For the record, we’re at 7.8 million reported Covid-19 cases. On 30 May, it was 5.9 million.
Opening Up
Here on the island, we did’t have any new Corona-19 case for close to 50 days. New local cases, that is. We had a few infected people arriving from abroad.
Against this background, all remaining lockdown measures have been lifted as from tomorrow:
The Prime Minister announced that following the Cabinet Meeting today, decision has been taken for the lift of all business and activity lockdowns ordered earlier to cope with the Covid-19, as from Monday 15 June 2020. Consequently, beaches, markets, gyms, parks, Village Halls, Community Centres, cinema and other public places will now be accessible to the public but the wearing of masks will still be compulsory.
We have had our Charity Centre shop open for the last week, in compliance with the rules imposed on 30 May. Shopping and going around has been pretty normal lately. We’re just obliged to wear face masks in closed spaces and around other people, and some shops and banks keep a slightly stricter regime as regards people entering. But nothing too drastic, all within common sense. No queues.
Wear that Friggin’ Mask
Kottke has a good take on wearing masks: Jesus Christ, Just Wear a Face Mask!. I’ll attribute the appeal to a fictional religious character to a figure of speech, because the article refers to actual scientific knowledge and data.
Why WHY WHY!!!! are we still talking about this? There’s no credible evidence that wearing a mask is harmful, so at worse it’s harmless. If there’s like a 1-in-10 chance that masks are somewhat helpful – and the growing amount of research suggests that both 1-in-10 and “somewhat helpful” are both understatements – isn’t it worth the tiny bit of effort to wear one and help keep our neighbors safe from potential fucking death? Just in case?
Esatto.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Here are two NY Times articles about the re-opening efforts:
- The World Reopens, Despite Skyrocketing Coronavirus Cases
- As Virus Infections Surge, Countries End Lockdowns
Two take-aways here: one, certain countries can only choose between two bad decisions: either people suffering from the corona virus, and all what this entails regarding the health care systems, or people suffering from increased poverty.
Two, the corona pandemic is far from over.