MADRID - Liliya Kotovych splits her time between the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan and Madrid. She’s been there for more than three weeks, away from her adult son who remains in New York. She doesn’t know when she will be able to return.

Travel is restricted and Spain is on lockdown until April 12 to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Spain’s population is only one-seventh of the U.S. But it has 56,347 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, more than half of America’s 82,404 confirmed cases.

The death toll climbed to 4,154 by Thursday and the country is grappling with how to manage the accumulating dead bodies.

Kotovych’s apartment in Madrid is about one block away from an ice rink being converted into a morgue.

“You can see the rink,” she said, pointing from her window.

“People are dying and put who knows where, without family being there,” she said.

 

“What’s happening here, I can barely hold my tears,” said Kotovych. “When I read that people are still going out in New York City, it blows my mind,” 

Reading about spring breakers partying on the Florida beaches and New Yorkers congregating at city parks alarms Kotovych, who feels Americans still have a chance to avoid what’s happening Spain.

“It’s unfortunate that Americans are not getting a clear message” to stay home, she says.

The de Blasio administration announced plans to open two streets per borough to pedestrians starting Thursday, after Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered the city to develop a plan that will cut down on crowds at city parks.

A decision on whether to close the playgrounds is expected by Saturday.

But from Kotovych’s perspective, there is no reason to deliberate. She says, stay inside. “We just want this to be over,” said Kotovych. “We are praying not to lose so many lives.”