The Coronavirus Diaries

The Coronavirus Diaries - Day 8

Monday - March 24, 2020

This is the first day I didn't open the death-o-meter as I usually do, staring, alongside countless others from the comfort of our homes, at the morbid numbers on the screen. Which is to say I have no idea how many cases were reported this morning in Romania, but there are, this evening, 576 cases of infection in the country and 7 deaths.

The new emergency measures have come into force today and brought along a snowstorm of the kind we haven't seen since January. It is only the third time this winter (if we can still call it that) that it snowed a full day and night. So that took care of the #stayathome challenge, but not for me. I had to run a quick errand across town this evening and drove over wet slush on deserted streets. Given the weather it was not surprising to see few cars on the road, but it was more like 2 am on a weekday rather than a weekday evening. Add to that the patrolling police cars with their flashing lights and it was hard to forget that I had until 10 pm to be back home.

Most eerie of all was to drive by a deserted Hotel Napoca and to see the it dark and looming, not a single light within, alongside an equally deserted Central Park, blanketed in the fresh snow glowing under snow-capped park lamps. A phrase kept running through my mind, 'the new normal'.
Is this it?

In 'fun' Romania news, the Suceava emergency hospital was shut down following a Coronavirus outbreak in which 52 hospital staff were infected. One of the stories floating around was that all staff were called to an emergency meeting by the hospital's manager, under pain of dismissal, and there they infected each other, while the manager didn't even show.

Another piece of scuttlebutt, which I got from a neighbor in the garage this evening, was about a woman taken for treatment for pulmonary issues to a nearby town and who was exposed to at least 60 people before anyone realized she had tested positive for Covid-19.

If anything is at all clear, especially in Romania, it's this: stay away from hospitals.

Image source: https://eclujeanul.ro/fotografia-zilei-omul-de-zapada-stand-pe-banca-in-parcul-central/

Comments

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