Week #6 of semi confinement — 27 Apr 2020

A field of yellow and white dandelions on a striped blue sky

We’ve reached 6 weeks of semi confinement. I feel I’m loosing track of time sometimes, or at the least that my perception of time varies throughout the day and the week. March feels ages ago, just like the beginning of the week does, but the day flies by so fast.

Back to work

The highlight of the week was preparing Fabienne for her return to work. It wasn’t clear before last Thursday what were the protective measures she would have to take in order to start working again. We were pretty sure that surgical masks and disinfectant would be required and we started looking online for sources. Availability is low or nil in most at the retailers, but we found a drogerie near Zürich that could provide us with what we needed. Hopefully, it should reach us Monday, in time for when she opens up the following day.

In the absence of clear directives regarding the required protection for hair dressers, Coiffure Suisse posted its own on its website :

Mesures de protection contre le coronavirus — List of protection measures against the COVID-19

In the meantime, the State of Geneva has activated its ORCA plan to provide on a weekly basis the businesses in need with the protective gear they require to reopen. Things are slowly getting sorted out. in the meantime, the Swiss Goverment has published a Back to work protection plan that needs to be adapted to each trade.

Confinement

Otherwise, we’ve been plodding on as usual, and we have grown used to the strange new normal, even if the children are finding it increasingly hard not to socialise in real life. They sometime meet up in groups of 2 or 3 in the little park next to the school, each bringing their own apéro and chat or kick a ball, but it’s not the same.

Our local supermarket is almost back to normal, fewer and shorter queues and smiling staff as always. I found there were a lot of people out and about this end of week. Mostly in packs and close to each other, and not always respecting the distanciation principle. Last Thursday, the Coop’s parking was busy with cars coming and going almost as usual. It feels a bit weird.

Tree without leaves on blue sky — Spring in action (Apr 2-24)

The same tree with leaves on a blue sky — Spring in action (Apr 2-24)

Buses will be running more frequently as of Monday, and the parkings on the streets will progressively be checked again.

Mathias passed his mid-term exams online last Thursday, and is looking forward to next week when the DIY open to restock in paint and wood for his frames.

The fate of Emma’s Maturité exams remains uncertain. The Conseil d’Etat has cancelled the oral exams, and is waiting for the Conseil Fédéral’s position regarding the written exams. For the time being, among the Romand cantons, only Fribourg has announced they will maintain the written exams.

If they take place, they will cover what was taught up to March 13th, when the schools closed.

Mobility reports

Google hasn’t updated it’s Community Mobility Reports for Switzerland since April 11th, but Apple’s is up to date.

Apple's Community Mobility Trends for Apr 25th 2020 — Apple’s Community Mobility Trends for Apr 25th 2020

As for my Screen Time, it dropped to 07:34 according to my Mac, and to 09:13 according to my iOS devices 🤔

Contact tracing

There has been a lot of talk and comments (1, 2, 3, 4) around the smartphone contact tracing app being developed by the EU. Switzerland leaving the project for privacy concerns, became a leading proponent of DP-3T, (Decentralised Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing). Last week, the EPFL/EPFZ recognised that the Apple and Google’s project was the best in terms of privacy concerns and decided to develop their own app which is currently being tested by the Swiss Army.

Apple and Google announced they will shutdown the coronavirus tracker when the pandemic ends.

Wherever you are, stay safe and stay healthy.

Noteworthy

EpocCam is a brillant solution to turn your iPhone into a webcam that works with most teleconferencing apps. There are free and paid versions ;
Downie is an amazing app for downloading videos from the internet.

Rumours

Apple Aims to Sell Macs With Its Own Chips Starting in 2021 by Marc Gurman for Bloomberg ;

Worth reading

Sept questions sur la future application de traçage du coronavirus by Anouch Seydtaghia for Le Temps ;
Original Apple Watch designer shares behind the scenes look at its creation — Get a behind the scenes look at how the Apple Watch came to be by Joe Wituschek for iMore ;
Apple’s COVID Mobility Data by Kieran Healy – picked up in Daring Fireball ;
Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro: A New Breed of Laptop by Federico Viticci for MacStories ;
It’s time to build by Marc Andreessen in Andressen Horowitz.