For the old and helpless, what is more terrible than death is to wait for death alone.
On June 11, local time, the winners of the 105th Pulitzer Prize were officially announced, and Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti won the Feature Photo Award. Over the past year, Emilio Morenati has travelled across Spain on a scooter to build trust with Spanish seniors and document their struggling lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti
From Emilio's point of view, the peaceful world of the past no longer exists, and under the coercion of the new crown virus, the old and helpless people are in trouble, even desperate situations. Death, like three meals a day, is repeated here. The distance between life and death seems to be only one foot away from the white cloth.
There are a lot of living beings here. An octogenarian couple kissed across the curtain for 102 days, wrapped in plastic hugs that made them feel each other's love again; patients who had been lying in the ICU for 52 days, lying on their beds and watching the sea, which he said was the most beautiful day of his life; the man who ate Christmas dinner alone at home, due to the death of his family, accompanied him only by injured rabbits.
There are also silent deaths. The roommates who chatted together yesterday were lying in the cold body bag today. Funeral home staff who work day and night to carry the remains of the elderly, they are unable to devote themselves to emotion and thought, and once they fall into contemplation, they will be too heavy to stop.
For them, more terrible than death, is to wait alone for death. The world is squeezed into a cramped space without sunlight, fresh air, and no family. They are lonelier than ever. They were alone, watching their roommate die alone. Whether they will be infected with the new crown virus or whether they will die alone, no one knows.
▲ June 22, 2020, local time, Barcelona, Spain, in a nursing home, in order to avoid infection with the new crown virus, 81-year-old Agustina Cañamero hugged through the plastic film and kissed her 84-year-old husband Pascual Pérez. It was the first hug the old couple had embraced in 102 days apart, and the fear vanished in this moment of silence. Even if wrapped in plastic, hugs still convey tenderness, relief and love to those who care about each other. Throughout the day, the nursing home ushered in one tearful reunion after another, wave after wave of healing energy, bringing to life the house that had been dead for months.
On September 4, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, 60-year-old Francisco Espana lay in a hospital bed looking at the Mediterranean Sea. He lay in the intensive care unit for 52 days due to the new coronavirus, and in order to better recover, doctors allowed him to stay at the beach for 10 minutes. After nearly two months, Francisco closed his eyes and enjoyed the long-lost sunshine, and his lungs were once again filled with precious fresh air, "This is the most beautiful day of my life." He said.
▲ On November 5, 2020, local time, barcelona, Spain, the funeral of a deceased old man was prepared to be held. Román Ibáñez, 38, has been transporting the body for 14 years. These weeks have been the darkest moments in Roman's more than a decade of working life. Like the rest of the morgue staff, Roman was enveloped in a dignified wartime atmosphere, running back and forth between the morgue and the nursing home every day, picking up the remains of hundreds of elderly people eroded by the new crown virus. He could not make any contemplation or put any emotion into these repeated deaths, and all he could do was to stay healthy and maintain his daily routine.
▲ Local time on November 25, 2020, Barcelona, Spain, the elderly through the glass window of the nursing home, looking at the street outside in a daze. As two morgue workers carried two tightly wrapped bodies on stretchers, the old man with Alzheimer's disease in the next bed suddenly came back, "Is he dead?" The old man muttered to himself and stretched out his arm, trying to touch his roommate one last time. Similar scenes are constantly played out in nursing homes. With the resurgence of COVID-19 and the increasing number of elderly people dying, staff member Manel Rivera is desperate. "Sadly," he said of the surviving elderly man in the Nursing Home in Barcelona, "we may come back to him in a few days." ”
▲ On November 13, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, funeral home staff wore protective clothing to carry the remains of the elderly who died of new crown pneumonia from the nursing home.
▲ On April 3, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, 85-year-old Leopoldo Roman wore a mask and lay on a hospital bed, waiting for the upcoming family doctor. Years ago, Roman had his leg amputated in an accident, and because the public system required social workers to serve only three days a week and only one hour at a time, he had to use his pension to pay for daily care. These elderly people, who survived the great famine after the Spanish Civil War, now do not know whether they will survive the COVID-19 epidemic that does not know when to end. In Spain, coveted beds and ventilators are preferred for patients who are younger, healthier and have a higher chance of survival. Nationwide, only 3.4% of ICU patients over the age of 80 are enrolled. These elderly people are lonelier than ever, lying alone in their homes, and no one knows if they are infected with the new crown virus.
▲ On November 19, 2020, local time, in Girona, Spain, a funeral home staff collected the ashes of the new crown deceased.
▲ On November 18, 2020, local time, in the new crown pneumonia ward of Del Mar hospital in Barcelona, Spain, nurse Marta Fernandez held up a tablet for Maria Teresa Argullos Bove, 94, so that she could talk to her loved ones. The coronavirus has shrunk The world of Povi to this ward, with no sunlight, no fresh air, and no family. Povi's family asked her when she would be home. "I still can't leave," Povey replied, adding as she flew a kiss to the screen: "But soon, very quickly." ”
▲ On December 23, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, funeral home staff took off protective clothing at the entrance of a building decorated with Christmas trees after carrying the remains of the deceased suspected of dying of new crown pneumonia.
▲ On November 18, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, a person infected with new crown pneumonia sat in a chair in the isolation ward of a public hospital. Although Fernandez has worked at Del Mar Hospital for at least 25 years, it is not easy to watch patients die in solitude without visits from relatives and friends. "The worst thing about this outbreak is seeing patients cope with the entire onset of the disease alone." Fernandez said, "It's hardest to watch them die alone." ”
▲ December 24, 2020, local time, Barcelona, Spain, Álvaro Puig Moreno (Álvaro Puig Moreno) eats Christmas dinner while watching TV. "These days, I'm very lonely and often feel depressed," he said. These holidays didn't make me happy, they made me sad. I hate them. My family has died, leaving me alone. I was alone at home for Christmas and there was no one to accompany me. "Now with him is a rabbit that he saved on the street not long ago.
▲ On November 13, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, an elderly person who died of new crown pneumonia was covered with bed sheets on the bed of a nursing home.
▲ On March 30, 2020, local time, In Barcelona, Spain, during the new crown pneumonia epidemic, 86-year-old Josefa Ribas was bedridden at home, looking at nurse Alba Rodriguez. Ribas' 89-year-old husband, Jose Marcos, was standing by. Ribas suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and Marcos worries that if the coronavirus enters their home, they will both suffer: "If I have the new crown virus, who will take care of my wife?"
▲ On May 7, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, an old woman sat on the balcony of her home. Just a day ago, the Spanish government extended the lockdown by two weeks through parliament.
▲ On March 21, 2020, local time, in Barcelona, Spain, an old woman pushed a trolley and staggered down an empty street. At the time, Spain was in the 11th day of a national lockdown, schools, bars, restaurants and most shops were closed, and people who were barred from social gatherings had to stay at home. Spain has 3,434 deaths from COVID-19 across the country, second only to Italy, and the second most numerous countries in the world. During the pandemic, an ice rink in Madrid has been turned into a makeshift morgue, and dozens of elderly people across the country have been killed in overwhelmed nursing homes.
Image source of this article: Visual China
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