Relatively speaking, Denmark is one of the countries that has been handling “the situation” in a moderate way. The impact on the economy is not as bad as in other countries and the people is, generally speaking, respectful of ones beliefs and decisions. We are Argentinian immigrants, arrived around 10 years ago and are very grateful for many good things that happen to us here.
However, having said that to provide a bit of context and reference, we are also concerned, sad and angry with the way things are evolving. We fully subscribe with PANDA´s views and are suffering in several ways:
– We have seen our rights to move within Europe, from and to the US and Argentina very constrained
– Owning a small family food business, we have also seen our revenues and our growth plans severely compromised; we lost 50% of our sales to schools, to companies… reduced physical presence in all kind of entities means no more events, no more catering, no more team building…
– Our younger son, in his final year at school, lost the opportunity to learn more, better, happier, to truly integrate and being just 15 even saw his blood pressure increasing due to a drastic change in habits to a point in which he now needs to receive medication… When I asked the doctor if this increase in pressure could be associated with the abrupt change of habits, she denied it, when I asked her if she did not consider that the restrictions and lock-down measures were counterproductive for the health of the children, she was uncomfortable and answered me that the subject was outside the scope of the consultation (we later learned that the official statistics in Denmark already show increases in blood pressure and in the average weight of adolescents since this nightmare started!)
– Like in many other parts of the world, the measure that were supposed to be temporary, started to be extended, first a couple of weeks, then months, then entire seasons. Over the last month, in order to attend in person to school, just every second week, the school authorities were requesting him to test on Mondays and Wednesday!
– My wife, who underwent surgery to remove breast cancer, was supposed to have bi-annual regular checks. The dates of the check-ups were postponed on the grounds that all the priority in care was dedicated to fighting COVID and on top of that, the oncologist refused on several occasions to do the so vital breast palpation, despite the fact that both she and my wife were wearing masks
– Finally, and not least, since all this began, as we have been more informed about “the alternative truth”, we do not panic, we reason and question the messages of the government and the mainstream media, we are experiencing tense discussions that are distancing us from friends, even some of the closest ones. The very idea of thinking that something different may be happening is seen as a denial position!
We are sick and tired. We are suffering in all dimensions. Physically, emotionally, socially and economically.
In Argentina, our home country, a country that already had serious problems of recession, corruption and growing poverty, as a result of populist governments, this madness has exacerbated things: there is greater destruction of the productive apparatus, greater authoritarianism, greater exaggeration of the media and greater confusion and fear in most people.
On top of that, being a Spanish-speaking country, and being English the most used language for the dissemination of technical, scientific, political, medical and even cultural discussions … the majority of society does not even have access, don’t even imagine that initiatives like PANDA exist. And that there is another look, another understanding, very different from this whole process.
I congratulate and admire the work you do. I hope the energy and the resources needed will grow and I also hope that in the near future we will be able to fund the translation of all the content into Spanish so that the battle can be fight on more fronts and we get more united and stronger.
