MoldovAnn

Well, it’s a week now since the Ukrainian government induced panic in the country about the flu. People seem to be settling into the new realities. It has almost felt like that week between New Year’s and Christmas in Kyiv, only without all the decorations – fewer people on the streets and in public transportation, not a lot of traffic.

The mask-wearing trend seems to be fading. There are less average people on the street wearing them the last couple of days, but shopkeepers, police, store clerks seem to be mandated to wear them. I’ve read enough from sources I trust that our homemade masks don’t protect us at all from viruses, so I’ve shed mine.

Friends outside of Ukraine keep asking me if this is all political – honey, everything in Ukraine is political! No politician will pass up a chance to grandstand.

At first I thought the quarantine was a pretty ridiculous overreaction, but more and more I think it was the right thing to do. If a real epidemic did break out, this country would be wholly unable to deal with it. So quarantining folks now, before there is a serious problem, just might prevent all hell from breaking loose.

Still no clue what will happen after the quarantine is lifted – events that need to be rescheduled, school time made up, etc. Let’s hope this madness does end on November 22, as is currently scheduled, and we can get on with things.