The French government has been slowly increasing pressure on its citizenry to pay attention to their surroundings and other people and to stay home. The struggle is for this country to not go the way of Italy where things have gotten particularly bad.
Many of our friends and neighbors have asked us what we see here and we, in turn, ask them how things are wherever they are. It's been an on-going conversation.
Our Parisian friends M and G were concerned enough about the developing situation that two weeks ago they cancelled their one week stay in Nice.
Our American friends B and I who are here for the winter told their son not to come. They couldn't guarantee that he'd not be infected. The man was a well known physician back in Chicago, so his words carried more than a little strength to them.
This morning France awoke to find itself at Stage 3 of emergency in it's fight to keep from over-stressing the healthcare system. Stage 3 is the highest level of concern and people have been told to stay home. Period.
In response to the new orders our friends M and F who'd come to Nice for the month signaled that they're thinking of going back to Paris. They said the markets here in Nice were busy today and that shelves are emptying pretty quickly.
An American woman we met is flying home early.
Another American woman we met will be leaving Nice soon, too.
Which leaves us wondering what to do next?
We were sick last week with the flu. We wondered about if it was the dreaded CV19 or not. We had no respiratory distress, but had many other symptoms. Out of concern, we stocked up on provisions and stayed home.
Then Jude found new research that talked about CV19 symptoms and their relative probabilities. It was then that we realized what we had. Good thing we stayed home, right? Going forward, we should be fairly immune to la peste.
Now we're faced with making a decision. Do we return to Paris at the end of the month? Our apartment there will be colder and darker than the one we're in here in Nice. Jude has a few doctors appointments next month and, um, our wine cave is well stocked up north. As a bonus, we'd be strongly encouraged to shelter in place. Huh.
On the other hand, if we stay one more month in Nice we'd have the sun and sea and gorgeous weather. Basically we'd have more of the same. Boring after awhile, perhaps. Yes, we will need to find Jude some medical support, but maybe that'd not be half bad after all is said and done?
No comments:
Post a Comment