Here's a look at the last seven days through the pages of the "Majorca Daily Bulletin"

On Thursday, the hospital received further results. The Briton was now negative for coronavirus. The next day there were more results; negative for a second time. He was discharged. It seemed like quite a short period, but it had been said that the patient’s condition was mild, which in itself raised a question: either you have it or you don’t - isn’t this how these things work? Maybe, but there are similarities with the common flu, and some people get that worse than others.

With coronavirus and the time it takes to recover, and this applies to any viral infection, it is the medical profession which has the understanding and the knowledge. Yes, Sunday to Friday did seem a short period, but it clearly wasn’t.

The airport capacity row
One began to wonder how often it was necessary for the Aena airports authority to state that it does not intend increasing the hourly flight capacity at Son Sant Joan Airport. The director of the airport, Tomás Melgar, did concede on Thursday that explanations regarding plans could have been better, but he and other Aena representatives made clear to government ministers that there won’t be increased capacity.

The forecast of an additional four million passengers up to 2025 is based on anticipated demand in the medium and low seasons, not in high season when capacity is pretty much stretched to the limit.

It is obvious, however, that Aena’s explanations are not accepted by some political parties and groups like the environmentalists GOB and the Palma federation of residents associations.

They are unlikely to ever be accepted, but although there is a good deal of anti-Aena about this opposition, there have been and are legitimate concerns about developments at the airport.

Price and home buying
The fall in sales of homes in the Balearics in 2019 was the second highest in the country behind the Canary Islands. There was an eleven per cent drop in the Balearics, while nationally sales were down over three per cent.
The National Statistics Institute’s report concluded that fewer secondhand homes on the market was a reason for the decline. This was a conclusion that was greeted with some scepticism. Might the fall not have something to do with prices?
Property sector sources in the Balearics - the estate agencies association, for example - have been saying that price is a factor; homes are often overpriced.

Weeding out the drugs
The police notched up two more successes in the endless fight against drugs. These were both for marijuana. Following pre-dawn raids on Tuesday, the National Police arrested nineteen people and discovered marijuana that had been stashed in cavities in dry stone walls.

In a joint (sic) operation with Palma police, the National Police detained two people who had been engaged in the massive production of marijuana and the drug’s sale in Palma. One of the two was described as a “leading expert” on marijuana. Highly sophisticated planting and drying facilities were found at a finca in Costitx.

Excesses in Cala Ratjada
Cala Ratjada became a focus for the tourism of excesses decree. Capdepera town hall said that the tourism ministry had “offered the possibility” of applying the decree to the resort. The offer was politely turned down.

Mayor Rafel Fernández was perhaps understating the problem of anti-social tourism - just one or two weeks - but Cala Ratjada doesn’t suffer in the way that Magalluf does.
Although the opposition argued that the decree provides greater means for tackling excesses than existing bylaws, Capdepera does have some bylaws, as do Calvia and Palma. The decree, for the most part, merely reinforces what those two town halls had already put in place.