This Week In Wijnjewoude 2021: Week 16 Easing of the Lockdown...but

Friday Morning

(my comment: the Govt seems to be bowing to the pressure of "opening up". This, in spite of still worrying numbers).

From Dutch News.nl

A further 9,292 new coronavirus cases were reported to public health institute RIVM in the 24 hours to Friday morning, down from Thursday’s high of 9,648 but still well above the weekly average.

However, the number of coronavirus patients in hospital fell by 69 overnight to 2,613, of whom 837 are being treated in an IC ward. Despite the slight decline, acute care association chairman Diederik Gommers told podcast Virusfeiten that some hospital chiefs have told him they expect to be in the highest level of crisis – code black – next week, if cases continue to rise. In ‘code black’ hospital staff are forced to choose who gets an intensive care bed – a situation which has not yet arisen during the pandemic. ‘At the moment, hospitals are changing their schedules and delaying treatment,’ he said. ‘Chemotherapy, cancer operations and heart operations are being postponed… we have not been in this position in the second and third waves. Colleagues are concerned about how few IC beds are available.’

Nevertheless, Gommers declined to criticize the government’s decision to end the curfew and allow pavement cafes to open for limited hours, saying it is good that the cabinet weighs up wider interests. ‘But I do hope that somewhere is a red stop button we can use before Tuesday if things really do go wrong,’ he said.

Sunday Morning

Intensive care doctors from a number of hospitals in Noord-Brabant province have written to the health ministry and acute care organisation saying they have now reached their limits when it comes to treating coronavirus patients on IC wards. ‘The physical and emotional strain on our teams (who, according to IC doctors, are also increasingly dealing with young patients) inevitably takes a toll,’ the letter said. ‘Team members have indicated that they will not be able to sustain this pace much longer and are considering stopping.

The staff shortage will increase further, which will endanger the quality of our IC care in the (near) future,’ the letter said.

IC manager Merijn Kant told broadcaster NOS he was astonished that the government has decided to relax some of the coronavirus rules from next week, saying it ‘goes against reality’. ‘These choices appear to have been made for other reasons,’ he said. ‘I worry that we cannot deal with any more [coronavirus patients].’

Code black

Acute care association chairman Diederik Gommers told podcast Virusfeiten on Friday that some hospital chiefs have told him they expect to be in the highest level of crisis – code black – next week, if cases continue to rise. In ‘code black’ hospital staff are forced to choose who gets an intensive care bed – a situation which has not yet arisen during the pandemic. On Saturday, 8,123 new coronavirus cases were reported, down 1,152 on Friday and slightly below the weekly average. In total, 2,514 coronavirus patients were being treated in hospital, of whom 816 were in an intensive care ward.

In the meantime, life goes on at the farm...

We have a new client starting in May - after being bed-ridden for two years, she is slowly finding her way again - we are part of that process - a little social activity, a reason to get moving and hopefully a good feeling to be part of our little group.

I finished off the last of my conversions from temporary to permanent wood sheds...

We had some soil delivered and filled the first of our raised garden beds...

Following the idea behind "hugalkultuur", we filled the bed with logs which will rot down over the years, providing a little feeding along the way/

We transplanted some rhubard, which had already started growing quite well, along with some Moroccan mint and strawberries...

I started with the pumpkins...

Queensland Blue

New Zealand Blue

Sweet Grey

We're trying to get the clients interested in the others, but I just couldn't wait to get started...

It's still too cold to have them outside

On Thursday morning, I found myself daydreaming in front of the fire. No Boeke or podcast to distract me. I had just taken a photo of my first pumpkin seeds in the window (to attract some warmth and sun). I thought, oh well, another year...but then I thought I have had some good (pumpkin) years and some dismal failures...a bit like life, really.

Haha, a bit too philosophical...but so it is.