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That is a truly shocking and sobering article, it brought me to tears reading it. I loved my stop in Santo Domingo in 2018 and I am hoping to visit the town again this summer. These towns will need support from anyone who can make a trip there, by that I mean people like me that live in Spain where it shouldn't be too difficult to go there for a weekend trip if nothing else. Clearly, the timing of any trip, whether passing through or a weekend visit, needs to take into account the various restrictions and new laws that might apply, whether the local population would want visitors or not, as well as weighing up any personal risks that might apply.The attached (long read) article in the Guardian newspaper gives an insight to the covid-19 problems in a town popular with the Camino community.
How a small Spanish town became one of Europe's worst Covid-19 hotspots
The long read: In the northern region of La Rioja, one medieval town has suffered a particularly deadly outbreak. And in such a tight-knit community, suspicion and recrimination can spread as fast as the viruswww.theguardian.com
I have a question. What do you mean by appropriate edits? Did I miss something or is there some notation that makes the reader aware that a moderator edited a thread. We have all seen when moderators have stepped in to keep discourse civil or have closed threads. This doesn't seem to fit here. This question is not sarcastic or critical, just wondering. Thanks and thanks for this story. It is painful to read but I think is almost a "must read" for any pilgrim.Also, whomever is moderating this thread, thanks for making appropriate edits.
Yes, you missed something. The annotation at the bottom right of any post that is edited by a Moderator giving date & time. The reason for the Edit is never discussed in public as you are aware. Rule 7.Did I miss something or is there some notation that makes the reader aware that a moderator edited a thread.
The author of this Guardian article is Gil Tremlett who wrote Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through Spain and Its Silent Past.
Thanks so much Tincatinker. I just looked up the forum rules. I should have probably done that a long time ago. I totally understand why an edit is not revealed. It probably would open up a whole other can of worms. Thanks again for all the work you and the other moderators do.Yes, you missed something. The annotation at the bottom right of any post that is edited by a Moderator giving date & time. The reason for the Edit is never discussed in public as you are aware. Rule 7.
The attached (long read) article in the Guardian newspaper gives an insight to the covid-19 problems in a town popular with the Camino community.
How a small Spanish town became one of Europe's worst Covid-19 hotspots
The long read: In the northern region of La Rioja, one medieval town has suffered a particularly deadly outbreak. And in such a tight-knit community, suspicion and recrimination can spread as fast as the viruswww.theguardian.com
The attached (long read) article in the Guardian newspaper gives an insight to the covid-19 problems in a town popular with the Camino community.
How a small Spanish town became one of Europe's worst Covid-19 hotspots
The long read: In the northern region of La Rioja, one medieval town has suffered a particularly deadly outbreak. And in such a tight-knit community, suspicion and recrimination can spread as fast as the viruswww.theguardian.com
Thanks for that excellent analysis, Dave.
Can you draw any conclusions from this?
Thanks for that excellent analysis, Dave.
Can you draw any conclusions from this?
Perhaps I am being lazy, but I am genuinely confused. I don't quite understand whether or how @davebugg 's analysis and opinions either support or refute the article by Tremlett.I have opinions, which are different than a conclusion.
A very interesting article. Sad and sobering.The attached (long read) article in the Guardian newspaper gives an insight to the covid-19 problems in a town popular with the Camino community.
How a small Spanish town became one of Europe's worst Covid-19 hotspots
The long read: In the northern region of La Rioja, one medieval town has suffered a particularly deadly outbreak. And in such a tight-knit community, suspicion and recrimination can spread as fast as the viruswww.theguardian.com
Perhaps I am being lazy, but I am genuinely confused. I don't quite understand whether or how @davebugg 's analysis and opinions either support or refute the article by Tremlett.
I saw that spin-off/commentary as being fairly minor.I was not directly responding to the article, but to the overall discussion within the thread, some of which has spun off and away from commenting on the article itself. The article was used as a foundation for commentary, by some, on the appropriateness of returning to Spain too early after tourism is allowed.
I saw that spin-off/commentary as being fairly minor.
Let's all try to keep this discussion on-topic.
