Day 36 of Self-Isolation in Switzerland – Disease Vectors
According to research done in Haute Savoie, France, children present a mild risk as disease vectors of the COVID-19 virus. According to this article in Le Matin, and a few other articles children are not as contagious.
L’enfant de 9 ans qui avait contracté le Covid-19 aux Contamines-Montjoie en Haute-Savoie n’a transmis le virus à personne dans les trois écoles qu’il a fréquentées,
The nine year old child, who contracted COVID-19 in Contamines-Monjoie in Haute-Savoie did not transmit the disease to anyone in the three schools where he went.
This would help to explain why they are deciding to open schools first, and to allow children to go to school. This is good news for children without brothers and sisters as they may finally have someone their own age to play with at last. Whether this means they will reopen swings is to be seen. I have seen seen individuals and their children playing on the swings on occasion.
If the return of children is a success then it means that parents too will be able to return to work in turn. For as long as their children are home they cannot leave them alone.
When looking at the roads today I think that I see more traffic both on motorways and on secondary roads. This might just be the monday effect, as shops open and people rebuild their stocks for the coming week.
I went for my usual two hour walk today and I went along a river before cutting up along a wood. In the process I walked by two tractors preparing fields for the next crop. When tractors till the soil they always attract swarms of birds looking for a free snack.
If you click through to the image on Flickr you will see birds of prey and seagulls looking for their snacks. This is a common sight. In the background you can also see that the fields of colza are nice, yellow and lush.
One of the side effects of the pandemic is that I have grown used to not hearing that many cars or planes during my walks and today, because traffic seemed heavier, I found that I desired for that quiet we had experienced to remain. It’s nice to walk without the sound of tires on tarmac all the time. After this pandemic is over I could quite happily go for a hike somewhere out of earshot of cars.
I’m getting over two hours of exercise every single day during this pandemic. I’m getting enough sun and I’m staying healthy from that point of view. It helps with having good nights of sleep. I mention this because I see quite a few people mention that they are having difficulty in sleeping. So far although I could sleep more I am not finding it difficult to sleep through the night.