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MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2020
Empty deck chairs are pictured at Talamanca beach in Ibiza. PHOTO: AFP
IBIZA TOWN, SPAIN (AFP) - On the
largely-empty beach at Figueretas
on Ibiza, social distancing isn’t
hard to do. Here, terraces are
sparsely populated and the shut-
ters of apartments overlooking
them are mostly closed.
With Spanish health authori-
ties struggling to contain rising
coronavirus infections, this island
fears its tourist season may have
been dealt a inal blow following
Britain’s decision to quarantine all
arrivals from Spain.
Butboththetouristswhoarehere
and the locals are enjoying a period
of unprecedentedcalmin Ibiza - one
of the Balearic Islands - which is
normally overrun by clubbers and
DJs from across the globe.
“The impact has been terrible.
The pandemic has battered the
local economy for one simple
reason: 90 per cent of the island’s
GDP comes from tourism,” said
Head of the island’s governing
council Vicent Torres.
In mid-June, the Balearic Is-
lands had high hopes of making
the most of the summer when
the archipelago welcomed the
irst foreign tourists allowed into
Spain after the lockdown as part
of a pilot project with Germany.
And by July, the recovery was
well under way, “better than
we had expected,” said Iago
Negueruela, head of tourism for
the Balearic Isles’ regional govern-
ment.
But Britain’s announcement
on July 25 that it would impose
quarantine on anyone arriving
from Spain, given the increase in
cases, has threatened to wipe out
the recovery.
And the irony is that theBalearic
Islands have seen very few cases
of infection.
The effect was immediate.
“From the very irst day, cus-
tomers were calling to cancel their
reservations,” said Lucas Prats,
manager of a four-star hotel in the
centre of Ibiza town.
“For those who have to work
(when they go back to the Unit-
ed Kingdom), it’s a problem,”
he acknowledged.
“It has been a major blow,”
admitted Torres, pointing out
that British tourism accounts
for about 30 per cent of the
island’s visitors.
“It is going to very dificult to
come back from this because the
British tourists had just started
arriving and we were conident
this would get the season going.
But this decision has shattered all
our expectations.”
Famed for its clubbing culture
and nightlife, Ibiza must also con-
tend with the closure of its iconic
dance clubs, some of the most
popular in theworld, but shuttered
to slow the spread of the virus.
The Spanish government,
which has denounced the British
move as unfair, fought hard to
obtain an exemption for travel-
lers returning from the Balearic
or Canary Islands. But London
refused.
If such an exemption “is not
agreed quickly, some businesses
and hotels will close down and it
will be very dificult for them to
open again,” said Torres.
Louis Morgan, 23, who is visit-
ing from Wales for a few weeks,
thinks that a quarantine require-
ment for those coming from the
Balearics “seems unreasonable”.
And his girlfriend Milly Davies,
22, agreed.
“The infection rate is way lower
here,” she said.
Although the island’s towns and
beaches are normally crowded,
neither the tourists nor the locals
are unhappy about the atmosphere
of unprecedented calm.
“It’s quite nice, actually. We
werewalking down the streets and
it was quieter,” said Davies, after an
evening stroll through Ibiza town.
“There are fewer tourists, par-
ties, perhaps more families.. you
can feel the difference in the
trafic when you’re going to the
beach with the children, it’s quite
noticeable,” said Swiss national
Santi Soto, 47, who regularly visits
with her husband and two boys.
For taxi driver Angel Torres, the
crisis has given the islanders a rare
moment of peace.
“You can hear people saying ‘I
wish it would stay like this forever’
because there’s no overcrowding
on the beaches nor in restaurants,
nor on the roads,” said the 47-year-
old, sitting inside his taxi.
“So you can enjoy the island
muchmore than inother years even
if it’s a major economic blow.”
Juan Jose Roig who lives in
the highest part of the town, said
he’s happy to be able to hear the
cicadas around his house.
“We have the island to our-
selves, and we’re enjoying it like
we did 30 years ago,” the 53-year-
old electrician told
AFP
.
“There has to be a half-way
point where people can eat and
work well, while also having space.
“They will have to rethink the
tourist model a bit, it’s unavoid-
able.”
Ibiza: Between
economic distress and
unprecedented calm
US states eager to expand broadband,
wary of CARES Act deadline
Famed for its clubbing culture and nightlife, Ibiza must also contend
with the closure of its iconic dance clubs, some of the most popular
in the world, but shuttered to slow the spread of the virus.
AP - Fearful of losing federal pandemic
dollars, oficials from states across the
United States (US) are rushing to inish
projects by the end of the year aimed
at expanding broadband Internet into
underserved areas.
To comply with the current CARES
Act rules, states must have the broad-
band projects, which can typically
take months if not years of planning
and construction, up and running by
December 30. Efforts are underway in
Congress to provide greater lexibility
in the funding.
In Vermont, the Legislature cut
back on what lawmakers would have
liked to allocate from USD100 million
to less than USD20 million. They didn't
believe theycouldhave spent the larger
amount on time, despite the need.
"We have to get it out, we have
to get people to hook up," said Ver-
mont State Senator Ann Cummings,
a Democrat who chairs the Senate
Finance Committee, which worked on
broadband issues during this year's
legislative session.
Now, the Vermont Department of
Public Service is in the process of is-
suing requests for proposals to spend
USD17 million. Potential contractors
that usually plan years in advance are
having to rearrange their schedules to
do the work, said June Tierney, com-
missioner of the public service depart-
ment, which expects to issue the irst
contracts in the coming days.
With broadband, the goal is to ex-
pand the service so it would be avail-
able to students studying from home
during the pandemic, people who
need to use broadband for telehealth
reasons and people working remotely
from home.
"The coronavirus funds that the feds
are giving to the states can be used for
the short-term in response to COVID,
but broadbandexpansion is a long-term
goal," saidHeatherMorton, who follows
state broadband efforts for theNational
Conference of State Legislatures.
Among the other states that are
dealing with the issue are Alabama,
Iowa and New Hampshire.
"Based on guidance we have re-
ceived, we are looking at short-term,
immediatesolutionsusingexistingtech-
nology to increase Internet access," said
MikePresleyoftheAlabamaDepartment
of Economic and Community Affairs.
"That work is still ongoing."
New Hampshire is planning to
spend USD50 million to expand
broadband into underserved parts of
the state.
"We're moving as fast as we can
regardless, but hopefully they'll give
us more time," Republican Governor
Chris Sununu said during a recent
news conference.
The end-of-the-year rules don't just
apply to broadband. Housing, and
many business projects, are other sec-
tors that traditionally require long lead
times, alsomust be inished by the end
of the year. TheVermont Legislature ap-
propriatedUSD32million of CARESAct
money todeal withemergencyhousing
issues, including inding permanent
homes for the homeless, considered to
be among themost vulnerable popula-
tions to COVID§19.