No, I’m not planning to walk the Camino this year, but I know people who have been planning it for some time.

With the effects of the rapidly spreading Covid-19 virus pandemic, the impacts on the accommodation and other services on the various Caminos in Spain are gradually expanding.

If you are planning to walk the camino in Spain, take a look at the forum, http://caminodesantiago.me in which there are hundreds of experienced walkers from all countries, contributing their experiences and observations.

The moderators have joined together to make a new topic named “Covid-19 – It is time to postpone your Camino”. This is the link: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/covid-19-%E2%80%94-it-is-time-to-postpone-your-camino.66999/

In reading other posts I also discovered a reference to a site that is being maintained by one of the forum members. It is logging the albergues that are closing temporarily due to the Covid-19 virus. http://egeria.house/albergues-closed-due-to-covid-19/

I guess there would be very few prospective pilgrims who read this blog, but in case there are, the links above may be useful.

Managing our plans re the Covid-19 pandemic requires a judicious combination of careful research, a sense of what is the truth behind the announcements and I’m afraid, a fair amount of skepticism about the capabilities of various government agencies and politicians.

It seems in the middle of March 2020, that Europe, the USA and Australia are just at the start of what will be a difficult period of up to 3 months or more. Even the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic is impossible to predict because so much depends on the behaviour of ordinary people. There is a strong consensus among medical authorities that isolation, limiting travel, avoiding large groups of people and practicing the best personal hygiene in terms of hand washing and keeping hands away from faces will all slow down the spread of the virus, helping to limit the stress on medical resources and staff.

Footnote: 15th March 2020: After first writing this post on 14th March, the situation has changed very quickly and the decision on a camino walk is now academic as far as I can tell, only a day later.

A news site that may help some people wanting more current details is: https://english.elpais.com/ an English language version of a Spanish newspaper.

For a more analytical view of the situation, see this: https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca