Our Corona diary, week 2

The 2nd week of self isolation starts with our birthday celebration for Monty who turns twenty. We celebrate on March 21st, a week in advance because he is leaving our current location to start his new "crisis job" supporting critical infrastructure for the Austrian broadcast company ORF.

Happy birthday!

March, 21st

The world, especially Europe turns red!

The Austrian figures March, 21st

March, 22nd

Sunday, we decided to go for a 2 hours hike to "Hochstrass".  The temperature dropped below zero this night, we saw snow on the surrounding hills.

Italian menu @ the camper

The Austrian figures March, 22nd

March, 23rd

 To reduce social contact we decided to stock up food and beverages for a period of 2 weeks minimum.

The shopping list for 2 weeks

Full stock @ Lidl supermarket 

Usage of rubber gloves obligatory ...

Done ...

The Austrian figures March, 23rd

March, 24th

No people around "Wiener Naschmarkt" - a traditional market @ Vienna city center 

One of the last tourist shops still open @ first district, Vienna city centre

Weekday, empty parking in front of "SCS" shopping centre near Vienna

The Austrian figures March, 24th

March, 25th

Temperatures are still around zero during the night, at daytime little snow is expected. Anyway we start our daily hike.

Snowing & cold again ...

The main Austrian government dashboard for the visualisation of current CORONA COVID 19 numbers is offline ???

March, 25th no data, dashboard is offline

March, 26th

www.metropole.at:

• This week is seen as a crucial one in Austria’s fight against the coronavirus. The country has a total of 2,547 intensive care units (ICUs), 980 of which can be made available for COVID-19 patients – a high number in international comparisons.
• Out of currently 5,888 coronavirus cases in Austria, 540 patients had to be hospitalized and another 90 are in intensive care (that’s 1.5% of the total, markedly lower than the 5% in northern Italy).
• Austrian hospitals have a total bed capacity of 64,000 and more than 12,000 additional beds for mild coronavirus cases were set up in recent weeks (e.g. 6,000 in Vienna’s Messe exposition hall).
• If current trend holds and the growth in cases can be reduced to 9% per day in the medium term, Austria’s ICU capacity should suffice until April 23.     

• Since March 15, the number of unemployed in Austria has increased by 153,100 people to a total of 400,000. Over 51,000 workers lost their job in the food service industry, 19,200 in the construction sector. While substantial, economists cautioned that long-term effects of the current crisis are still very hard to discern and that instruments like Austria’s Kurzarbeit(reduced working hours, with the state paying a substantial part of salaries) can dent the impact.

Numbers March, 26.  15:00 

The main Austrian government dashboard for the visualisation of current CORONA COVID 19 numbers is online again!

March, 27th

Today "DPD" delivered radio communication equipment to update our existing equipment to ensure our ability to email and communicate world wide in case of "black out" or a break down of the "normal" internet and telephone infrastructure.

Ready for emergency radio communication

March, 28th

Again we decide to go for a 4 hours hike.

Break after 2 hours, home made bread & cheese.

Way back home, nice track, nice weather!

Outdoor kitchen is open!

Flip Flop time is on ...

Mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables, yummy!

The Austrian figures March, 28th

After 2 Weeks of self isolation in Austria, most of the European countries followed this drastic step,  nobody (no politician, nor experts) wants to predict a possible end of the lock down. All countries hope to see a reduction of the day by day increase of the COVID-19 infections. But all published numbers and graphs do not show positive indications.

For sure we are on the beginning of a long process of drastic decisions and actions turning European countries in a long lasting period of depression. Great Britain, USA and other regions will follow as soon as COVID testing is available there.

While the economy in Europe is in critical condition, economic boosts and support programs are made by the governments. But I do not think that the European economy will survive without major damage. I predict a minimum loss of 10-15% of European GDP for 2020.