I suppose I should keep some notes about the virus, since later
on it will be put on the pages of history and at that point it
will be impossible to remember how it felt when it went down.
So, at the moment I am at our summer place. It's an old farm that
hasn't been operational in decades. It has electricity and a well
and it is usable through the winter as long as there's enough
wood to keep the heat up. We came here yesterday. The traffic was
normal. The supermarket was busy. People were stocking up. We
actually did a little extra shopping trip the previous evening as
it started to seem like the government is going to take some
action. Our workplaces have now recommended that everyone work
from home. Were planning of staying at the farm for the next two
weeks. We had planned a trip to southern Europe the week after
next but decided to cancel. As the situation started looking more
dire we decided to wait for the airline to cancel. Maybe we have
a better chance getting our money back that way. They cancelled it
yesterday.
I think that my attitude is to make the necessary adjustments
before everyone else is making them. If there was an emergency
law that stopped travelling inside the country, for example, I
would rather be at the farm than in the city. If there is a rush
to empty the shelves at the store, I would rather have a choice
in what I buy than not. I wouldn't say we hoarded, though.
Health wise I do have some flu symptoms today. I am not in the
age group that would have to worry much. But I have had pneumonia
before and would rather never have it again.
I have noticed that the media seems to add China's success at
stopping the virus to headlines. It seems to be added as an effort
to calm people. To make it seem like it is over in China. It is
over for now of course, but I don't think there is any reason to
suspect it doesn't get back in there. Even if China was over it,
the methods they employed would be a hard pill to swallow in
the west.
What worries me is that the death toll in Italy seems to be
twice as much as was expected based on the earlier statistics[1].
That is 7% instead of 3,4%. They are saying it is because of
the population being exceptionally old. They are not that much
older than the rest of Europe. Italy has 23% of people older than
65 while there are ten other european countries that have 20% or
more[2]. So I think it is safe to assume there will be plenty of
countries that will have it as bad as Italy. I hope I am wrong.
