Madrid's Bittersweet Spring

here's what happened today. The US unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in May as the economy posted a surprise increase in jobs. The report signals the economy is picking up faster than an anticipated that said twenty one million Americans remain unemployed. The jobless rate is still higher than at any other time since ninety and economists say the unemployment rate for African Americans actually ticked up to sixteen point eight percent.

That's more than four percentage points higher than for white Americans. This comes after more than a week of protests over racism and police brutality. New York City reached an important milestone in its battle against the coronavirus. For the first time since March, the city reported no confirmed fatalities from the virus. For months, the city was the global epicenter of the pandemic. In April, the city had almost six hundred confirmed deaths per day, but elsewhere the news is grave.

Brazil surpassed Italy as the country with the third most fatalities in the world, and even as the pandemic eases in some countries, the virus continues to spread. There are about one hundred thousand new cases being added every day as hot spots emerge in Latin America and the Middle East. Finally, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a startling number of Americans are using bleach on food or misusing household cleaners in attempts to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

The agency on Friday released the results of an online survey of five hundred people. The survey found that about a third of the respondents engaged in quote non recommended high risk practices. These included applying household cleaners to the skin or inhaling or ingesting them, risking quote severe tissue

damage and corrosive injury. The report doesn't directly reference President Trump's widely denounced suggestion at a news conference in April, when he urged researchers to study the use of light or disinfectants on human bodies as potential treatments for the coronavirus. And now our main story, Madrid is opening back up after a long, hard few months. The city has endured sixty nine thousand cases of coronavirus and almost nine thousand

people have died. Bloomberg reporter Jeanette Newman takes us to a post lockdown Madrid that is both heartbroken and giddy, heartbroken by the loss of thousands of its citizens to the pandemic, but giddy with a renewed sense of possibility despite the challenges that lie ahead. H I cursed that sound every morning for about six years, A nearby shop owner rolling up the metal shutters covering his storefront a

screeching start to every day. But for two months, during the confinement in the center of Madrid where I live, the mornings were silent, so we're the afternoons and evenings. The screeching started again about two weeks ago. The sound still grates on me, but I have a bit of a soft spot for it. Now it's become a daily reminder that the city and the broader Spanish economy are

coming back to life. Spain's government is gradually lifting one of Europe's strictest lockdowns in four stages, province by province, and in fourteen day increments. It's as if those of us living in Spain had been forced to go on a fast for two months, and now we're slowly reintroducing some of life's pleasures. First a bicycle ride outside, then visits with friends and family, eating and dining out, eventually travel. In Madrid, we're in the second week of what's known

as Phase one. Most noticeably that means madri Lanos have been allowed to drink and dine outside at bars and restaurants the first time since mid March. The sounds of the city are slowly returning. That's this Sunday before we entered Phase one. It's PM on the Placa Santana, a square in central Madrid. And this is the next night, in the same spot and the same time, but now with outdoor seating on the terraces at fifty pass we're also allowed to gather with up to ten people at home.

That's meant reunions with friends. For the first time in months, I visited friends for dinner on Friday, our first gathering since March. Hello, Hello, I get that the shared meals have been a welcome respite after the long confinement take us. This is a celebration. The overpowering feeling, though, is one

of whiplash. Spain is a national mourning for the more than seven thousand people who have died during the pandemic, and the country, along with the rest of the world, is emerging into the most severe downturn in living memory. Bloomberg Economics expects Spain and Italy to be among the hardest hit countries in the world this year, suffering economic contractions of eleven and respectively. That's fueled anger and despair. Some in Spain have channeled their frustration into a nightly

cacophony that's known as a castro lada. That's a banging together of pots and pans, a common form of protest here. Every night for the past several weeks, people have been making noise from their windows, balconies and local plusas at nine pm. They're demonstrating against Spain's government. A coalition between the center left socialists and the far left Potamost Party.

