COVID update from Switzerland:
Well, we started opening things up yesterday. I had to laugh as I was reading a comment from an article in one of the local papers talking about how loosening the restrictions went. The commenter said: “It gave all the idiots an excuse to forget about everything we gained by locking ourselves in our homes the last 6 weeks.” Apparently as the hair stylists opened up it caused people to queue up so they could get their hair cut.
From what I see on the news, businesses must be passing out masks. All of the pictures and segments I have seen on TV show people were masks. This is NOT what I see normally. Maybe 10% of the people have masks. We have not gotten into the home made mask thing over here, nor are people just covering their face with anything, It is either a surgical mask, or nothing.
Another strange thing I noticed in the grocery store today. The underwear aisle was blocked off. In my blog, I have written about the differences between grocery stores here vs back in the US. Well all the grocery stores have a clothing aisle. You are not going to head out on the town, but you can get the basics, socks, underclothes, tights, etc… Today, though that aisle was roped off, and the sign said the items could not be purchased until 11 May. (That is when the next round of opening things up starts.). I just found this strange, because until today, the aisle was wide open.
I also walked down to the Bau and Hobby (Swiss version of Menards). You could now buy groceries, or go to the garden center, but all the other home improvement areas and sporting goods areas were still roped off.
One thing I have found interesting about opening things up. I think this is true for the US as well. The number of cases is still growing. However, the number of new cases falls every day. New cases have been falling for about three weeks now. The number of new cases are somewhere around 100 per day, where three weeks it was 500 new cases per day.
Most of the military forces that were activated have been sent back home. So I guess that means the Govt thinks they handled the peak, and the surge is low enough that it can be handled with the civilian health care system.
Stay healthy!
Stay well! Have a good week!