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“What do the streets of Barcelona sound like?” We asked ourselves during Easter, during the days when the confinement was total. The birds, the wind, the waves of the sea, bells and the anecdotal presence of some cars and passers-by starred in an ambient sound that tended to total silence, broken only by the daily applause for the toilets at eight in the afternoon. The images, unimaginable months ago, show a deserted Barcelona only seen in the film The last days (2013), in which a pandemic – in this fictitious case – also strikes the city.
This is how the streets of Barcelona sounded. GIANLUCA BATTISTA
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On the day that the metropolitan area passes to phase 1 of the de-escalation, we remember how reporters from EL PAÍS Cataluña have portrayed a metamorphosis starring the unprecedented, starting with a drop in pollution to the levels of Cap de Creus or Montseny.
The health crisis first, and its social and economic derivative below, have led us to tell how Barcelona copes with covid-19 and its aftermath. This is the story – under construction, because this is not over yet – of the Catalan capital on alert, through a selection of what was published by the newspaper’s journalists and photographers.
The fight of the toilets
In one of the most critical moments of the pandemic, we entered the ICU of the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, the largest in Spain, with 200 beds enabled. In the same center, weeks later, we were talking to a mother who had given birth, sick with coronavirus, who did not even remember that she was pregnant. The Barcelona Clinic converted operating rooms into ICUs and medicalized a hotel to deal with the barrage of covid-19 cases.
VIDEO | “In war there are no schedules. Here neither”
EL PAÍS enters the ICU of the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, the largest in Spain, with 200 beds enabled
–“I didn’t remember I was pregnant”: the awakening of a mother of twins after 11 days in the ICU
Mili América Antelo, seriously admitted by covid-19, had to undergo a cesarean section to remove the girls, who were born with just a kilo of weight each
–“We have been very stressed, but the health system has not collapsed”
The nephrologist Josep Maria Campistol acknowledges that it was necessary to start acting sooner, but that now it is time to move forward with mistrust and return to normality
–VIDEO | A hospital turned upside down to contain the virus
The Barcelona Clinic has converted operating rooms into ICUs and medicalized a hotel to deal with the flood of cases of covid-19
–400 positives admitted to hotels and pavilions in Barcelona
The City Council prepares four sports centers converted into hospitals
–“We are not angels or heroines. We do our job and we are also afraid ”
Nurses claim their role during the health crisis and demand more resources and personnel in public health
–Primary care takes the reins in the de-escalation with a deficit of personnel and scarce resources
Health centers are now taking on the challenge of monitoring the virus in lack of control and to resume activity delayed by the health crisis
–David Noguera, President of MSF Spain: “We will live situations of unprecedented suffering”
The coordinator of the action in Catalonia warns that you cannot “ask the health workers for an effort of 150% and the others go to 70%”
–The virus respects the south
Terres de l’Ebre have an unusually low rate of infections and deaths from covid-19
–The drama of the residences
We also enter nursing homes, with which the pandemic has been especially primed. The Open Arms organization loaned its volunteers to carry out massive tests in the nursing homes. We portray the difficulties of various families to know how their parents or grandparents, admitted or resident, were at the Hestia Palau socio-health center, in the building of the old La Alianza Health Club, in Barcelona.
Open Arms, to the rescue of nursing homes in Catalonia
The organization is now lending its volunteers to carry out massive tests in nursing homes
4
Relatives of those admitted to a residence in Barcelona: “No one knows what happens in there”
Five families denounce the lack of information in a health center in the Catalan capital that cares for those affected by the coronavirus
–The residences that saw the virus coming and stopped it at the door
Two centers for older Catalans who already took extreme protection and hygiene measures in February add zero infections
–To the rescue of a residence adrift
Tona City Council and volunteers filled the gap and looked after the elderly until the Government intervened
–Locked up in the residence with the grandparents
The professionals of two Catalan nursing homes have been sleeping in the centers since last weekend
–The invisible job of caring for dependents at home (without a mask)
Family workers consider insufficient equipment with which they assist elderly or disabled people
–Say goodbye in the distance
Failing to conduct a traditional funeral will mark the history of the families of covid-19 victims. We narrate the story of a victim who spent 20 days in the hospital and his burial was 20 minutes. We talked to experts about how these farewells will complicate grieving processes. We also tell how the Catalan coffin factories have faced the pandemic, which saw the production of caskets multiplied by three.
The death of María Pascual: 20 days in hospital, 20 minutes of burial
The daughter of a deceased relates her last days in solitude: “It is hard not to kiss your mother”
–Burials without a wake or funeral: “Our work is always delicate, but now it is much sadder”
Funeral services denounce the lack of masks and protective suits
–Funeral companies to the limit: “There is no time to make noble coffins”
The main coffin factory in Catalonia has tripled its activity since the start of the pandemic
–“Having to say goodbye to a family member over the phone generates guilt and frustration”
The head of WHO palliative care Xavier Gómez-Batiste assesses the consequences of duels cut short by social distancing
–Social and economic crisis
The coronavirus crisis has put the most vulnerable people in the city on the ropes, which is why several solidarity initiatives have been launched or existing ones have been reinforced. The confinement and the restriction of activity of the establishments has punished the local commerce. Barcelona, as an innovative capital, has also lost several opportunities, starting with the cancellation of Mobile which, on the other hand, has extended its contract with the city for another year.
