BUENOS AIRES — When ICU doctor Arnaldo Dubin left the sick and the dying at the end of another harrowing workday last week, the scene outside made him shudder.
Clusters of people, many without masks, were strolling and chatting under the Belle Epoque-style balconies of the capital’s fashionable Recoleta district.
Argentina is trying to return to “normal life” — the phrase President Alberto Fernández used when he announced new steps to ease one of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns in July. Within days, long-cooped-up porteños were returning to hair salons, workplaces and psychiatrists’ couches. This month, the capital’s cafes and bars won permission to serve outside tables, bringing the sound of clinking wine glasses and beer bottles back to the city’s grand avenues.