With the exception of Haro, you can see in this map how the cases follow the Camino Frances through the region, concentrating on the places where pilgrims are most likely to stay.Thank you for posting this. It is published under a section in the Guardian that is called "The Long Read" and it is indeed a very long read. I admit to dropping out towards the end ... but I googled a bit.
The Rioja administration has a section dedicated to Covid-19 data on their website. It includes an up to date interactive map of accumulated cases. You see areas with no cases at all or less than 10 cases of infection throughout the whole period. Santo Domingo de la Calzada with their 354 confirmed cases really sticks out ... Haro, another focal point in La Rioja, was in the news in March at the beginning - some may remember that it was discussed on the forum. There is also an interactive graph on fatalities on the La Rioja website.
Link to interactive map: https://actualidad.larioja.org/coronavirus/datos
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David, don't forget that Haro too is on a Camino route which, if not popular with "international" pilgrims, is very popular with French, Basque and Spanish pilgrims. Statistics can only tell us so much, all these really tell us is that there has been tragedy in Rioja.With the exception of Haro, you can see in this map how the cases follow the Camino Frances through the region, concentrating on the places where pilgrims are most likely to stay.
Yes, you missed something. The annotation at the bottom right of any post that is edited by a Moderator giving date & time. The reason for the Edit is never discussed in public as you are aware. Rule 7.
True enough, but wasn't the Haro cluster of cases traced to a gathering in Vitoria-Gasteiz?David, don't forget that Haro too is on a Camino route which, if not popular with "international" pilgrims, is very popular with French, Basque and Spanish pilgrims. Statistics can only tell us so much, all these really tell us is that there has been tragedy in Rioja.
Perhaps that is why he followed up with "Statistics can only tell us so much, all these really tell us is that there has been tragedy in Rioja."True enough, but wasn't the Haro cluster of cases traced to a gathering in Vitoria-Gasteiz?
I believe it was. My home-town cluster was "traced" to a Swiss ski-chalet (go figure). But we now know that we'd already had deaths by the time the skiers got back to the UK and we're still having them.True enough, but wasn't the Haro cluster of cases traced to a gathering in Vitoria-Gasteiz?
I include the whole quote both for context, and because it gives a picture of how all the other small towns along the Francés are affected, as well. In the part I put in bold font they speak of the elders as heroes, which speaks to immense suffering.It's worth reading their comments. Here is a Google Translate translation of their announcement on https://www.facebook.com/pg/alberguegranon.larioja/posts/:
To the pilgrims who are thinking of doing the French Camino this summer, we inform you that the parochial albergue of San Juan Bautista in Grañón will remain closed all summer for the time being until October, depending on how the pandemic evolves.We are a parish, and for this reason, our priority right now are the older inhabitants of the town of Grañón, they are also the great heroes of this pandemic, those who have suffered the most, and our duty is to protect them and we cannot risk any outbreak nor any contagion. [...] We must not disappoint them.We are aware that there is a great thirst and desire to make a pilgrimage, but we want to encourage pilgrims to think before they start walking this summer, not only about the risk they are running, but about the risk and danger that they themselves can put to the older people in the towns, we ask you to think about whether it is worthwhile to make the pilgrimage in these conditions, when the Camino will always be there. If you decide to walk, take all possible precautions.We are also aware that there are private albergues and casas rurales in Grañon who have made a strong investment and who need to accommodate pilgrims to pay mortgages and cover expenses. We don't want to be their competition and these businesses are the ones that must survive right now.Let us hope we can reopen again and provide the hospitality that we like, not only offering a bed or a sleeping mat, but with a lot of human warmth and a big hug. As the last words written by a pilgrim in the guestbook say: "Without expectations, but with great confidence".
This cements in my mind how wrong it would be to enjoy a pilgrimage through this town and others during these terrible times of mourning. Reading through this article really hits home how bad this virus has affected so much of Spain. I'm now sure I made the right decision to cancel my 2020 camino. The people of Santo Domingo need time to heal.
