Finland is shutting down

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Officially it'll happen tomorrow, but I was only allowed to go to work today to check that my work station was okay, then I had to leave. The shut down will last at least until 13th of April, meaning that I can't go to work during that time. The big shots have a meeting today, one that they will decide in if I can temporarily work from home (it'd be different stuff than what I usually do, which is why I can't be sure what the decision will be) or if I'll have unpaid leave for the following month... losing my job is possible too, but unlikely.

Honestly, I'm fine with this. Even if I can't work from home, I'll just try to take it as an unpaid vacation. I have savings, so if it really does end up just being one month, I won't be in trouble financially, either. Sure, it's annoying to have to use my savings for this, but this is what it means to save for emergencies. I also have my computer, Netflix on TV and books, so I should have enough to do for a month... and I suppose I don't have any excuses for not finally washing my floor. Plus, it's not like there's a total ban on going outside; it's fine to take walks.

Pharmacies and grocery stores are staying open too, probably not all but enough, so I'll be able to get food and meds. So far all is good.

Welcome to the tango. I think Finnish people are mostly ready to take responsibility for the needs of the community, so it will be okay

As long as you folks in Finland keep on raking your leaves you're all gonna be ok!

Yeah, let's dance!

With all the whining going around, I wouldn't be so sure about people following the rules... though if it seems that too many people are ignoring the warnings, the government will (hopefully) put down stircter rules and punishments.



What? Is this some kind of saying that's meaning I'm missing?

I don't know how about Finnish people but Poles are masters of ignoring official orders and apparently our officials are aware of it - they don't make regulations applying to private people (unless individually quarantined), instead, they appeal to our responsibility for others.
Works quite well here.

^ it’s a reference to one of Trump’s “away with the fairies” statements: he claimed after last years forest fires in California destroyed several towns in their entirety that the reason why Finland doesn’t have similar conflagrations is because ”they rake up all the leaves every year”

Yes, obviously, humid climate with more swamps and lakes than anything else has nothing to do with it Raking leaves does the trick!

Oh yeah, I've heard of this one!

...But while leaves can indeed speed up the spreading of a fire, I don't think it works with corona. It's probably the opposite; if people went out to gather the leaves, they might prevent fires from spreading but catch corona while they're at it!



Of course not, didn't you know? Lakes in Finland put up their well burning roofs when there's a fire!

Well...if you're all out in the wild woods raking all of the leaves (the way our POTUS informed us Americans you Finns do)-not just in your backyard, but the leaves in ALL of the wild woods, then you wont be at "public gatherings".

So it kills two birds with one stone.

Finland wont turn into a disco inferno. And you wont catch the virus.

^ We've actually been officially instructed to not go in to the more isolated parts of the country; in case something happens, help will get there even slower than usual in these times of crisis. Plus, many people might get the idea to take this chance to go hiking in Lapland (some already have) and could end up using the same cabins. If even one of these people is infected, well, that'll not go so well.

My theory:

Trump information management:
"Climate" - blacklist!
"Ecosystems" - Eco-what? Something with that ecology thing? Blacklist!
Information that Finland has rainy summers and California has dry, hot summers - blocked by the blacklist system.

^ I’d propose a simpler model:

Does this information fit into my narrative of infinite self-pity?

Yes = True, therefore important.

No = False, therefore irrelevant.

I just read that we had the first death caused by corona yesterday... over 500 are officially infected and the actual number of the infected is said to be at least a tripled amount since nowhere near everyone who is showing symptoms is getting tested.

Oh dear: not good at all.

At least your gov has pulled down the national quarantine to minimise the spread...

How are you coping?

Well...that sucks!

You Finns have no choice by to put away your rakes.

And soon your whole country will turn into this:

Actually, the quarantine isn't nearly as wide as I thought it was when I posted this... lots of restaurants and bars for example are still open, which is just crazy. Bars should be the first place to be forced to close down as drunk people are likely to get careless with what they do.