Corona virus is spreading

As the days go by, more and more cases of the new corona virus COVID19 pop up in Europe. Here in our country, there were 14 cases counted yesterday (who knows how many there will be today?). Most of these patients had gone to the north of Italy during the spring break (which was last week, the same period we were in South Africa).

We already noticed a lot of mouth masks at the airport on our arrival back from Cape Town. People are afraid of getting affected - and they don't realize that a mouth mask doesn't really help.

You notice that people are getting afraid. In the supermarkets, people start hamstering stuff like rice and other products that will keep for a long time.

I think that such panic is a bit exaggerated. Corona is like the flu - which also kills a few thousand persons a year. You don't have to be afraid, just be somewhat careful. Try to avoid big masses and wash your hands regurlarly. That helps from spreading the virus.

Schools are already cancelling their Easter trips to Italy. It's a tradition in the last year of secondary school to make a trip with the entire class during the Easter break. Very popular are places like Rome, Florence and Venice. And it is in the north of Italy that the outbreak of corona exploded.

We also have planned a trip to the north of Italy (Milan) but only in summer. I'm not going to cancel yet - most likely the virus will be out of the country by then. I can cancel my hotel up to the day before arrival, so should the government advise against travelling to Italy, I'll not lose any money.