You seem to be suggesting that the incident Dueñas described really happened at a care home somewhere other Santo Domingo de la Calzada, but the evidence you present does not appear to support that claim. Dueñas is describing individuals who could not open the doors to their own homes; however, the examples you post are all from nursing homes. The author of the article clearly makes a distinction between the Dueñas incident and the nursing home situation as you point out when you quote the pertinent section of the article that appears several paragraphs later. I see nothing in your evidence or in the article that suggests that the incident related by Dueñas did not occur in Santo Domingo de la Calzada or that the author somehow misunderstood that Dueñas was really referring to an occurrence in a care home.It is a good article but some of it makes me feel uneasy. I know that you have to find an angle at the beginning of an article that will catch your readers' attention, otherwise you've lost them right away.
Here it is the words of one María José Dueñas who told stories of police clambering through windows to rescue the dying, who were too weak to open their doors. This may give you the impression that it happened in Santo Domingo de la Calzada or in La Rioja which isn't the case.
Several paragraphs later you read that elsewhere in the country, military units were discovering care home residents “completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds”, the defence minister Margarita Robles told reporters and there is a link to a BBC News article of 24 March 2020. I remember reading about this in March and how horrified I was, even more so as it does not fit our image of Spain taking particular care of their elderly and despite the fact that I was already aware of the ravages that the disease had caused in homes for the elderly in several countries, including in my home town, and that staff and authorities everywhere had been ill prepared for this onslaught.
Googling for reports about the incidence now I find a 28 May article by the Associated Press that describes it in this way:
Zoilo Patiño was just one of more than 19,000 elderly people to die of coronavirus in Spain’s nursing homes but he has come to symbolize a system of caring for the country’s most vulnerable that critics say is desperately broken.When the Alzheimer’s-stricken 84-year-old succumbed in March on the same day 200 others died across Madrid, funeral homes were too overwhelmed to take his body and he was instead left locked in the same room, in the same bed, where he died.Spanish army disinfecting teams going through the Usera Center for the Elderly more than 24 hours later were stunned to come across Patiño’s body and it made headlines around the world, with the country’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles describing “elderly abandoned, if not dead, on their beds.”It is still dreadful to read this but it shows, I think, that one should not go by just one line one reads somewhere. It's not fake news, and it's not wrong news, it's just that one writer and one article and your attention span can only deal with tiny facets of these huge events.
Actually, I am not presenting any "evidence" at all. The author writes he was told something by a single source what he calls stories. He does not confirm it independently in any way and apparently he did not research it in this small town. Later he writes about similar events and I remembered having read about these events in the news several months ago. I looked up what I had read then and what had been written about this since and summarised it.You seem to be suggesting that the incident Dueñas described really happened at a care home somewhere other Santo Domingo de la Calzada, but the evidence you present does not appear to support that claim.
The attached (long read) article in the Guardian newspaper gives an insight to the covid-19 problems in a town popular with the Camino community.
How a small Spanish town became one of Europe's worst Covid-19 hotspots
The long read: In the northern region of La Rioja, one medieval town has suffered a particularly deadly outbreak. And in such a tight-knit community, suspicion and recrimination can spread as fast as the viruswww.theguardian.com
Whilst I obviously respect your view I cannot say that I agree with it. The article stresses the dependence that Santo Domingo (and all of the other towns along the Camino) have economically on Peregrinos. The last thing that these communities need after the virus is to struggle economically in the aftermath. The community of the Camino is spiritual and supportive. It is not like a crowd of stag do youths are descending on the towns drunkenly rampaging around. I remember Santo Domingo being full of young families and a lot of happy laughing people. The best thing that we can do to encourage it's return to quasi-normality is, as soon as the Estado de Alarma is declared to be over, return to the Camino and all it's towns and welcoming people and give thanks for those who survived and pray for the souls of those who did not. Buen Camino.
I don't want to be a silent super spreader or encounter an asymptomatic holder of the virus. However, I fully understand why some people, out of their intense personal desire to spend time on the Camino, would be happy to walk, despite the increased risk to everyone.
