Ignored by Sunflowers
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Ignored by Sunflowers

Byrichard

The title of this post is a joke, not a serious delusion of isolation. I saw that a few sunflowers had come out but that they were looking away, rather than towards me. They are looking at the morning sun and I was walking in the afternoon. They are still in the process of coming out.


Today I was asked if I wanted to go to a restaurant and I automatically said no. Given the data about the rising number of cases in Switzerland it makes no sense to go to towns or cities, and to eat in a crowded place, rather than to continue self-isolating. If I was okay with crowds at this stage in the pandemic I would have gone to the IFSC World cup. I am not fine with crowds, when the number of sick is rising.


One issue is that there seems to be no data for the Canton de Vaud for the last week or two. I don’t know whether that means that there are no cases, or that they have not been counted. Haute Savoie and Geneva are going up, so Vaud should follow.


Every Canton is deep red except for Neuchatel, for now.


The table above illustrates why it makes sense not to meet people in towns, cities, restaurants or other places. There is a chance that you could continue as normal, and be fine, but if enough people think that way then large crowds form, and what was safe, in small numbers, becomes a breeding ground for large numbers. At this point, it’s better to walk in the countryside and be ignored by sunflowers.


If I had been asked “Do you want to come over” then I would have said yes, without hesitation. I said no because in my opinion, and according to the data I see, it is not safe to risk spending time around crowds, for now.


Imagine going back to such habits
Imagine going back to such habits


When the pandemic ends I look forward to meeting new people to do new things, but for now the likelihood of this happening is low. Yesterday’s solo bike ride was good. I avoided the roads where traffic is aggressive as much as possible, and kept to the more rural, quieter paths. The weather was perfect yesterday.


Today, during the entire walk I felt that it would rain at any minute, but it didn’t. It stayed dry, and that’s good because I was not equipped for the rain.

Solitary Bike Rides
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Solitary Bike Rides

Byrichard

Two weeks ago, it looked as though next summer we could be out of the pandemic. This weekend, it looks as though the pandemic will never end. Every single time Europe looks as if it has a chance of ending the pandemic, it breaks for either Christmas or the Summer holiday. Every single time Switzerland stands an excellent chance of stopping community transmission, it reopens things.


To add insult to injury tonight 65,000 people are going to watch a football match in a stadium, and retail unions are requesting that masks are dropped as a requirement in shops. My entire reason for going exclusively to food shops is that we’re in a pandemic and I don’t trust people to behave appropriately during a pandemic.


Months ago while trying new walking shoes I had an individual and a child standing right beside me. I still tested the shoes, but it was months before I attempted to go to that shop again. The issue with shops is that a) people don’t respect COVID rules so we have to actively keep ourselves safe and b) this requires going as soon as the shops open, rather than at a time that would be more comfortable.


Now back to the topic of solitary bike ride. For as long as people do not understand pandemic dynamics, we are going to be in an endless loop of self-isolation and lockdowns. The sooner people understand that this is a socially transmitted disease the sooner we will be back in an open, rather than closed society.


The sooner the pandemic ends the sooner we can go on group hikes, group climbing and group via ferrata activities. For as long as the pandemic continues in the current loop, the more single people living alone, will have to be happy to go on solitary bike rides.


“oh but you don’t need to do things alone”. In Holland the number of infected went from 1000 to 10,000 new cases in one week. The delta variant spreads extremely fast.


And now for a little humour, people are queuing from three to four hours to get tested for COVID-19 because they are not vaccinated yet, when they could go and get vaccinated, without waiting. Going to get tested if you feel sick is excellent, but if you’re going to get tested, to clear your conscience, before taking a risk, like travelling for holidays to a place where you will be surrounded by crowds, or to be in a nightclub without proper ventilation, then you are clearing your conscience before taking a risk. The data from Holland, England and Israel encourages me, to personally keep self-isolating. If my interpreting of current affairs is correct, then Switzerland is heading into another wave within days, not weeks.


At the end of the day, what does another two years of pandemic solitude change? As long as we are not reminded of the standard model, it changes nothing. With the current behaviour we are in for another two or more years of pandemic where the vulnerable get a booster every six months.

Four Hundred And Sixty Eight Days Of Self Isolation

Byrichard

The pandemic is still alive and well and the hope that we might have had that the pandemic would end has been scuppered because governments refuse to work towards COVID-Zero, and they refuse to be cautious. It is disheartening to see with which complacency governments are sleeping back into exactly the same mistake as last summer. Last summer they allowed the numbers to climb, and ignored the risk of another wave, and this summer they are making the same mistake.


