"Every Day is Like Sunday"

A Pana-Nadian look at Living in Panama during Coronavirus

"Every day is like Sunday, Every day is silent and grey"

I wonder if even Morissey could have imagined how "relevant" this song and these lyrics would be more than 30 years after he wrote it, it seems like the song was written for this very moment we are living in.

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We awoke again today to a beautiful Panama morning; calm, quiet, 25 degrees, the sun had just started to rise, the hues of the sky and the light on the mountains around us was changing rapidly in the growing light. It is a pretty gorgeous scene to wake up to.

In normal times this tranquility provides the perfect setting to have a coffee and get ready for the day. This climate pushes you to be out and active early as the afternoons can often be too hot to do much of anything outdoors. So typically after our morning coffee we are off to play tennis, or golf, or off on a long walk at the ocean with our dog.

But today, like yesterday and the day/week before that, we are in a "quarantina" and really not allowed to go anywhere. This weekend is especially strict, it is a weekend of "zero circulation", you are not allowed to leave your home at all and there is no-where to go anyway, the country and everything in it (save for the hospitals) is closed.

So today, like yesterday, we will have an extra coffee and delay any decisions about the day, there really are surprisingly few options. It was not very long ago that we had created a life that was just far too busy; I used to tell Linda that I longed for the time when we could have a lazy Sunday, when all we would have on the agenda was reading the paper and perhaps washing the car. Suddenly, and without warning, every day is like that Sunday I once longed for.

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But something is different today; it is the sounds and activity of the nature around us, particularly the birds seems to have dialed it up.

Panama is recognized as an area with one of the highest diversities of bird species in the world; over 900 different species of bird have been identified on this little country. It is such an accommodating spot for birds due to its climate, the fact that it is a "land bridge" between North and South America, and also due to the varied terrain (mountains and coastal areas) in very close proximity to one another.

It may be simply that we have found the silence "deafening" during these last days of no movement, but today the birds seem to own the airways and the airwaves around us, they are very active and very vocal. I don' think they are mocking us, but maybe just reveling in the fact that we seem to be staying home again, that we seem to be giving them back control over their space, we are letting nature look after itself for another day.

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"Relevance" is a word I have been using a lot of late. This "virus age" has brought us so many different (and perhaps unprecedented levels) of some emotions; fear, angst, stress, and definitely big buckets of uncertainty. But what I feel it has robbed us of is relevance. It is hard in these times to hear about anything else. It is hard to feel relevant if you are talking or even thinking about anything except the havoc in this world brought on by this virus. There is only one story out there, it is literally inescapable.

It would seem that these conditions of total quarantine would be the perfect time to sit down and write if you were prone to doing that type of thing. However, it is really just the opposite right now. It is again the pervasive feeling that anything you have on your mind besides the virus is irrelevant because nobody is talking about anything else. There is only one story to be told right now, and unfortunately it is the media that is telling this story.

So, while most of us are saturated, perhaps over saturated with Covid news, there may be a few out there who want to hear more, or maybe a few that have not heard anything about Panama before Covid or since. So let me provide a little snapshot into life in Panama during the last 5 weeks.

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Panama is a country of just over 4 million people situated at the very bottom of Central America, there is an impassable boundary (The Darien Gap) between the "eastern" end of Panama and the upper border of Columbia. The country lies between 7 and 10 degrees above the equator and thus has very warm and consistent temperatures and hours of daylight year round.

For many, Panama is best known (or only known) for it's Canal. The Panama Canal is hugely important to the world as a continental avenue that saves million of dollars operating costs for shipping companies around the world. It is also a huge part of the economy of Panama; the canal will generate more than 2 Billion US dollars in annual revenue of which almost half of that ends up in the general treasury of the country.

Simply by virtue of its physical location, the Canal take on another function, and it is very important today, the canal forms the "western" border of the capital, Panama City. Panama City is a busy and bustling center of business and commerce. It has an impressive modern skyline and is home to over 2 million people. Many Panamanians have "weekend homes" along the Pacific Coast beaches and in order to leave the city and head into the interior of Panama, you need to cross one of two bridges over the canal as pictured below.

The Bridge of the Americas, which has a total length of just over a mile, is the major thoroughfare out of the city and onto the Pan-American Highway which runs through the Pacific Coast beach areas and on through the entire length of the country to Costa Rica, some 8 hours of driving.

The other slightly relevant information about Panama in the context of this story is their Political system, this is a democratic country with a multi party system. There are national elections every five years, the president and vice president are elected on a single ballot for a five year term, the president cannot seek re-election on a subsequent term. July 1, 2019, Laurentino (Nito) Cortizo entered the office of the president to start his 5 year term.

Nito was born and raised in Panama City, did his advanced education in the US and has been a career politician since returning to Panama in the mid 90s. He ran his campaign on a platform of transparency and social equality. Panama's rapid economic growth during the last decade has seen the last two presidents leave office under clouds of corruption allegations, the Panamanian people are starting to feel a deep distrust of this office. Nito appealed to this sentiment and ran a successful campaign.

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Panama's first case of Covid 19 was detected on March 9, 2020. Unfortunately, one of the first cases was a Panama City School principle who had been at a conference in Europe, he later died from complications related to the Covid Virus, but not before exposing many other teachers and thus students in the school.

