Coaching Rumors

Fernandez’s parents live with his grandmother in a 1,000-square-foot apartment in his native Badalona, in the far northeast corner of the country. Independent and healthy, his grandmother lived by herself until she was 88 years old. “You spend a lot of time outside all year ‘round, and right now that’s no longer allowed,” Fernandez said of Spain’s government-mandated shutdown. “They’re that part of the population that’s, they have a lot of risk because they’re older than 60, and my grandma is almost 90, and they all have had some sort of heart condition. Minor, but they’ve had it, so that’s one of the reasons that it’s scary.”

“I think you’re seeing all the police officers go into hospitals, using their sirens to say thank you to them, and a lot of people clapping at a certain time of the day just to support all those nurses and doctors,” Fernandez said. “That brings a country together. “When I see it from here, it’s tough because you’re so far away, and at the same time it’s concerning because we don’t know how it’s going to hit us here,” he said. “We would be fooling ourselves if we think that everything will be fine in two weeks.”