Sunday, March 22, 2020

Corona crisis week 2

Today I feel uncomfortable raiding in the train. I boarded a train in 7:33 and it is empty. There is just one more person in the part of the train for bikes, it's a bit creepy. Usually the trains between 7 and 8 are packed! Sometimes you are even forced to stand in the doorway because there is no room anywhere else. That used to be annoying but now I wish if it went back to that. Copenhagen is empty as well. When the train drops me of in Copenhagen a bit before 8 the streets are usually packed with cars and cyclist, buses and s-trains are full (light railway) but now the city looks abandoned. The only change is the children. Since the schools closed down on Monday there is a significantly higher number of children on the streets of Copenhagen. And that kind of defies the purpose of the quarantine and I am not the only one that noticed it. A number of people started warning other that they should have better control of their children.
 
I must say that I am not handling well this worldwide panic state. I read about the virus, I am aware of risks, I am aware of precautionary measures I should take, it is fine. But what really rubs me of in a bad way is that there is a constant pressure about it. You can't snoop around the Facebook or Internet without every search having something to do with the crisis. Wherever you look there is only COVID-19, like nothing else is going on in the world but COVID-19.
 
Considering that stock markets are in the free fall, that mass firings have slowly started, for now in hotels and airline companies I feel lucky that I can still go to work normally. From 10:00 on March 18th all cafe bars, restaurants, pubs and all stores but grocery stores must close down. How long will that last, I don't know... nobody does. My friend from Germany told me that their government informed them that they can expect that quarantine measure will be in effect until approximately mid of October, so I guess we can expect the same. I read the other day that in Hong Kong people are under strict house quarantines that lasts for two months and will most likely go for another month. And I guess, this uncertainty about almost everything is the thing that has everyone worried.

For how long will the world stand still? After it passes, how many people world wide will be left without their livelihood? Will it all be worth it to fight against the disease that is dangerous only to elderly people and people who are immune compromised? To avoid potential criticism, numbers say that no children died from COVID-19. Death rates for people aged 10-39 are 0.2%, age 40-49 are 0.4%, age 50-59 are 1.3%. For older people it becomes seriously dangerous. Was it possible to somehow protect part of the population that is at high risk without stopping the whole societies? I don't know, I am not smart enough, I am just curious and asking questions. It seems that the countries which wanted to implement only precautionary measures, without implementing quarantine rules are getting backlash from the public.

22.03.2020
Denmark - 1395 corona virus cases, 13 deaths, 1 recovery
Croatia - 254 corona virus cases, 1 death, 5 recoveries

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

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