I was totally going to write about one thing today and then I saw the Dutch press conference and now I’m eating my third candy bar cause I need the chocolate to take the panic away.
I’m gonna take a minute to calm the fuck down and remember how to breathe and then maybe I’ll write about other things and maybe I won’t.
No. One. KNOWS.
But first the news:
- Dutch start easing coronavirus restrictions, face masks a must on public transport
- Coronavirus Restrictions to Ease Through Spring and Summer; Testing Widely Available
- Coronavirus update (May 6): 41.319 confirmed cases
On one hand, when they were saying that on 11 May the hairdressers will open?
Ecstatic!
Over the moon!
MAMA NEEDS A HAIRCUT!! !
But.
Then they go on to say that there won’t be any requirements to that except that the chairs in the hair salon, for example, need to be 1.5 metres apart.
So the person cutting my hair doesn’t have to wear gloves or face masks.
Or, say, wash their hands between customers.
And neither do I.
And we’re all in the hair salon.
Or the nail salon.
Or the library.
With all this faith in 1.5 metres.
Except on public transport. Where non-medical face masks are REQUIRED and you can be FINED and how much that fine will be remains to be determined.
You can see specific dates for everything opens and such on that first news link but I’m still in shock at how fast all these openings are happening.
Is that to give us hope?
Is that so that we can see the end in sight and stop withering away in the darkness?
Is it a response to those protests in the Hague?
Do we have THAT MUCH FAITH in the Dutch people to maintain a 1.5 metre distance from one another? To only have one or two guests over? To maintain the same 1.5 metre distance behind closed doors?
Until tonight I had so much faith and hope and praise for the Dutch approach to the virus and now?
I’m scared.
Again.
I was scared at the beginning of this lock down. That there would be announcements and changes and such that we would miss because we’re expats and I figured out where the local English news sources are and read them every single day.
And, YES, the numbers of people diagnosed and dying are going down every day.
For weeks now.
And, YES, things are going to open slowly over the next few months.
First the daycares / primary schools / libraries / hairdressers / nail salons. Then cafes with terraces / museums / secondary schools / cinemas / theatres up to thirty people. Then up to one hundred people. Then trade schools and exams.
But masks are only required in public transportation.
Otherwise, it’s just up to individuals to stay apart.
And, also, each step depends on the continued drop in diagnoses / admissions / deaths.
So. Okay. Now I’m not as scared.
But #DAMN the next few months are going to be intense.
Unlike the last few months which were a figurative walk in the crowded park on a warm, sunny day in the Netherlands.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Let’s do this, Warriors.