Is it safe to travel to Spain? - Travelling to Spain during COVID-19
Updated: Sep 26, 2020
Over the past few weeks, the UK has added several countries to a ‘travel blacklist’; making travellers from those countries quarantine for 14 days.
One of the first European countries to join the list was Spain.
I had to travel to Spain, so I thought it would be interesting to see the situation there.
The reason Spain and other countries, have made it on the travel blacklist, is due to the rise of infections of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, largely due to parties and clubs.
The Spanish Prime Minister claimed the restrictions were “unjust”
But the UK government said it has no plans to change the quarantine measures.
The truth is that, regardless of whether the quarantine period is unfair or not, Spain has seen flair-ups. Coronavirus cases are rising across the country and Catalonia, a north-eastern region of Spain has been one of the worst regions affected.
Clubs are now closed in Barcelona and other measures have also been taken to help stop the spread.
But I was more interested in the outside areas of Barcelona, particularly coastal towns. So I visited Sitges.
The town, south of Barcelona, is known for its seafront promenade, a compact old town with plenty of bars and restaurants and of course, the Mediterranean beach.
Wearing a mask is mandatory in Spain while walking outside, otherwise, you could be fined a hefty fine, depending on where you are.
When if bars and restaurants, wearing a mask is not necessary, however.
Furthermore, it is also common to have hand sanitiser in shops, bars and restaurants and many ask people to disinfect their hands before shopping.
Walking around the towns in Catalonia, it feels serious and safe.
This, however, is a false sense of security, because while beaches aren’t as busy as usual and people are socially distancing, the virus is spreading via beach parties across Catalonia; as this report shows (in the video above this article I show a relevant clip with English subtitles):
At the time of writing the script for the video, the cases of coronavirus have gone up and the virus is spreading by almost two-fold according to local data.
People may be feeling safe, and it’s true that there is a feeling of shared responsibility towards stopping the spread. After all, while some young people are driving the cases up, 8 out of 10 Spaniards considers the situation is getting worse.
The study conducted by YouGov found that 82% of all the Spanish population believes things are not improving and are in fact getting worse.
Travelling right now may not be the best idea.
Whether it really is ‘unfair’ to have a 14-day quarantine from Spain or not, makes no difference as cases are indeed rising in parts of Spain.
On the one hand, locals feel safe enough to go out, all-the-while socially distancing and wearing a mask at all times and my personal experience reflects this. Most locals follow the basic guidelines designed to keep people safe during the pandemic.
However, it is very important to always bear in mind that there’s always a risk of transmission and that can depend largely on how you and those around you behave.
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