Pandemic diary – weeks 7 and 8

Monday, 27 April 2020

I have proudly turned by Facebook profile into the second blog, run in Polish where I post nearly every day. Yesterday I wrote a long string of questions, inducing thoughts whether the cure for the virus will not turn out worse than the disease..

Day after day I see relaxation of social discipline in terms of mask-wearing in the open air. Besides, after early-April all-out police controls, nobody today enforces the rules.

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

I care less and less about what formally will not be a presidential election, but rather a postal survey.

My work computer crashes after 5 years and 9 months in service. My employer was holding back on purchasing a new laptop to me and it will have to pay twice, not only for a new laptop and for the recovery of data from the hard disc. I need to drive to the office, then to accelerate data recovery to a subcontractor with the hard disc. While visiting the two places I wear a face mask and disposable gloves. All people I talk to have no face mask (to they do not protect me) nor gloves. Frankly, I do not give a damn.

Wednesday, 29 April 2020

The government out of the blue lifts restrictions on shopping malls, nursery schools, museums, libraries and hotels and gives vague and imprecise guidelines how reopened institutions ought to work. Mayors of several cities decide not to open nursery schools. Tenants in shopping malls are facing a hard time since the have little time to adjust to inadequately defined new rules of functioning and expect a massive revenue decline, while expenditures await settlement.

Thursday, 30 April 2020

More and more frequently I can read of visions of living with several restrictions. A world in which every human is a potential threat or an enemy is a nightmare.

The election-like farce turns ghastly as ballot cards leak out.

Friday, 1 May 2020

A silent bank holiday. Few people out on the streets, few cars on the roads.

April 2020 with average temperature of +9.4C was not as warm as in 2019 (+10.6C) or in record-warm 2018 (+13.6C), but still somewhat above long-term average of +8.7C. 7.6 millimetres of rain fell in Warsaw over the entire months, exacerbating the ongoing drought.

Saturday, 2 May 2020 – Sunday, 3 May 2020

The number of active cases at least temporarily peaked in Poland on 30 April 2020. Given relaxation visible outdoors, I presume in mid-May the trend might reverse.

In Spain people were finally allowed out of their houses, though only in specific time slots. People took to the streets in masses to cherish the freedom. Photos of crowds on boulevards circulated around the world.

Monday, 4 May 2020

My employer slowly mentions we will need to return to the office once classes in schools are resumed. Home office is an alternative for 2 or 3 days in a week, yet remains imperfect and inferior in relation to working in the office in some situations. Some people threaten either they are permitted to work from home only or take a sick leave.

Tuesday, 5 May 2020

Sales of passenger cars dropped in Poland by 67% y/y in April 2020. The figures were impacted down by quarantine, but not yet by shutdowns of several factories, but also impacted up by handovers of vehicles ordered several weeks earlier. The market will see a reshuffle, but will also find a new equilibrium. Fewer brand-new cars will be sold, but their prices will not go down. On the other hand, quite many nearly brand-new (no older than 5 years) cars from downsized corporate fleets will flood the market and bring down prices of used vehicles. Thus I expect the gap between prices of brand-new cars and of nearly-new used cars to broaden.

Wednesday, 6 May 2020

I am looking at Great Britain which, along with Sweden, where no formal lockdown has been declared, Romania and Poland is one of four European countries where the number of active cases is not declining and wonder why the damn with quite fierce, though belated, lockdown and massive testing the Brits cannot bring the pandemic under control.

Scientists announce that the virus has mutated and works on the vaccine might go in vain, since it would immunise against pre-mutated virus. Besides, it seems first cases of COVID-19 were observed, but not properly diagnosed, nor detected in Europe back in late 2019. In Poland in January and February also several distressing flus and aggressive influenzas were observed. Does it mean we could have lived with it?

Thursday, 7 May 2020

The recent developments on the presidential election which will not be held in three days deserve some commentary, yet I do not feel like fraying my nerves to write about it. The way constitutional other legal acts and institutions which ought to guarantee proper functioning of democracy are downtrodden fills me with ultimate disgust. Conceivably the election might be still held in May, but according to an “agreement” between two grey-haired Jarosławs it will be called again for mid-July.

Friday, 8 May 2020

The second day of demonstrations of entrepreneurs in Warsaw. Those who have had to wind down their business due to lockdown and have not received an adequate (in their assessment) compensation protest against useless anti-crisis shields. Many of the protesters do not give a damn about face masks nor social distancing rules.

In the evening president Duda signs the “defective and agreed to be amended” law on organising the presidential election in May 2020.

Saturday, 9 May 2020

I seem to be getting lonelier and long for company of people much more plus fearing a gradual demise of social skills. But with declining number of new infections in Warsaw and around, I may hope the rules of social quarantine will ease in a while.

Holding the presidential election in May 2020 still comes into play. I refuse to make any more comments.

Sunday, 10 May 2020

Today was supposed to be the first round of rejecting Andrzej Duda as a president. Yesterday’s negotiations in PiS headquarters have not resulted in any resolution on the election date. Jarosław Kaczyński has nearly duped Jarosław Gowin

I go out cycling in Kampinos forests with lads. First cycling since many days without a face mask (legally). Actually 36 kilometres cycled without a mask, remaining 7 in a mask. At +22C cycling in a mask is a nuisance.

First public transport rides since 10 March. I will not renew my travelcard for several weeks, I suppose. Date of comeback to the office in shifts (every third or fourth working day in the office, remaining days at home) looms distant, no earlier than mid-June.