Report from Gilead, Puerto Rico

It has been a while since I have posted anything. Before the virus hit here in Puerto Rico we had been busy selling Lorri's art at The Beach House in Rincon. Every morning, the workshop opened, and most nights we sold her wares. We had settled into a sort of routine that was actually paying our way. 

Then, on February 12th, we received word that the governor had issued an emergency order. 

By virtue of the powers granted by the Constitution and the Laws of Puerto Rico, the closure of all governmental operations is hereby ORDERED, except for those related to essential services. This includes the closure of all businesses in Puerto Rico starting today, March 15, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. until March 30, 2020, unless otherwise provided, except for food retail or wholesale businesses providing services through drive-thru, carry-out, or delivery only, including prepared foods, medications or medical equipment, pharmacies, supermarkets, gas stations, banking or financial institutions, nursing homes, or other businesses related to the food, medical products, or fuel supply chains.   

   

This order for total closure shall apply to shopping centers, movie theaters, dance clubs, concert halls, theaters, game or gambling rooms, casinos amusement parks, gyms, bars, or any similar place or event that may promote the gathering of a group of citizens in the same place. 

This curfew will allow citizens to travel or walk along public roads from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. only on the following circumstances:

(a) Purchasing food, pharmaceutical, and basic necessity products; (b) keeping medical appointments or visiting a hospital, laboratory, or healthcare facility; (c) going or coming from a workplace whose closure has not been ordered hereunder, public and private employees who perform essential work; (d) returning to your usual place of residence from an allowed activity; (e) to provide assistance, care, transportation of senior citizens, children, dependents,  people with disabilities or people who require any type of medical or professional attention. The above, provided that all necessary precautions are taken to prevent infection; (f) visiting financial institutions.   
 

During the curfew, citizens may only  travel on public roads in an emergency  situation. 

The curfew shall continue until March 30, 2020. Individuals authorized under this Order due to work and/or emergency reasons shall be excluded from this curfew.    The provisions of this Section shall not apply to individuals duly identified as public or private security agency employees at the state and federal level, health professionals; hospital, personnel working in hospitals, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, bioscience facilities or health centers; personnel working in the wholesale food and product manufacturing and supply chain, from their origin to consumer retail outlets; personnel working with utilities or critical infrastructure; call centers; ports and airports personnel; members of the press; or citizens who are addressing emergency or health situations. These individuals shall be authorized to travel on public roads to and from work when necessary.   It is hereby ordered that the Puerto Rico Police Department and the Public Safety Department take all necessary measures to enforce the provisions of this Executive Order. 

Failure to comply with the provisions contained in this Emergency Executive Order by any person and/or business shall result in the implementation of criminal penalties and fines as provided by all applicable laws, as well as by Act No. 20-2017, as amended, which establishes a term of imprisonment not to exceed six (6) months or a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both penalties, at the discretion of the court, for any person who fails to comply with the evacuation orders issued by the Public Safety Department or its Bureaus. 

That day the police went around enforcing the order on unsuspecting small businesses. Nearly everything ground to a halt. The next day they began patrolling the beaches and making tourists return to their hotel rooms. The hotels were force to close their bars, beaches, and even their swimming pools. Everyone was expected to stay in their rooms unless seeking food or medicine during the day, and unless there was an emergency after 9pm. 

Residents started calling in violators to the police and mayor's office, and as a result, there has been a big crackdown and many people have been either arrested or fined. While the order is only in effect until April 1, it is clear this won't be anywhere near over by then. And since we were planning on returning to the States in May, and can't do anything at all here now, we have started planning our escape. 

We have purchased tickets to fly out on April 7th. That gives us time to finish up the last of our projects here, and start smuggling our belongings over to a nearby storage unit. The governor is also asking the FAA for flights to be grounded here, so time will tell if we are able to fly back to the States by then, or if have to start digging a tunnel with a kitchen spoon or something. 

LuLu (motorhome) awaits us in Tampa, and it seems like a better option to be quarantined in a home with wheels right now than in a big empty house with a limited view.

Don't get us wrong. We commend the governor of Puerto Rico for trying to get out ahead of this thing. The population here has far too many elderly to risk not trying to throw everything at this virus. 

But, we are still sad to leave like this. We are also sad for the tourists who had paid for vacations months earlier, and struggled with the decision of whether to follow through with their plans, only to have an island with no cases when they left, end up with cases, and take such sudden and dramatic action.

More than that, we are deeply saddened for our many friends who own small businesses, both here and elsewhere, who will likely end up bankrupt, or ultimately lose their homes and businesses if no real assistance is given to them.

We are saddened also for the victims of the virus and their families as well, and all of those with immune compromised loved ones at home. We can't imagine the terror of being ever afraid of this invisible monster, if we had a child at risk right now. 

And our heart aches for the millions who already live paycheck to paycheck in this country, who simply couldn't go out and horde goods because they were already so broke. I wonder how long they can all survive in this locked down Orwellian nightmare. 

Why has there been no talk about suspending credit card payments? As if, regardless of anything that happens, the banks should still be profiting. Everything else can grind to a halt, but the invisible hand of capitalism still reaches into your homes and wallets, like a mobster collecting on a loan, and says, no matter what, we will still get ours. 

Mostly, the stores here have remained calm and in good order. We received reports about craziness at big box stores, but we never ran out of toilet paper here on the island, so there is that. Yesterday, when I went out to the store, there was a line outside. They let us in one shopper at a time, and had about a dozen shoppers in the little grocery at any one time. Inside, they had me sanitize my hands and take a sanitized cart. The shelves were fully stocked. 

In town at the emergency clinic, a tent outside with masked healthcare professionals greet arrivals. They are examined, and if need be, admitted to a mobile testing facility outside the hospital. 

The streets are mostly empty. After curfew at 9pm, it is rare to hear a car go by now. Parking at the beaches is all locked, or blocked with barricades and police tape. No public trails or outdoor spaces are open. You are supposed to stay indoors, or on your own property at all times, and when you do go out before 9pm, you had better always have a place to be going to on the tip of your tongue. 

We didn't have toilet paper fights here, but as I write this, people on Facebook groups are actively complaining about curfew violators and tripping over themselves to call the police and mayor's offices whenever they see somebody walking their dog, or sneaking to the beach. 

Back in the States, we hear about people stocking up on guns and ammunition. This too saddens us, since in our minds, now is a time to be coming together and imagining ways to care for our neighbors, not how to best protect a toilet paper horde. If we starve, then it let be because we have shared the last of our food with someone else in need. If we suffer, then let it be as communities. And if we perish, then let it be in service to another somehow. 

That is the lesson of this virus. Life is short. Virus or no virus, we can all die at any moment, from anything. How or when we die is no more our decision than when it will rain next. But how we live is our choice every moment of every day. 

Fear, not some virus, is our greatest threat, and most dangerous enemy. It causes neighbors to fight over toilet paper and resources, and stock up on ammunition. All that at a time when we have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to care for our fellow man and woman. 

“Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.”

       -Norman Rice-