Corona, corona, corona

Corona is ramping up again and this time around Denmark is "the bad boy" of Scandinavian countries. Number of newly infected per day in the last two weeks started from a bit above 400 per day, then it went to a bit above 500 per day and last weekend it went to above 600 per day. Sweden is currently doing better even though their total corona death count since it all started is still a lot higher. I wonder would party-Danes be deserving of the same welcome these days in Sweden, as party-Swedes were shortly after the lockdowns started?

With corona party ramping up, corona measures started ramping up as well, with an increasing number of them having no to little sense. I need to be fair and say that one did make sense. Use of face-masks is now necessary in all public transport and that one did make commuting easier. Before face-masks were obligatory one had to make a seat reservation for every train ride. That was causing a lot of problems in daily commute because sometimes you just couldn't get the seat reservation in the next hour. I was kicked out of the train at least once because I couldn't get a seat reservation and I had no plans of waiting for more then an hour.

But at this point reason goes on holiday. As the number of newly infected started to ramp up it was clear that new measures are on the way but boy were we in for a surprise with the brilliance of the new measures.

Sneezing in restaurants and Copenhagen night life

After bombastic announcements of the looming Prime Ministers press conference everybody was on the edges of their seats and then she said that... night life in Copenhagen is problematic and that it needs to be controlled. In order to do that restaurants, cafe bars, night clubs and bodegas must close down at 22 in the evening and not at 2 in the morning as it used to be. Another measure implemented is the usage of face-masks in restaurants, cafe bars and bodegas. Face-masks need to be used only while standing. Once you sit down, you can take the face-mask off. Let's say that a person has corona but he is asymptomatic. That person will still be able to spread corona in the restaurant since he still can sneeze, cough and spit unobstructed after he sits down.

Second brilliant measure is the suggestion how to limit socializing. The suggestion is to cherry pick 10 people with whom you want to socialize and restrain yourself from seeing anyone else all they way up to next spring because winter is coming immune systems are going down and corona will be extra successful while spreading so we need to limit it. Makes sense right?

Well not quite because by that count nobody could socialize outside of work or education with anyone all the way until the next spring. Luci would use up her quota on her co-workers and I use up my quota on my fellow language school students. So, if we want to be corona-responsible we should not socialize with anyone until next spring.

Honorable mention from Croatia: keep the music down and play Vivaldi

Croatian crisis headquarters - a temporary body in charge of implementing all the corona measures came up with a new creative measures to keep the spread of the virus. They are suggesting to keep the music down. When you lower the loudness of music people have less need to be very close to the person they are talking to. So in essence, the quieter the music, the better social distancing is. But that is not the only brilliant conclusion they have reached. They have also issued the list of "corona songs". So allegedly some songs are better to play if we want to keep the virus from spreading and of course that all the songs on that list are classical music pieces. I love classical music and listen to it often but I just don't see who will play Vivaldi in a cafe bar or a night club.

As I said before when I was writing on corona. I am in no doubt that the virus is here, that the precautions are necessary and that we need to make adjustment in our everyday lives. But these measures are just ridiculous. To me it looks like the countries are implementing them just because they need to do something since it is getting worse but they are not sure what. On the other hand, countries are unwilling to go back to the full quarantine mode because it is too disruptive to the modern way of life. But there still are simple measures that could work: implement obligatory usage of face-masks in all closed public spaces, everybody who can work from home, should work from home, switch all education online. I do not understand why something like this couldn't work? I assume there are smarter people then me making those decisions. Hopefully I will continue to enjoy my Vivaldi at home only.