Eat thanks to Santa Anna
More than 200 homeless people come to the parish daily in search of a food bag
–Dozens of homeless people live confined in a house occupying Barcelona
The members of the Casa de Cádiz have been locked up in the premises since Saturday, waiting for the state of alarm to end.
–Solidarity at street level
The NGO De Veí a veí helps and distributes tons of food to residents of Sant Antoni in a vulnerable situation
–The gym that opened to do “what he always did”
The Sant Pau, in the Raval, opens in full pandemic so that the most needy can shower, change clothes and eat
–Coronavirus sprigs a century-old bakery
The Forn Berenguer in Barcelona closes after four generations making bread
–90% of the businesses of the Chinese community in Catalonia are still closed two months later
“Opening is suicide, little cash is made with a lot of spending,” says the spokesman for Chinese-born entrepreneurs
–The Telephone of Hope, overwhelmed
The NGO opens an additional line to assist all those who seek a friendly voice during the state of alarm
–“The‘ startups ’have very fragile structures”
The emerging Barcelona women claim aid to survive and are fundamental in the lack of confidence
–El Mobile will stay one more year in Barcelona after extending its contract until 2024
The organization decided to suspend this year’s edition for fear of coronavirus infections
–The Costa Brava reinvents itself to save the season safely
The association that brings together 400 businessmen from the tourism sector proposes a joint protocol for this summer
–Towards a more sustainable city?
Almost overnight, between March 13 and 16, Barcelona lost 750,000 people, according to mobile phone data. The heartbeat of the city has nothing to do with the weeks before the pandemic and its air has noticed it. The Barcelona City Council has painted more bike lanes, a means of transport that is expected to take on a special role during the de-escalation. The city, marked in recent years by the tourism boom, faces a summer in which it hardly waits for visitors. Some animals, as happened with the flamingos in L’Empordà, have returned to their habitats.
The day 750,000 people disappeared from Barcelona due to quarantine
Telephone data shows the diaspora of people who went to work in the city and tourists
–Barcelona reduces space for cars and gives it to pedestrians and bikes
The City Council will enable new bicycle lanes, widen sidewalks and strengthen buses
–Carriers cry out against Barcelona’s new bike and pedestrian lanes
Employers and unions create a Platform for Private Mobility and accuse Colau of not dialoguing
–Scooters and shared motorcycles ask for passage in the de-escalation
The Barcelona City Council studies expanding the planned licenses for motorcycles
–“No one speaks on this bus, everyone is silent”
A TMB driver transfers coronavirus patients from hospitals to Hotel Salud
–Falling traffic, rain and wind leave the cleanest air in Barcelona in decades
The Public Health Agency compares the pollution of the city with that of Cap de Creus, Montseny or Collserola
–Barcelona is preparing for a summer with hardly any tourists
The city expands public space and shields itself from political noise
–The flamingos take advantage of the quarantine and settle in the Empordà
The storm Gloria and the absence of people favor the laying of plover eggs on the beaches of the natural parks
–The “ecological trap” of confinement for many animals
CSIC experts warn about the anomalous presence of some species in urban spaces. WWF and SEO Birdlife believe this adaptation will be temporary and will have limited impact.
–Culture in the cloud
Theaters, cinemas and museums: all closed. Culture has had to adapt in recent months to virtuality. The Egyptian Museum in Barcelona is one of those that has offered virtual tours. The Teatre Lliure also broadcast on streaming a representation of Hamlet. University classes have also been moved online. Museums, meanwhile, are preparing for their reopening.
Confinement returns the reverse box office to the theater
The Maldà, which puts on sale a CD with the songs from ‘Les feres de Shakespeare’, prepares a cycle in which the public will pay with donations
–Mummies get into your living room
The Egyptian Museum of Barcelona offers the possibility of visiting it without leaving home
–In slippers to receive the prince of Denmark
The experience of attending a performance of the Hamlet of the Lliure at home is curious and rewarding
–Museum Day is celebrated on the Internet
The centers face their annual party with a forced reflection on the possibilities of ‘online’ expansion
–“In times of fear, culture illuminates the present and imagines the future”
Judit Carrera, director of the CCCB, believes that museums, if they want to be central in society, must stop being temples to be agoras
–Universities detect 615 students who cannot follow the ‘online ‘course
The campuses have provided computers and internet connections so that their students do not get off the course
–Life at home
The balconies have taken center stage in a housing stock separated by 87 square meters of difference, on average, between rich and poor neighborhoods. Teleworking and homeless children at home have radically changed the daily life of the family nuclei. Home stoves have been altered, much more active, and obsessions have changed. One of the most talked about: the almost desperate search for yeast in supermarkets.
Getting confined in Barcelona: 87 square meters of difference between rich and poor neighborhoods
The floors of affluent areas of the Catalan capital are, on average, three times larger than those of humble districts
–The day that Barcelona denied the balconies
Costs, regulations or aesthetics have contributed to the loss of the terraces, listed in the confinement
–VIDEO | The most partying balcony in Barcelona
A group of young people cheer on their neighbors with music during the confinement on the Gran Via
–From this we will get fatter?
Royal Yeast Red Envelope almost triples sales and people go crazy making cakes at home
–Confined tales
Carme, a teacher from Sant Celoni, explains and represents a story to her four-year-old neighbor Quim every noon
–Travel back in time playing like our grandparents
A tribute to the elderly recovering the plates, the morra or the cheeks: a trip in the Delorean without leaving home
–“Attention, the police are talking to you: Happy Birthday!”
The Local Police of Montcada i Reixac congratulates the anniversary to the confined children of the municipality
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