It's now the sixth week that kids are at home. Jack is doing home office and playing teacher in the morning and early afternoon. As of this Monday I've started going back into my practice room. So far this week I've seen only three patients in person. The rest still over the phone or video. Those who have come personally I've aksed to wear a mask, but it's proving to be completely horrible. They can't see my mimic and facial expressions, which adds to a feeling of uncertainty and mistrust. And as soon as anyone cries, they have to take the mask off to wipe their face, so it's all suboptimal. Thus I've decided to scrap the masks, unless someone wants to wear one. I've asked patients to wash their hands when they enter the office, I air out the room well between sessions and moved our chairs as wide apart, as possible. Unfortunately my room is fairly small, so it's only possible to put them about 2,5-3 meters apart. I imagine since everyone has been at home for over a month, the chance of them being infected in the immediate future is fairly low. However I'll keep being vigilant, just without the compulsory mask.
Over the last two weekends we drove out with the kids out for walks in the forrest, which was great. There are significantly more people than normal. Everyone tries to take advantage of the good spring weather and goes further out in the hope of avoiding crowds, which is only marginally successful.
In the good news... Last Saturday someone put a tulip under every door in our building, along with a post-it note on the door that said "All the best." No-one knows who it was, but it was such a sweet and generous gesture, because we have 8 flats per floor and 23 floors, so 184 flats... After that people stuck their own "thank you" post-it notes in the foyer downstairs in front of the lift for this person. It gives a good feeling that people, even in such a huge semi-anonymous building like ours actually do care about each other.
In some absurd news... Yesterday, on the 22 of April, I got a letter from the health authorities (dated the 17th of April) that wrote out when I should be in quarantine, which was from the 17.3 to 31.3, and apparently "due to displayed symptoms your quarantine has been extended to the 9.4". The timing of this letter was obviously strange, but also the false information that I had symptoms. So I called them today and asked why it took so long for such a letter to arrive. To which the guy on the phone said that they are really behind sending letters, as there's only a few of them, and right now 3000 people that they have to follow up on. I also asked him to send me a new one with the correct information - ie. that I didn't have symptoms. Which he promised to do.
As of this week small shops (up to 800 sq m) are allowed to open again. This unfortunately meant that all the shopping malls open as well, as they have argued that individual shops all fall under that criteria. Berlin's top virologist is completely appalled by this and thinks this is a really stupid idea. Germany has only started to flatten the curve and this kind of thing might make infections spike again. On the other hand, masks are now compulsory for travel on all public transport in Berlin and Brandenburg. And finally in other good news - apparently the new big Berlin airport should now open in October. This is after six years of postponed deadlines and an absolute disaster and national shame in terms of project management. But apparently now, due to very low air traffic, they were able to finish up some final works on it and almost nothing stands in the way of opening. So Coronavirus does have some positive consequences.
Stay safe and healthy everyone!
Over the last two weekends we drove out with the kids out for walks in the forrest, which was great. There are significantly more people than normal. Everyone tries to take advantage of the good spring weather and goes further out in the hope of avoiding crowds, which is only marginally successful.
In the good news... Last Saturday someone put a tulip under every door in our building, along with a post-it note on the door that said "All the best." No-one knows who it was, but it was such a sweet and generous gesture, because we have 8 flats per floor and 23 floors, so 184 flats... After that people stuck their own "thank you" post-it notes in the foyer downstairs in front of the lift for this person. It gives a good feeling that people, even in such a huge semi-anonymous building like ours actually do care about each other.
In some absurd news... Yesterday, on the 22 of April, I got a letter from the health authorities (dated the 17th of April) that wrote out when I should be in quarantine, which was from the 17.3 to 31.3, and apparently "due to displayed symptoms your quarantine has been extended to the 9.4". The timing of this letter was obviously strange, but also the false information that I had symptoms. So I called them today and asked why it took so long for such a letter to arrive. To which the guy on the phone said that they are really behind sending letters, as there's only a few of them, and right now 3000 people that they have to follow up on. I also asked him to send me a new one with the correct information - ie. that I didn't have symptoms. Which he promised to do.
As of this week small shops (up to 800 sq m) are allowed to open again. This unfortunately meant that all the shopping malls open as well, as they have argued that individual shops all fall under that criteria. Berlin's top virologist is completely appalled by this and thinks this is a really stupid idea. Germany has only started to flatten the curve and this kind of thing might make infections spike again. On the other hand, masks are now compulsory for travel on all public transport in Berlin and Brandenburg. And finally in other good news - apparently the new big Berlin airport should now open in October. This is after six years of postponed deadlines and an absolute disaster and national shame in terms of project management. But apparently now, due to very low air traffic, they were able to finish up some final works on it and almost nothing stands in the way of opening. So Coronavirus does have some positive consequences.
Stay safe and healthy everyone!