Protesters say the government responded slowly to the onset of the pandemic and that the emergency economic measures have been too little, too late. Now that we're allowed to gather with friends, many people seem to prefer to be outside their homes in the evening. So the intensity of the castro ladas has eased in recent days, but the frustrations and worries haven't. I have like a hundred messages that I have to check. It's like two hours and then

it's like it's better not. Ophelia Marine opened three of her seven restaurants in Madrid last week. At this stage, only outdoor seating is allowed and only a fifty percent capacity. She says the authorities are focusing too much on the minutia. They're missing the existential threat facing many of Madrid's restaurants and bars. We spoke at one of her restaurants, La Model Cartman. In one of the locations, we had um twenty three tables. Okay, so now you have two cuts

by half twenty three by half. It's eleven and a half. So okay, we said we're gonna put twelve in. It's a big exactly, it's a big plata. We have space, it's beautiful. Not many cars, not many people. So the police comes and they removed one of ten. So they had they had definitely counted exactly how many? Yes, yes, but doesn't make any sense for who what good that makes. Spain also requires restaurants to keep tables a socially distanced two ms apart. That's about six and a half feet.

Ophelia says the number seems arbitrary. In France, social distances one meter. In Italy it's one meter in some regions and one point eight in others. In Germany one point five ms, the World Health Organization says one. Spain's government says the restrictions on occupancy and distance between patrons are

necessary to ensure the country avoids new outbreaks. Restaurant managers say they support safety measures, but they say the current restrictions make it impossible to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of reopening. That's one of the reasons that more than two thirds of the bars and restaurants in Madrid that are allowed to open their outdoor terraces have remained shuttered. The average bar size in Spain is around

a hundred square meters roughly a thousand square feet. The country's small, intimate eateries are part of its old world charm, but there are distinct disadvantage in a socially distanced economy. Ophelia says she's worried that even when Madrid's restaurants can start serving inside, revenue will still suffer social distance. I think it's gonna be till you know phase three four who knows, But social distance I think is gonna stay

for a while and which that kills us. One option would be to step up online food deliveries, but that's not as common in Spain as in some other countries. Some restaurants have tried to pivot quickly to eat commerce, only to realize the commissions on existing platforms can be as much as thirty five percent. That's untenable in an industry where margins are on average around Spain was the

second most visited country in the world last year. Visitors are able to return starting in July, but hotel managers say they don't expect to get back to the glory days for at least several years. Spain's islands and beachside resorts are already receiving reservations for the truncated summer season. Many hotel managers in Madrid, though, say they're likely to remain shuttered through September. They won't be able to fill their rooms without the conferences and business meetings that normally

bring people in July and August. Juan Luis de Lucas Martine is an exception. The hotel cloud Age that he manages is among the few open in the city. The sprince has been okay, occupancy has been well horrible. Spaniards still aren't allowed to travel between provinces. With some exceptions. Those who have booked rooms at the cloud Edge have come to Madrid to see their doctors or lawyers, or in some cases meet up with a loved one. I understand all my colleagues have decided not to open until

September because there will be nothing. We're opening. Nearly all the adults in Madrid are closed, and our record on the best day as albin eating rooms booked. If Mortel were open, it would be absolute disaster because there's no demand. That's eighteen out of a hundred fourteen total rooms. Amid so many uncertainties, one thing seems clear. The v shaped recovery that economists had anticipated for many countries now seems unlikely. In Spain and elsewhere. It will be more of a

slog than a snap back. Jeanette Newmon, Bloomberg News. YEA, and that's our show today. For coverage of the outbreak from one and twenty bureaus around the world, visit Bloomberg dot com slash coronavirus and if you like the show, please leave us a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's the best way to help more listeners find our global reporting. The Prognosis Daily edition is produced by Topher Foreheads Jordan Gaspure, Magnus Hendrickson and me

Laura Carlson. Today's main story was reported by Jeanette Numan. Original music by Leo Sidrin. Our editors are Friend cscA Levi and Rick Shine. Francesca Levi is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. Thanks for listening.