The coronavirus (and the coffee shop madness)

The high word is out. It was of course to be expected, the announcement yesterday that all hospitality, sports clubs, sex clubs, and schools are closing. For three weeks. And that means working from home, so I am writing this from quarantine, or rather my house, and I already think that three weeks is really very long. Although it is of course necessary and the only solution.

Not everyone agrees with this decision. The announcement was not even finished when the lines at the coffee shops started to pile up. And those coffee shop owners do not agree with the decision; they see themselves as retail and not as hospitality. Anyway, they really have to close, and the smokers are completely in panic, and there was quite a bit of stockpiling at the coffee shops in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the online dealers are also busy, and you can buy in bulk from them for about €320 for 100 grams. I'm just glad I've never been a smoker.

What we all need, smoker or not, is toilet paper, and that is also becoming a scarce commodity. I don't quite follow the whole logic of stockpiling = scoring toilet paper, and I really hope that the advertisement on Marktplaats for €100 per roll was a joke (it can't be otherwise, right?), but at the moment, I think the toilet roll is the most popular supermarket item. But honestly, how much do you need?

So today is day one of three weeks of ‘quarantine’ in the Netherlands. I find it a bizarre situation. And also for all businesses, from small to large. Small hospitality and sole proprietorships that are now completely out of business, but also a gigantic KLM that is really getting into trouble because of this. How to support those small businesses, I don't have the ideal answer to that... But at least I feel a lot less guilty about using that UberEATS app in the coming three weeks.

Let me end on a somewhat positive note, because there is one in this whole situation: it is particularly good for the environment. The million cities in China are suddenly no longer surrounded by smog, and the water in Venice is so clear that you can see the fish swimming (and no, you normally never see that). Furthermore, ‘my’ Amsterdam feels a bit like a ghost town at the moment. A crazy Monday morning, that's one thing for sure.