I think it would be honest to say that we (Linda and I) did not fully understand the scope of the danger this virus represented, even as the first case entered Panama. We thus were a little shocked at the rapid and thorough response of the Panamanian authorities.

We had arranged to meet some friends and family on March 14 at Picasso's, our local bar to watch some live music. We were a little shocked to see several Policia at the bar with a woman from the Ministry of Health (MINSA) talking to the owners when we arrived. This went on for almost a half an hour before the Policia left and the owner came directly to our table to tell us that "Los Federales" would not be performing on that night, basically the authorities position was that if the band played, they would shut the bar down. The bar was pretty much packed at that point. We found the decision a little puzzling.

The following week the sanctions and closures were brought into the country at a very rapid pace. Panama quickly closed its borders to international visitors, only Panamanian residents were allowed to enter the country as of March 16. Bars and Restaurants were open for take out only and no social gatherings of any kind were allowed. Golf courses, tennis courts, gyms and even our beautiful beaches were closed within days. We heard it was a possibility, but were a little surprised when they enacted a national ban on liquor sales early that week also.

As of March 23, all non-essential commercial operations were closed to the public, leaving only grocery stores, mini-markets, hardware stores, pharmacies, banks and medical / veterinary clinics open. This coincided with a national curfew being brought to the country; no one was allowed on the streets between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am. This was then changed from 6:00 to 6:00 and then the following week a " total national quarantine" was enacted which places strict limits on circulation; other than essential service providers, all residents must stay at home. One member of each household is entitled to leave the home up to three days per week for a maximum of two hours per day to purchase essential items. One female member is allowed to circulate on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, men are allowed out on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays.

These rules of movement were further reduced on Easter weekend and this weekend once again; Saturday and Sunday were deemed days of zero movement and all stores and essential services were also closed. Panama, the country is essentially closed all this weekend.

In addition to this, the government has established "sanitary perimeters" around areas with the greatest concentrations of cases to prevent the spread of the virus. There are a few locations within Panama City with high numbers and thus Police Checkpoints have been set up at various points throughout the country (e.g. Canal) to ensure that motorists and public transit passengers respect these boundaries. Only those that can provide proof of residency in another district may cross a sanitary perimeter. Public health officials also use these checkpoints to scan the temperatures of the drivers and passengers.

The Panamanian authorities have deployed over 30,000 security officials to enforce the security measures as decreed by the government. Between March 18 and April 6, police have arrested just under 7,000 people for violations of the circulation times, curfews and sanitary perimeter rules. Additionally, anyone leaving their home who has tested positive to the Covid virus is subject to a minimum $50,000 fine and jail time

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Panama has received a great deal of International attention due to the strict measures it has undertaken to "flatten the curve" in terms of the spread of Covid -19 and thus reduce the strain in the country's medical system. So how has it been working?

At the end of last week, (April 16) -

• The total number of confirmed cases of Covid 19 in Panama had just surpassed 4,000

• 784 are in hospital hotels in Panama City where they are being monitored by medical personnel.

• 227 are in regular hospital wards

• 99 are in ICU

• 109 are deceased

• 98 have fully recovered (Panama defines this as having no clinical systems and two consecutive negative test results)

So the virus is here and giving this country a fight in spite of all the "extraordinary" measures the government has put in place to control it, this is indeed a battle

We do respect the numbers the government is releasing as they have been very transparent with what they are doing and why. There is a press conference every evening with the president and the head of the ministry of health to discuss the situation. It unfortunately appears that there are a few "hot spots" in Panama City, in the Colon area and an area in the Darien province where the transmission rate (Rt) is over 3. The goal of this government and many others in the world is to get that Rt number to 1 in order to feel that they have the virus under control. Many, many parts of the interior of this country are already at the Rt<1, including the area that we live in.

It is when we hear the news from neighboring country's down this way that we are really thankful we live in Panama, especially during this time. Apparently the president of Nicaragua (just above Costa Rica in Central America) hasn't been seen publicly in over a month and there is no clear direction on how many are infected and how they are fighting this, that is utterly frightening considering the virus numbers in Panama even with all of the quarantine measures. The situation in Ecuador just neighboring Columbia to the south of us appears out of control, largely due to the lack of funding for the country's medical system. And of course the behavior of Brazil's president is just shocking; publicly defying his health minister's request for the population to self isolate by meeting and greeting people in the streets without a mask or gloves. He last week fired this minister of health for his continued public pleas for self-isolation against the presidents wishes. Brazil has reportedly confirmed 37,000 cases and almost 2,400 deaths but the president continues to call this a "little flu".

When we see the craziness around us, we are so very happy to live in a country with such foresight and the willingness to act in the manner they have; and all this from a brand new government, we have the utmost respect for Nito Cortizo and his team.

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I snuck out for a 45 minute run this morning, I know, totally against the rules. I went by myself of course; there are some very quiet roads through the neighboring golf course and an area with a new road that was paved for a development that has not yet started building. It was indeed the same route I ran yesterday, and the day before that. And each time I run, I see no one, there are no cars, there is no other runners, no people walking, no children playing. There is no sound except the birds above and the iguanas scurrying into the brush as I run by. Panamanians are loud people and love to have loud parties, but these past weeks, there is no music, except of course the song in my head....

"Every day is like Sunday, every day is silent and gray...."