BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – On Friday night in Buenos Aires, the doors of the Teatro Colón reopened for the first time in a year since it closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, a sign of how the Argentine capital is drop your hair once again.
In neighboring Brazil, however, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have gone in the direction of the opposition, announcing both stricter restrictions this week, a reflection of how the two regional power stations are on completely different tracks fighting the virus.
“It makes me very happy, we have to go to the theater again, we have to lose the fear,” Fanny Mandelbaum, a local Argentine journalist who attended the opening concert of the famous opera house, told Reuters. “It’s so satisfying to be in a room and share culture with other people.”
The symbolic opening of the opera house, which dates back to 1857, although located in a different building, is approaching cinema fans in the capital, who can return to cinemas earlier this month.
Authorities have also reduced restrictions that allow restaurants and bars to remain open later, with covered meals, which returned to the city that had one of the longest and hardest closures in the region last year.
But in Brazil, the state of Sao Paulo imposed a partial blockade this week, underscoring growing concerns about rising new infections. Rio de Janeiro, meanwhile, adopted new restrictions, including a night curfew.
“It simply came to our notice then. Coronavirus variants hit us aggressively, “Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said on social media.
The divergence of urban nightlife in the region illustrates the different trajectories that Argentina and Brazil follow in the race to domesticate COVID-19, even when inoculation programs are affected by delays.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has long tried to reduce the severity of the virus, while Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has taken a tougher stance.
Claudio Méndez, Argentine manager of the Cinepolis film chain operator, said that as vaccines were launched, they hoped cinemas could return to normal after what had been an incredibly hard year.
“It was an unimaginable situation even in the worst horror film,” he said. “We believe as the vaccination process progresses … movie releases will start to flow more normally.”
Back at the Colón Theater, many musicians were still playing with their masks on, while wind instrument performers were inside transparent booths to prevent the virus from spreading. The temperature of the audience was checked and the seats were distributed.
“We had to go back and today was the day,” said María Victoria Alcaraz, general director of the opera. “The spirit was to open the doors as soon as possible so that the public and the artists could meet again.”
Report by Lucila Sigal; Edited by Adam Jourdan and Diane Craft