Things are getting a little bit hairy. The news is full of stories of tensions reaching boiling point. I’ve seen notices at the supermarket and the pharmacy stating that violence will not be tolerated, and a report in the news about a nurse being racially abused on her way to work in England. I expect these are mostly isolated cases, some people taking advantage of the situation to revel in their bigotry.

There were 475 deaths in Italy alone yesterday. New cases seem to spreading across Africa like wildfire. The USA still doesn’t seem to have a cohesive plan at this point, with Donald Trump rambling nonsense on twitter about an “invisible enemy” after spending most of the time they had available to prepare telling everyone there was nothing to worry about.

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It’s anyone’s guess as to what this garbage is.

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Despite the chaos, the internet continues to react to events with memes.

In the UK the situation continues to evolve quickly. Despite the changes to testing process numbers are still rising, as expected. Today’s figures for Scotland are 266 confirmed cases and 6 deaths. We are now up to 57 cases in Glasgow. As not everyone is being tested, it is expected that the real number is much higher.

One of those unaccounted for in these numbers would be my own brother, who took an ill-advised trip to London last weekend and who came down with Coronavirus symptoms yesterday. Unfortunately my brother lives with my mother, so she is scrubbing the house and trying her best not to catch anything. It seems like it’s inevitable but you have to try. Obviously my nerves are through the roof, and I’m calling her several times a day for a status update.

Yesterday afternoon the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, announced that schools and nurseries would likely have to close by Monday. Shortly after that Boris Johnson held a press conference and announced that they would be closing schools and nurseries on Friday for everyone except the children of ‘Key Workers’; people in critical roles for the continued functioning of society. The Scottish Government almost immediately issued a similar notice.

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In terms of how the government is handling the situation, both the Scottish Government and at Westminster, I’ve seen few complaints. Many people were critical of the government’s ‘controlled herd immunity’ approach, but things are still evolving. One thing that’s changed is that the government has now promised to boost testing to 25,000 tests per day, with priority given to the ‘key workers’. I’ve seen it suggested that they are trying to get a test that people can self-administer at home, but I’ve not seen anything concrete: just rumours. Most of the population’s ire has been directed towards those who are hoarding, scalping or otherwise trying to take advantage of the situation.

There are rumours of military vehicles being mobilised and sent to places around the country, particularly around London. This has prompted the government to deny that they’re planning a ‘military lockdown’ of the UK.

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The other big point of discussion is that there’s been a massive effect on the environment due to all the quarantining going on. With flights cancelled, people stuck in their homes and manufacturing slowing to a crawl, we’ve seen a massive drop in NO² numbers (especially over China) and the water in Venice has been so clear that dolphins have been swimming into the city to take a look around. Unfortunately the experts don’t believe it will last and expect it to immediately ramp back up to previous levels at the end of the crisis.

As always there’s more to say than I can write about. With nurseries closing I’m expecting to have to alter my working conditions so that my son can get looked after. Things will get difficult.