Pandemic diary – week 9

Monday, 11 May 2020

Coal mines in Górny Śląsk have become a hotbed of coronavirus. Had it not been for increased transmission of the virus in conducive conditions, the epidemic would have been on the wane. Nevertheless, miners infect their families, their families infect people they meet and since no travel restrictions are in place, the virus might spread around Poland.

I believe once offices open, some will become local clusters of the virus (especially since face masks are not obligatory unless when dealing with a customer).

Tuesday, 12 May 2020

Temperature plunges from +25C to +1C within 18 hours. In many parts of Poland morning greets with snow. In Warsaw it snows but the white powder melts instantly.

In the evening I venture to local libraries to pick up books ordered online. Life slowly returns to normalcy. The last place I long for is the swimming pool, but I believe months will elapse before I can go there.

Wednesday, 13 May 2020

The government announces next steps in easing the lockdown. Given the costs of adjusting operations to new sanitary regime and lower number of customers to be served, prices of several services are bound to go up. This is observed with dentists and will be observed with hairdressers and restaurants.

Experts I talk to say even with the second wave of epidemic, strict lockdown will not be announced. Governments already know how to handle the enemy. Thanks to prevalent testing, tracking citizens, improved health service capacity and social distancing measures, the economies are to function without excessive disruptions.

Thursday, 14 May 2020

I get conflicting information regarding comeback to the office. One version says part-time office working will be resumed in late June, another states the home office will be in place for as long as possible. I want to socialise again!

Number of active cases in Poland hits 10,000 after rising for a few consecutive days. In several countries in Europe it has fallen by more than 80% from peak. Sadly, Poland has not brought the pandemic under control.

Friday, 15 May 2020

The event of the day is a replacement of Koalicja Obywatelska’s presidential race nominee. I will vote for Mr Trzaskowski, but I am distasted by several facts:

- they called for deferral of election, once they have effectively won it, they opportunistically made use of it,

- they said traditional or main-in election would be dangerous, now collecting 100,000 signatures would be safe – this in turn has coincided with the waning fear of epidemic in the society.

Saturday, 16 May 2020

In many countries, including Europe, the epidemic is retreating, in other the number of new infections remains high (see Russia, Brazil, Mexico or Arab countries).

I believe the second wave is inevitable, not necessarily in the autumn, since development of the epidemic does not show significant correlation with weather conditions, but when people put faith it is over and forget about preventive behaviours.

Sunday, 17 May 2020

Yesterday I went to Decathlon, then to a Vistula-side beach, today again to the forest to cycle. In the shop mask-wearing obligation is fulfilled selectively, keeping a distance of six feet becomes just a memory. Shop staff do not give a damn about safety rules, nor wear masks properly. In open air (where to be fair the risk of catching the virus is much smaller than in buildings) the sight of a man wearing a mask properly is less and less frequent.

As the next restrictions are lifted and life is getting back to normal, I am signing off the diary for a while. I believe the local peak of number of active cases has just been passed by. Since I am pretty confident the peril will hit again, even more severely, as it was with the Spanish flu, expect this diary to be resumed in some time.