I am not sure about that assertion either. From the article: La Rioja is a semi-autonomous region, with [...] one of the highest living standards in Spain.Not sure about your assertion that all towns along the Camino depend on it though. I wonder how Pamplona, Logrono, Burguete, Najera etc etc survived economically before the Camino's modern wave of popularity in the late 90's.
If Spain were to be all willy-nilly about opening its borders, I'd share your concerns. If Spain were ignoring the need for appropriate protocols and controls as to how tourists will be screened; and which nations need more time and work to control their COVID-19 infection rates before their citizens can enter Spain, I'd be concerned.
But Spain has many items under consideration to help safeguard it from a tourist-related COVID-19 outbreak, including the possibility of requiring travelers to have COVID-19 testing before entry.
Only when I hear their voices inviting us back could I consider walking through their community again.
There is a strange parallel world in relation to opening up hospitality / tourism locations. Those with a vested interest in travel are pushing. Those with a vested interest in healthcare are resisting.
My family have worked in the tourism sector for decades. The company they work for is now planning to open their sites in early July but the locals have been lobbying their parliamentary representatives to resist the opening and a number of sites have had letters asking them to wait.
The local cite a fear that visitors will overwhelm local health services should they become ill. This is in the face of the fact the local businesses rely on visitor income which they appear to want to forgo due to the fear of the virus.
It's not going to be easy and I suspect there will be unpleasantness
I’m frequently asked by individual parishioners (many of whom are elderly) “Are you the Peregrina?” When I confirm I am they ask me my plans and I explain that I intend to continue walking as soon as restrictions allow. Each one has smiled, nodded their approval, wished me luck and expressed a heartfelt “Buen Camino”.
Last week I spent the afternoon with close friends of the priest; a couple who have worked as voluntary Hospitaleros for over 20 years, who hail from Grañon and who still have a family home there. [...]
They expressed concern about how a small village like Grañon will survive economically with no pilgrims passing through. It has a few private albergues, two café bars and little else. They explained that the village relies on the Camino, not just for income but also to give it a sense of purpose, energy and life.
I feel our own desires to walk are far less important than the potential risk to the lives of others, however remote that risk.
I was struck by this phrase in SafariGirl's post, above. We may not have the benefit of hindsight, but we do have the benefit of history. Recent history has told us of the effects of SARS and MERS in our own communities and of Ebola in Africa. We know that new viruses can kill, and we know that their effects can be temporary or long-lasting, widespread or local. There have been relatively few widespread and disastrous pandemics, but history records what happened. I have by chance heard an account from an Alberta woman who was alive in the 1918 flu pandemic of what happened here. In her city of Red Deer, there were so many deaths in the winter of 1918-19 that it was impossible to open graves for all of them. A hotel which was closed was used as a temporary mortuary. filled with the many bodies of the dead, who would be buried when the ground thawed in the spring. We know that the majority of deaths in that pandemic took place during the second wave. I am afraid for my city, where deaths have been worst in Alberta and thousands of young people who seem to totally lack hindsight are out en masse protesting these days. I was afraid when I shared space with them on public transit yesterday. In a week or so, we shall know what the public health results have been for Calgary. I want to go on pilgrimage as much as any of you. When it seems safe, for pilgrims and for locals, I shall do so. Like @VNwalking I shall try to make the well-being of locals the primary issue in my decision.none of us having the benefit of hindsight at that time
I was walking The Camino Francés and had reached Puente La Reina when Spain introduced its State of Alarm. The Government announced that all foreigners prepared to comply with its conditions were welcome to stay in the country and so I caught a bus to Logroño and rented an apartment here, hoping that restrictions would soon be lifted. I, like many others, did not appreciate the impact that the Coronavirus was about to have on Spain and the world at large; none of us having the benefit of hindsight at that time.
As each two-week period of ‘total lockdown’ was extended it became clear that my stay was going to be longer than I originally hoped. But this Camino is not a walking holiday for me it’s a life pilgrimage and so I continued to stay.
When the local church beside my apartment opened its doors again I went daily for private prayer and, when the parish priest became aware that I was a peregrina, he offered me accommodation in the (now empty) donativo albergue attached to the church. The priest, Jose Ignacio, is the founder of the donativo albergue at Grañon and a co-founder of the Association of Voluntary Hospitaleros.
