Chronicles of 2 years of Corona pandemic : part 3 : waves of improvement and resurging contaminations in 2020

I was recently reflecting on the pandemic and it's funny how quickly we forget all the things that happened and in which order and how it affected our lives. So for my own chronicles and memory I've tried to list 2 years of Corona pandemic.  (I might have forgotten some details which I potentially add and modify later on).

Making this list now, does not mean whatsoever that I believe we are done and over with Corona.  Frankly, I anticipate new waves, especially in winter times, but let's hope that the impact gets smaller each time thanks to the vaccination level and scientific progress. 

June 2020

Our first lockdown in Spring 2020 brought the necessary improvements in our health situation, so as of May 2020 the first measures were tuned down bit by bit.  They went down rather optimistically and by the end of June we could form bubbles of 10 people that could change all the time.  Euh...wow, that enables the virus to jump across and further very quickly but most people were very happy to get out on terraces again etc.  

The European borders opened internally mid-June somewhere again and immediately a lot of people took the opportunity to get out of our home and spread out again after being confined for so long.   All European countries got a colour code and end of June most of them were green.  Awesome for those who had planned a vacation early on.  We hadn't as we traditionally tend to plan our holiday by the end of the Summer when it's harder to find child care initiatives. 

July 2020

We managed to confirm all camps and activities for the children except for Beertje who was going on a half day-camp and was supposed to be in the city's playground in the afternoon but such mixing of groups is no longer allowed. They are all in week bubbles.

At the end of one of the camps, the children always get a little souvenir gift. Usually that's a T-shirt but in 2020 they got a little bottle of alcogel ?!? Welcome to 2020. The children were delighted with their own little bottle of "little soap" but I questioned the smartness of distributing this to toddlers just like that. 

The first weekend of July we spend in the Ardennes with my mom and then my sister and her family came along to stay when we left since they didn't book any holiday abroad. It was the first time since New Year that we were all together. 

July 11th: Mouth masks are now mandatory in stores, and I am no longer an exception when shopping. In the Ardennes we notice the Dutch tourists getting confused as they are not required to wear mouth masks in the Netherlands. 

July 17th: Jan has a sore throat and I tell him to be a responsible citizen and get a test.  However, my tooth pulling was scheduled and while Jan is waiting for his test result, we are officially in quarantine. I get a moral dilemma to inform the dentist or not, but since I told Jan to be a good citizen, I phone my dentist ahead of time... Promptly, he cancels my tooth pulling. Naturally, right after the cancellation, Jan's negative test result comes in. I had been stressing about the pulling like crazy, but now fear of having to continue a couple of more weeks with the pain made me panic even more.  My whining panic calls help and they pity me and reschedule just a few days later in the end. 

July 18th : My Facebook status is "as if Europe is back to early March".  I guess contaminations were back on the rise and the first European countries turn orange. The options to travel decrease due to quarentaine rules.  As a result we don't dare to book anything because it can't be cancelled anymore, so we must wait until very last minute when we are certain we can leave. 

July 21th: Across Belgium all church bells ring at noon during 3 minutes for 9800 Covid victims in Belgium

July 28th: My 3rd return to the office got postponed to September...We were told not to come any more. 

August 2020

Covid picks up again in all European countries. Our bubbles get strictly redustress on all countries turning orange, less and less vacation options. After months of being at home and being overworked I desperately want to get out for a bit as well, but the options to go on vacation melt every day...I hope to get to the beach in the North of France but everything seems to have been booked.  The Netherlands turned orange too, there is hardly something to choose. We spend days searching, book twice something which turns to be gone just minutes before our click. 

In the end Jan finds a treasure that just got cancelled by others, and we booked it within 30' whilst I'm in the midst of a video call.  And it was an awesome little house, but only one week.  But so glad we made it on a small vacation outside of Belgium. 

My mother's vacation to Switzerland gets cancelled on the other hand due to new quarantine restrictions for Belgian travellers. 

September 2020

The boys return to school full time.  When my mom finds an opportunity to rent an appartment at the coast for a few days, we decide to allow Beertje to stay with her, assuming that the covid risk doesn't come from small children.   I meet my sister again and my mom together at the beach for a lunch. 

We implement a new software at work and for go live we spreat out the team over all available offices to support in the best way while keeping distance. it felt good to be busy and together and yet not together for a while. 
After go live, presence in the office is strictly regulated and alternated in smaller groups. 

I also start to go back to physical yoga which feels very strange. 

October  2020: 

The numbers are getting worse again. There are illegal corona parties everywhere in the news, everyone is ranting, ...We get finally a new government that dares to take new measures and tighten the rules again.  Among other there are many discussions to keep schools open. 

With the worsened situation I stop to attend yoga mid October.  

It also is clear to us that our vacation in Gran Canaria is not going to happen.  We cancel on Oct 20th.  

At the end of the month a new lockdown is called but schools remain open.  I joke on FB that I probably best avoid going to the supermarket for a while.  There is a curfew at night which I enjoy as it doesn't bother me at all, on the contrary:  silent empty roads again. 

Nov 2020: 

We spend the school break in the east of Belgium instead.  All neighbours there have been infected there recently by Covid as the east of Belgium had been a pandemic hotspot.  Belgian patients from Liege get sent to German hospitals because we lacked beds. 

Sinterklaas can't visit people in person as he is a person at risk, so the children get a video call with him. 

Nov 21st: my mother watches another video call after I help her to join a streamed funeral where no participants are allowed 

December 2020: 

Dec 10: We participate in a day of team building and personnel party on the computer.  We join presentations, quizzes, a virtual escape room and a hilarious cocktail workshop with materials sent home.  It was more fun than I had anticipated.   Instead of a dinner, we got a foodbox delivered at home for a Christmas meal. 

Jan's dad's health deteriorated quickly. Jan had visited a couple of times but due to the bubble rules and the precarious health situation I had not seen since September and had hardly seen this year at all.  

Mid-December I was woken up in the middle of the night by my crying mother -in-law. 2 sons were breaking the curfew by driving through the night across the country...a race against time which they lost. 
The funeral was heartbreaking: 15 people isolated on groups of chairs per 2-3. very far away from each other in a huge empty church.   So isolated in our grief, not allowed to hug or comfort, to gather.  That's not how one should say goodbye to your loved ones. 

We spent the end of the year with the 4 of us hidden away in the east of Belgium after having invited my mother over for Christmas...the 1 visitor allowed.  New Year's eve was isolated without friends but with a curfew that even prohibited toasting in the garden with the neighbours. 

Start 2021
Most people were very hopeful at the start of 2021 however since the first vaccine had arrived so we had hope to beat this virus.  I didn't understand, as the start of the 2021 happened under the threat of the Delta variant visiting and the vaccination roll-out would still take time.  We saw over Christmas that UK had become the new Italy from March 2020.  Our Belgian lockdown still paid off, and our wave was still in descent, but the delta variant was going to come to us too.  But despite speculation, the school vacation doesn't get extended and the children can return as planned.