Day 5 at home: #flattenthecurve

On Tuesday, I was a bit sulking. The supermarket wasn't working as it should with only three tomatoes on the shelf, I found it boring and quiet at home without coffee drinkers and I just couldn't get any structure in my day. Until the Italians showed up, who really put a stop to my whining. And rightly so.

Can I explain one more time why it is so important that you stay home? Not to ensure that you don't get it, Rutte already said it, because about eighty percent of the population will get infected with the coronavirus sooner or later. But actually, everything revolves around that ‘sooner or later’, because if we can spread it over earlier and later, then the healthcare can meet the demand.

This weekend, my friend's mother turns sixty-five. The plan was to celebrate this in her favorite hotel on Texel. Enjoying the beach, good wine, and eating together. We have canceled that for now, as you can understand. But are you still going to visit? Because celebrating your birthday alone is also quite lonely, especially a milestone year. Still, we are not going, because… My friend sees his colleague, his colleague sees his children, those children might still see friends. My mother-in-law teaches digitally, so she sees her colleagues at school, all those colleagues see their partners, and those partners might work in the hospital. And so on, and so forth…

Besides the hashtag ‘flattenthecurve’, another one is circulating on social media. I initially found it a bit flat, but now that I see how many people still want to go to work with runny noses and coughs against all RIVM advice, I understand why it needs to be so strong. Because flattening that curve can only be done in one way: #StayTheFuckHome if possible. Then we relieve the doctors, nurses, and all those other incredibly important people in healthcare that we need so badly right now and in the coming time. And if you doubt? Then listen again to what the Italians have to say to us.