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Onl MarianneIt’s nice to be back in our old house on the hilltop. I didn’t realise until now how much I have missed the Spanish mountains and the view from our terrace to the sea, the sunset with its colourful and sometimes dramatic variations.

From a more prosaic point of view, I had forgotten (old age dementia?) how cheap food and wine is here compared to our Nordic haunts, and how friendly people are. Another thing I appreciate here is being served at a table at restaurants and bars of every category. It’s not just the luxury for a housewife to be cooked for and served, but also the human contact, exchanging thoughts with staff who seem proud of the work they do. In most of the ‘good price’ restaurants in Finland and Sweden, you have to stand in a queue with your tray and pick your food from a buffet. Not much time to exchange words other than “sausages and mashed potatoes, please” not to mention opinions on football matches or trying to find out what’s eating the whole nation.

What is eating the Spanish nation today is how Spain’s first Ebola case has been managed by the authorities. It was in early October when Teresa Romero tested positive for Ebola, becoming the first known person in the current outbreak to contract the deadly virus outside West Africa. Teresa had been part of a team attending to two Ebola patients who had been evacuated from West Africa to Madrid for treatment.

She had been complaining of a fever for nearly a week before being diagnosed. Then authorities began monitoring more than 80 people who had been in contact with her before her diagnosis. Fifteen people including Teresa’s husband were put in quarantine in Madrid’s Carlos III Hospital. In the weeks that followed her diagnosis healthcare workers spoke out about how ill-prepared the country had been to face the threat of Ebola.

The hysteria around the case went so far as to accuse the victim herself for being contaminated, claiming that she must have touched her face with the protective gloves after having treated the victim. They later presented an apology to her and her family for these accusations. How she contacted the disease will probably never be known. The authorities obviously failed to take all the necessary measures to minimize the risk factors. Based on first-hand interviews with nursing staff at Carlos III hospital a massive report paints a picture of bad training, missing protocols and substandard equipment.

On top of everything else Teresa’s dog Excalibur was killed as a precaution against spreading the disease. This created a wave of protests, especially from animal lovers and activists. Madrid’s regional government obtained a court order to put down and incinerate the pet, saying available scientific knowledge suggests a risk that the dog could transmit the virus to humans. But this has not been proved yet. In a similar case in Dallas, Texas the officials decided against killing the dog belonging to a nurse diagnosed with Ebola. This dog was quarantined. Why was Excalibur not put into quarantine? I think it has to do with the general conception and treatment of animals in Spain. They are just animals. They don’t matter much.

Now to the good news. After several successive tests have come back negative, Teresa is considered cured. She is expected to remain in hospital for at least two weeks to recover. Some of those who have been in quarantine have been discharged, and the rest of them have tested negative so far.

Marianne Lindahl

Born in Helsinki, Finland, many decades ago and a resident in Almuñécar since 2001. I have a M.Sc in Economics and Business Administration and an Authorized Translator´s exam. Prior to this I studied art in Helsinki and Paris. After a career in business I started painting again, (oil, impressionist with a touch of naivism)and have participated in many exhibitions in Spain and Finland. I am active in Asociacion Hispano-Nordica in Almuñécar, a meeting point for people from Sweden, Norway and Finland. I am married, with 3 children and 9 grandchildren. Hobbies: Cats, golf, trecking, jazz. 

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