country has moved from the original state of emergency,  to the state of calamity, and now to a state of alert. We know we are not past the threat of a resurgence of cases, but we feel that this is the best place for us to ride out the pandemic. However long that is. As long as we wear our masks and follow distancing rules, we are free to travel around most of the EU, dine out, ride public transportation, go to the beach, see a movie, shop, and socialize. It is inconvenient, but it’s just not that hard to do.