I am confused by this, because when there was BSE and Foot And Mouth, and the first SARS crisis, that I remember of, everyone was told to be careful, to avoid spreading the diseases and more. We washed our hands and our feet, and the feet of animals. There was a genuine care for the well being of animals and humans.


This pandemic is different because it seems that all of the norms for keeping a pandemic under control, and mitigating the fallout have been forgotten. Yesterday the Swiss health minister practically said “There is nothing to worry about for vaccinated people.” Of all the people to make such a statement he is the worst, for the simple reason that it puts us all at risk.


Another interesting aspect of this pandemic is that because it is global we can see what is happening in England, in Israel, in New Zealand and other countries. It means that we can follow this pandemic as it happens, day by day, and decision and consequence by decision and consequence.


Both England and Israel vaccinated, and then reopened their societies, and both thought they were safe but eventually saw that they were not. We can see that Switzerland is making that mistake too, but Switzerland just has to spend a few minutes looking at Twitter, and English and Israeli news, to see what to expect next.


During this pandemic poor decisions are being made despite the benefit of hindsight and this is a shame. It’s a shame because if you’re single, and between friend groups it means that you’ve had four hundred and sixty eight days with a hug, without flirting and without a handshake. That’s a long time to go without those things, especially if we’re meant to get eight to twelve hugs a day.


What is terrible about this situation is that there is no hope of it ending for years at the current level of incompetence that governments are showing. How can a pandemic come to an end when leaders are doing nothing to stop the transmission of a virus. Being under quarantine sucks, but at least self-isolation gives us a hope of the pandemic ending. Switzerland was in a straight line down to zero new cases per day and it threw that away as of this week. Now we will have another winter of self-isolation of solitude. Year two of pandemic solitude. I think that after one summer without a car, one summer with a broken arm, and two summers of pandemic solitude I will be changed forever.


I’m happy to socialise on Twitter, but I feel no need or desire to do anything more. It would be agonising if I had a burning desire to socialise, just as the pandemic wave is getting ready to hit. This time Switzerland got down to 140 cases before the wave started to build up again. Now we’re committed to the next pandemic wave. This time young people will suffer, and that is through the mistakes of adults.


Before I end this post, I want to add that I had my first vaccine on the 5th of May and the second on the 9th of June and that I am fully vaccinated as of the writing of this blog post. In theory, I’m perfectly safe and can resume normal life, but according to the news I’m seeing from around the world this “in theory” is not trustworthy. The vaccine was good for the last two variants, but not for the current one.

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Another Pandemic Weekend Without Plans

Byrichard

Normally at this time of year, as the snow melts and the temperatures increase the opportunity for spring and summer sports returns. These sports are via ferrata, outdoor climbing, hiking and more. This year is different because although today is Friday no plans have been made for the next two days. There is a excellent chance that I will either hike or cycle alone. Usually I avoid cycling on Saturdays because that is the day when people are anxiously driving between their homes and their shops.


Walking feels like the safer option on such days. It’s usually on Sundays that I like to go for a bike ride, to range a little further than when I am on foot, and to enjoy different sensations. During this pandemic my favourite route is not possible because it crosses the Franco Swiss Border in two places and I prefer to avoid crossing the border unless it is essential.


At the moment the prospect of everyone being vaccinated, and of everyone being able to meet in groups of ten to fifteen to do via ferrata, hike or climb seems unlikely. It would seem that this is another year of relatively solitary sports. Hiking and cycling are good solitary sports because we often go at our own speeds anyway. These are also sports with almost no carbon footprint. You just walk out of your house and enjoy.


Scuba Diving, Climbing, Via Ferrata and other sports sometimes require a two or more hour drive to go to and come back from the activity location. With cycling and local hiking you burn no petrol, except for the rubber soles of your shoes but those wear out quite slowly. We’re speaking grams, rather than litres.


During my walks I often visit the old phone boxes that have been converted into libraries. I browse through the books. Some villages have a good selection of free access books. No one has thought to block access to them during the pandemic.


If I wrote a blog post for every walk or bike ride at the moment it would either be a clockwise or an anti-clockwise loop that always begins and ends in the same place. The main change are the crops, the animals and people I see, and the weather.


Yesterday I did meet someone in the physical world, for a walk, and I came to the conclusion that I much prefer to meet people for bike rides. The problem with walking with people during a pandemic is that you don’t have the freedom to walk into a field or patch of grass as you’re walking “with a person” rather than alone. You’re also working on set paths.


