Quarantine
Mar. 25th, 2020 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzIt's been nearly two weeks since we returned from France and entered self-induced quarantine. This Saturday will be 2 weeks exact.
When reports came in from China, the western world wasn't very worried yet, it seemed. Almost like we didn't take the reports seriously. Even though China built an emergency hospital to take care of their numerous patients in a week.
When the virus hit Italy, I must admit I hestitated to leave home. When I looked up Val Thorens on Google Maps, it said we would be nearly 200 kilometers from Turin, as the crow flies. Of course, the crows can fly over a glacier, the actual road would take a massive detour. I wasn't very worried about how close we would come to northern Italy when we left.
And then we took our pee-breaks along the Péage in France. Next to horrible toilets mostly without toilet seats, we ran into so many people. Everyone stretching their legs or getting a baguette along the rest stops. Most of the bathrooms had "bacteria-blowers" to dry your hands with. They are great for spreading everything including water droplets off your hands throughout the room.
While in Val Thorens we followed the news, of course. There was a moment when I wondered if we would be allowed to go home again, as Macron would speak to the nation on Fridaynight. We saw the Dutch speeches on TV, where people were urged to stay home.
Our trip home was mostly the same as our trip down to France: cramped, meeting far too many people along the way, and having some fast food in Luxemburg.
Once home we decided on self-quarantine. I'd already canceled my Monday-morning fitting and e-mailed Anne-Miek to please stay home, do not take the train to get to work. Eisirt and I spoke through the plans. There's no telling what we might have brought home with us from the numerous rest-stops we visited on the way back.
I would do parcel-runs on Mondays and Thursdays only. Any order coming in on Tuesday could be rescheduled to ship out by Thursday. Any order placed on Friday would go out on Monday. The parcel run would see me in the atelier for maybe half an hour to pick the orders and pack them. Then I would take the parcels to the post office, where they would be scanned by the nice lady and go off. The post is still working, and as long as it does there's no need to close the webshop.
After dropping off the parcels, I'd go to the supermarket for a grocery run and pick up supplies. One of the things we were very short on was hand soap, ironically. Luckily the Lidl was still very well-stocked when I went in that Monday.
So far, almost every Monday or Thursday saw me picking orders and doing a grocery run. Eisirt went out once when I didn't have to go. Groceries were still well stocked, and we always pick up a little extra milk to keep us just in case the next designated grocery-day there are no parcels. No parcels means no groceries unless something urgent is required. When I ran out of butter I ate my sandwiches with mayo instead for two days.
We've been boggled by the behaviour of other Dutchmen. Droves of people visiting the beach or the forest, walking close enough to eachother to pick up whatever is floating around. I've been outside of the flat THREE times in two weeks. Eisirt's been ONCE. It's not rocket surgery. It just takes discipline and planning to keep your distance and stay inside.
But I've been itching. It's a five minute bike ride to Plan-B, and I can lock the door behind me. Nobody will get into the atelier unless I unlock the door. I don't need to speak to anyone, to meet with anyone, or to be in contact with anyone. I can just to something useful instead of sitting on my ass at home all day.
Except that....well...that's just it. Don't go out unless you have to.
Principles only mean something if you stick by them when it's inconvenient.
I wonder sometimes if I'm not lying to myself by reasoning this way. Will I really not get into contact with other people? Maybe I'll leave something on a door handle...or pick something up from one.
The following are all not really worth mentioning, but the reality is with the stories floating around right now we all pay extra attention to what we're feeling. We're all slightly hypochondriac; what if it's THE VIRUS?
I've had an evening where I had the feeling I couldn't breathe deeply. It was gone later that night.
I had a bad energy day yesterday, where I took a nap during the afternoon. I felt a bit better afterwards, but not great.
I felt a bit feverish before and after my nap, but not seriously enough to take my temperature. It feels normal now.
My shoulders have been acting up, but that's probably because of all the knitting I've been doing. The shoulders were so tense it developed into a half-migraine (I've never had a real migraine, but only these mock migraines due to bad posture or sore neck and shoulder muscles) but it is mostly gone now. Shoulders are still sore, so I should probably not knit as much in one go for the next round.
All of these are very, very, very minor complaints. Okay, the shoulders are really rather sore still. But the shortness of breath is really not worth mentioning.
If I had COVID-19, it wouldn't have gone away as quickly as it did. Young people of 16, people my age too, are in the ICU on breathing apparatus.
The best news I read today about it all was the NOS.nl article stating:
"De maatregelen die de Nederlandse overheid heeft genomen om de corona-uitbraak zo goed mogelijk te beheersen, lijken ervoor te zorgen dat de groei van de uitbraak afvlakt. "
(The measures taken by Dutch officials to control the spread of Corona as much as possible, seem to slow the growth of the outbreak." -- translation mine).
Despite Dutch people still flocking in herds, this is good news. It's not a certainty yet, but it seems that 'the exponential growth has been halted'. This means the hospitals can still keep up with the demand for healthcare and overall less people die.
It's still insane how the world changed seemingly overnight. One day we were on holiday, the next we were quarantined. And there's no end in sight yet.
Next week Eisirt will be back to work, unless they lock down the parcel- and postal services as well. If that happens, we'll be right back here.
And as of next week I'll see how working half days at Plan-B will go on the days that he has to work as well. I have plenty of solo stuff I can do, and it'll be good to be useful again. But if I meet droves of people in the building, it's going to be a very short experiment.
We'll weather this.