I now attend daily mass at the church (La Iglesia de Santiago Real), welcoming parishioners and helping to clean and disinfect the pews between each service. The parish has lost members of its community to the virus, including a former parish priest, and we pray for them and their families daily. But we also pray daily for those who are suffering current economic hardship and uncertainty about the future as a result of the virus.
I’m frequently asked by individual parishioners (many of whom are elderly) “Are you the Peregrina?” When I confirm I am they ask me my plans and I explain that I intend to continue walking as soon as restrictions allow. Each one has smiled, nodded their approval, wished me luck and expressed a heartfelt “Buen Camino”.
Last week I spent the afternoon with close friends of the priest; a couple who have worked as voluntary Hospitaleros for over 20 years, who hail from Grañon and who still have a family home there. They explained the concern that the Hospitaleros Association has for its volunteer members, many of whom are elderly. The concern is not wholly focused on fears about contracting the virus but as much about the additional workload that its members will now face meeting the regular cleaning, social distancing and disinfection requirements agreed with the Government for all albergues.
They also expressed concern about how a small village like Grañon will survive economically with no pilgrims passing through. It has a few private albergues, two café bars and little else. They explained that the village relies on the Camino, not just for income but also to give it a sense of purpose, energy and life.
I’ve always considered myself to be an empathic and sensitive person but staying here in La Rioja (in the heart of the region featured in the recent Guardian article) has given me an even deeper understanding and respect than I had before for Spain, the Camino and its people.
There is no right or wrong decision about whether or when each of us should walk the Camino. It’s a personal choice that we must each make, based on the best available information we have at the time and drawing on our own sense of what feels right. (Just like walking the Camino itself from day to day).
There will always be those who don’t agree with our personal decisions and some who feel moved to criticise us for them. But this is just life and we shouldn’t let that overly influence us in our own personal decision-making process.
I will walk the Camino again in July, God willing, all the way to Santiago and I’ll do so stopping in as many café bars and albergues as I can, to make my small economic contribution. I will follow all virus restriction requirements, respect the mood and level of welcome I receive in each community, and do my best to leave a little of my own positive energy and purpose behind me along the way.
Whatever personal decision each of you reach, about if and when to walk the Camino, I respect it, I’m sure it will be the right one for you personally, and I wish you all a heartfelt “Buen Camino.”
Thank you David.I’ve made my decision about my next Camino, but I see no merit in setting out my decision or thought process in detail, asserting my moral superiority or implying that my concern for others is greater than anyone else’s.
‘SafariGirl’s’ post above is one of the best I have read on here in a very long time. Clear, informative, interesting, sensible and entirely non-judgemental.
I don't think it is fair to suggest that "personal decision" - as used in the posts in question - implies that the decision is based on personal benefit or selfishness. Rather it means that the decision is made by the individual person, on criteria that the individual sets and evaluates. Those criteria would include the perceived risk to other people. My personal decision could land at a different point than yours. The role of the public health authorities is to roll up all the scientific facts and the individual values into a public health decision that we should all respect as a minimum.it's a 'personal decision' to walk or not, reading into that a faint echo of 'my camino, your camino'
It is a good article but some of it makes me feel uneasy. I know that you have to find an angle at the beginning of an article that will catch your readers' attention, otherwise you've lost them right away.
Here it is the words of one María José Dueñas who told stories of police clambering through windows to rescue the dying, who were too weak to open their doors. This may give you the impression that it happened in Santo Domingo de la Calzada or in La Rioja which isn't the case.
Actually, I am not presenting any "evidence" at all. The author writes he was told something by a single source what he calls stories. He does not confirm it independently in any way and apparently he did not research it in this small town. Later he writes about similar events and I remembered having read about these events in the news several months ago. I looked up what I had read then and what had been written about this since and summarised it.
I’ve made my decision about my next Camino, but I see no merit in setting out my decision or thought process in detail, asserting my moral superiority or implying that my concern for others is greater than anyone else’s.
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