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As the statewide lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus in Maine stretches into its sixth week, some might be starting to go stir-crazy — if they haven’t already reached that point.
But for the most part, Mainers still have the luxury of getting outside whenever we want. Though many parks and beaches have closed , there aren’t restrictions on going for walks or enjoying many natural attractions, provided you’re still maintaining your distance from large groups. And despite restrictions on the numbers of customers inside stores, people can still go to pharmacies, banks, and grocery and hardware stores without major restrictions.
[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]
For other parts of the world, however, the ability to move around freely has been far more sharply curtailed — particularly in Italy and Spain, the two countries with the highest numbers of cases of COVID-19 other than the United States.
Alica Champlin, a native of St. Albans, who moved from the Bangor area to Spain in 2018, said she has barely left her apartment in Barcelona in six weeks — and the handful of times she has, it’s been trips to the grocery store and the bank.
She and her partner, Nik, did leave one other time — to check on a friend’s empty apartment a few blocks away, and see if the roof was leaking after a big rainstorm. On their way back home, they were stopped and questioned by the police, and cited for being out together on a Sunday, something forbidden by the national state of alarm called by Spain on March 14. Spain’s lockdown forbids even going out for exercise, or going out in pairs.
“It was really humbling. It suddenly made the situation much more real,” said Champlin. “It makes you realize what kind of a psychological effect that kind of loss of autonomy has.”
In Italy, Maine native Mary Jane Poole has lived in Florence for 22 years, after retiring from a long career as a Latin teacher at Bangor High School. Other than grocery shopping, she hasn’t left her home in a suburb about a mile from the city center since she returned to Italy on Feb. 21, after staying with her daughter in California for a few weeks. Italy has been on national lockdown since March 9.
“Initially I thought, ‘Italians will never go along with these rules.’ I must say, though, that I think they’ve done a very good job of it,” said Poole. “I think there’s a lot of similarities between Italians and Mainers, in terms of their attitude toward authority. But this is the sort of thing that transcends that.”
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In Germany, the country with the fourth-highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the death rate has been far lower than in the U.S., Italy or Spain, thanks in large part to widespread and extensive testing nationwide. Thomas Woodman, a Rockland native who moved to his wife’s hometown of Hamburg last year, said similar movement restrictions are in place in Germany, a country that began preparing its citizens for the pandemic within days of its first case of Covid-19 being identified on Jan. 27.
“We feel very safe in many ways. From early on it has been taken very seriously here. The German government even sent us all booklets back in February, about what to do in a catastrophe,” said Woodman. “We still feel stressed and isolated, but overall we know Germany has our best interests in mind.”
Though the crisis is by no means close to being over, there are hopeful signs that the worst is over in both Italy and Spain, after deaths per day reached highs of 919 in one day for Italy on March 28, and 950 in one day for Spain on April 2. The numbers of deaths and new cases alike have been slowly declining in more recent days in both countries.
Nevertheless, restrictions on movement and gatherings are likely to remain in place for weeks more in both places.
“I know it’s getting better, but I’m just so afraid they’re going to jump the gun, and it’ll all go up again,” said Poole. “It really just can’t go too fast, as much as we want to get back to normal.”
In Spain, one of the first signs of the start of a slow return to normalcy was the fact that on Tuesday, certain workers including construction workers and landscapers were allowed to return to work. Others, such as restaurant workers and retail employees, will likely have to wait much longer.
Still, it’s going to be a long road for every country affected by the pandemic. And efforts to spread good cheer and boost morale are universal reactions to the crisis, no matter where you are, or what sort of government you live under.
“Every night at 8 p.m., everybody goes out onto their terraces to clap. They set off bottle rockets and blow vuvuzelas and just make a lot of noise,” said Champlin. “I’ve actually gotten to know my neighbors’ faces much better than before. In that way, it’s kind of been nice.”
Watch: Janet Mills extends civil emergency in Maine
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