When reports came in from China, the western world wasn't very worried yet, it seemed. Almost like we didn't take the reports seriously. Even though China built an emergency hospital to take care of their numerous patients in a week.
When the virus hit Italy, I must admit I hestitated to leave home. When I looked up Val Thorens on Google Maps, it said we would be nearly 200 kilometers from Turin, as the crow flies. Of course, the crows can fly over a glacier, the actual road would take a massive detour. I wasn't very worried about how close we would come to northern Italy when we left.
And then we took our pee-breaks along the Péage in France. Next to horrible toilets mostly without toilet seats, we ran into so many people. Everyone stretching their legs or getting a baguette along the rest stops. Most of the bathrooms had "bacteria-blowers" to dry your hands with. They are great for spreading everything including water droplets off your hands throughout the room.
While in Val Thorens we followed the news, of course. There was a moment when I wondered if we would be allowed to go home again, as Macron would speak to the nation on Fridaynight. We saw the Dutch speeches on TV, where people were urged to stay home.
Our trip home was mostly the same as our trip down to France: cramped, meeting far too many people along the way, and having some fast food in Luxemburg.
Once home we decided on self-quarantine. I'd already canceled my Monday-morning fitting and e-mailed Anne-Miek to please stay home, do not take the train to get to work. Eisirt and I spoke through the plans. There's no telling what we might have brought home with us from the numerous rest-stops we visited on the way back.
I would do parcel-runs on Mondays and Thursdays only. Any order coming in on Tuesday could be rescheduled to ship out by Thursday. Any order placed on Friday would go out on Monday. The parcel run would see me in the atelier for maybe half an hour to pick the orders and pack them. Then I would take the parcels to the post office, where they would be scanned by the nice lady and go off. The post is still working, and as long as it does there's no need to close the webshop.
After dropping off the parcels, I'd go to the supermarket for a grocery run and pick up supplies. One of the things we were very short on was hand soap, ironically. Luckily the Lidl was still very well-stocked when I went in that Monday.
So far, almost every Monday or Thursday saw me picking orders and doing a grocery run. Eisirt went out once when I didn't have to go. Groceries were still well stocked, and we always pick up a little extra milk to keep us just in case the next designated grocery-day there are no parcels. No parcels means no groceries unless something urgent is required. When I ran out of butter I ate my sandwiches with mayo instead for two days.
We've been boggled by the behaviour of other Dutchmen. Droves of people visiting the beach or the forest, walking close enough to eachother to pick up whatever is floating around. I've been outside of the flat THREE times in two weeks. Eisirt's been ONCE. It's not rocket surgery. It just takes discipline and planning to keep your distance and stay inside.
But I've been itching. It's a five minute bike ride to Plan-B, and I can lock the door behind me. Nobody will get into the atelier unless I unlock the door. I don't need to speak to anyone, to meet with anyone, or to be in contact with anyone. I can just to something useful instead of sitting on my ass at home all day.
Except that....well...that's just it. Don't go out unless you have to.
Principles only mean something if you stick by them when it's inconvenient.
I wonder sometimes if I'm not lying to myself by reasoning this way. Will I really not get into contact with other people? Maybe I'll leave something on a door handle...or pick something up from one.
The following are all not really worth mentioning, but the reality is with the stories floating around right now we all pay extra attention to what we're feeling. We're all slightly hypochondriac; what if it's THE VIRUS?
I've had an evening where I had the feeling I couldn't breathe deeply. It was gone later that night.
I had a bad energy day yesterday, where I took a nap during the afternoon. I felt a bit better afterwards, but not great.
I felt a bit feverish before and after my nap, but not seriously enough to take my temperature. It feels normal now.
My shoulders have been acting up, but that's probably because of all the knitting I've been doing. The shoulders were so tense it developed into a half-migraine (I've never had a real migraine, but only these mock migraines due to bad posture or sore neck and shoulder muscles) but it is mostly gone now. Shoulders are still sore, so I should probably not knit as much in one go for the next round.
All of these are very, very, very minor complaints. Okay, the shoulders are really rather sore still. But the shortness of breath is really not worth mentioning.
If I had COVID-19, it wouldn't have gone away as quickly as it did. Young people of 16, people my age too, are in the ICU on breathing apparatus.
The best news I read today about it all was the NOS.nl article stating:
"De maatregelen die de Nederlandse overheid heeft genomen om de corona-uitbraak zo goed mogelijk te beheersen, lijken ervoor te zorgen dat de groei van de uitbraak afvlakt. "
(The measures taken by Dutch officials to control the spread of Corona as much as possible, seem to slow the growth of the outbreak." -- translation mine).
Despite Dutch people still flocking in herds, this is good news. It's not a certainty yet, but it seems that 'the exponential growth has been halted'. This means the hospitals can still keep up with the demand for healthcare and overall less people die.
It's still insane how the world changed seemingly overnight. One day we were on holiday, the next we were quarantined. And there's no end in sight yet.
Next week Eisirt will be back to work, unless they lock down the parcel- and postal services as well. If that happens, we'll be right back here.
And as of next week I'll see how working half days at Plan-B will go on the days that he has to work as well. I have plenty of solo stuff I can do, and it'll be good to be useful again. But if I meet droves of people in the building, it's going to be a very short experiment.
We'll weather this.
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no subject
Date: 2020-03-26 10:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-26 06:52 pm (UTC)Dan is het nog aan ons om te wennen dat we voldoende afstand houden.