I like to walk along roads and other paths, and I like to change route as soon as I see people come the other way, or to climb up an embankment, or to choose a path between two fields. When I walked in Geneva yestreday I decided to take off my mask because I thought that there would be an opportunity to always be two or more metres from people but this wasn’t the case. If I was alone I would have put the mask on. In this context I didn’t feel as free to do so.


Cycling, during a pandemic, in contrast is excellent. The first reason for this is simple. You’re going at 20 to 30 kilometres per hour so whatever you breathe in or out is going to be diluted into the turbulence that is behind you. The second reason is that you’re on a road or path and the pedestrians you encounter are close for just a second or two, not even two breaths.


The other advantage is that you’re on some type of agricultural or normal road and there are usually not that many people on the same path so it provides us with greater freedom. People are cautious of bikes, but not of other pedestrians. Being on a bike makes us safe.


During my walks I often see people on bikes. Today I was surprised to see three women riding alone. Usually it’s two or three guys at a time, riding together and talking. It makes a nice change. Having said this the conditions today were unpleasant for cycling, a cold strong wind. These are the right conditions to make cycling cold and tiring.


I hope that Sunday will be good for cycling.


How far will we cycle in pandemic solitude? We will have to see.


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The Year-Old Pandemic

Byrichard

Thanks to the incompetence of leadership during this pandemic Switzerland went from a low of 21 cases per day in June 2021 to a high of 3600 or more over Christmas. This is really a shame. For a short period up to the 21st of June Switzerland really looked as if it would end the pandemic.


On the 21st of June the government made a mistake. It reopened society. The rational was that the pandemic would soon end and that slowly we could return to life as normal. Within a week or two the number of new cases started to go up again, but rather than go a step back until the number went back down the government went ahead with the next diminishing of sanctions.


Over time, we could see the number of new cases climb and climb and I really expected to see a peak within two weeks from the 1st of August. It came about three to four weeks later and that’s close to when the second wave was declared. Bad decisions continued to be taken until it was decided that people should have their Christmas and new Year. Two weeks after all the Christmas shenanigans were over tightening came back, and instantly the number of new cases went down.


We’re now a year into the pandemic with little chance of the pandemic ending anytime soon.


As I see it the government has two possible avenues. The first is to vaccinate everyone, but the drawback is that you need vaccines to vaccinate people, so for now this idea is on hold. The second idea, and this was definitely possible in June, and is still being proved by New Zealand, is that you can end the pandemic with proper government directives.


Last week Switzerland finally got down to just 1000 cases per day, which is excellent news, and with a little effort it looks as if the pandemic could end sooner, rather than later. Unfortunately the government decided to reopen society yesterday, so we are now condemned to go through another wave of infections and the end has been blown away by bad policy.


One weakness during this pandemic is that lockdowns and restrictions have been pictures as political rather than scientific. As a result of this people are guided by their emotions rather than their rationality. This irrationality means that people fail to see that the sooner the pandemic ends, the sooner normal life returns.


The more often society reopens, the longer the pandemic will last, and the longer the pandemic lasts, the more businesses will go bankrupt. It makes sense to have a lockdown like we had this time last year, for the pandemic to end, so that life can resume.


There is another cost to the pandemic. Teenagers are unable to have a normal university experience. Add to this that around 36 percent of homes in Switzerland are one person and this is a theoretical 36 percent (I don’t know the actual number of people) who might have gone without a hug, a kiss or a handshake for almost a year by now.


In the 21st century plenty of people live alone, and when you live alone during a pandemic it implies that you do not see many people. In fact the only person you see during the day is the cashier, if you buy food.


Switzerland decided to close petrol stations on Sunday, and my habit of seeing one person in the physical world per day was lost. I sometimes go three to four days at a time without speaking to another human being.


This pandemic is teaching us to live in absolute solitude, for days at a time with no contact, and weeks, months or even seasons without even a handshake or hug.


I don’t watch normal television anymore. If a podcast has someone speaking about relationships I pause or stop listening. I avoid films. I avoid certain topics in podcasts. I listen to very little music.


We’re in a pandemic, and we live in solitude. Normal people think “the pandemic will take two years to resolve, and it isn’t that bad”, but to people in solitude it is that bad. Solitude is fine, as long as it is not made to feel like isolation, and that’s why I changed my media consumption habits. I went to be comfortable in solitude, not distressed in solitude.


With how people behave, and how the government behaves, we are in for a few more months at best. Maybe the summer of 2022 will be less lonely.