# of confirmed cases: 1,832 (77 new cases since yesterday)
# of deaths: 81
# of people in hospital ICU: 90
# of people tested: 28,584
Monday, April 6, as of 6pm, local time, Athens:
# of confirmed cases: 1,755 (20 new cases since yesterday)
# of deaths: 79
# of people in hospital ICU: 90
# of people tested: 26,193
Sunday, April 5, as of 6pm, local time, Athens:
# of confirmed cases: 1,735 (62 new cases since yesterday)
# of deaths: 73
# of people in hospital ICU: 93
# of people tested: 25,453
Saturday, April 4. As of 6pm, local time, Athens:
# of confirmed cases: 1,673 (60 new cases since yesterday)
# of deaths: 68
# of people in hospital ICU: 92 ***
Day 30 of staying home
A recap of some of the announcements over the past few days:
All of the restrictions and new measures have been extended until April 27.
There are now stricter measures in place for Mykonos and Santorini: From April 6-20, on Mykonos and Santorini, people cannot leave their homes at all from 8pm to 8am. In addition, all construction work on Santorini has now been suspended as well. (It has already been suspended on Mykonos.)
Across the country, social distancing has been increased in supermarkets and farmer’s markets.
Two of the quarantined villages in northern Greece, Damaskinia and Dragasia are now out of quarantine.
ΔΕΗ, the public power corporation has donated €5 million for the purchase of over 500,000 masks and over 12,000 items of protective gear.
Another refugee camp, in Malakasa (Attica) is the second camp to be quarantined as a 53-yr old asylum seeker tested positive for COVID-19 and has been transferred to a hospital. Malakasa houses over 1,700 people.
Tsiodras in recent days has discussed protocols regarding masks, why some younger people are susceptible, has warned against using medications without a doctor’s instructions, mentioned the possibility of a second wave in the fall ….
Hardalias noted that since the start of the ban on movement, 21,308 people have been fined. Since the closure of shops & businesses, 359 store owners have been fined and 353 have been arrested for violating the new rules.
As far as people trying to leave urban centers for Easter (on April 19) or even attending large family gatherings/dinners – Hardalias stresses that all measures will be in place until April 27 and reminded the public that traveling anywhere for any reason during Easter would be irresponsible and would put people in danger, as well as other regions of Greece (villages, countryside etc).
He acknowledged that these measures are testing everyone’s endurance but he urges the public to have patience and act responsibly.
***
Today, on World Health Day, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation has donated $100 million (USD) to alleviate the impact of the pandemic. The funding will support research, testing, treatment and prevention and will focus on socioeconomic initiatives to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.
With a particular focus on health issues in Greece, the Foundation has already donated $450 million (USD) towards the construction of three new hospitals, medical equipment, training and education.
And today, also in time for World Health Day, a number of doctors and medical staff held symbolic, silent protests in front of hospitals all over Greece. Organized by the union of state hospital doctors, they demand more hiring of permanent medical staff; and the requisition of private hospitals, clinics and their staff – and their integration into the state’s plan to fight the virus; and more protective gear. At Evangelismos hospital in downtown Athens, the police intervened and tensions flared.
***
So, out of a population of about 10.4 million people, currently Greece has 1,832 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 90 people in ICU, 81 deaths, and over 28,000 people tested so far.
Despite the cautious optimism of the government, the good news coming out of Greece and the praise – somehow a feeling of dread persists.
Maybe it’s just Day 30 of being housebound… Maybe it’s the news trickling in about other issues…
Like homeless people on the streets of Athens being fined €150 for violating the rules regarding the ban on movement, on going out…
Maybe it’s the news from the refugee camps where one of the world’s most vulnerable groups of people continue to live in squalor, without access to basic needs, never mind protection from the virus.
Maybe it’s the relentless dreary weather, the grey skies, the cold, the rain. Unusual for April. It has been like this since last week, and over the weekend into today, storms battered many regions across Greece, including Athens. A state of emergency was declared on Skiathos, Skopelos and parts of Pelion. Heavy rains, torrential winds, power outages, flooding, severe damage to roadways, snowfall.
Due to high winds in the Aegean Sea (9-10 on the Beaufort scale or 47-63 mph) some ferries did not run.
Even the swallows, the harbingers of spring, have fallen out of the sky, wind-whipped and weather-beaten. On a road near the town of Nafplio, hundreds of dazed and exhausted
For days now, all I can hear is the constant whistling, whipping sound of the wind outside. It’s as if Athens’ quiet whisper has turned into a raging howl.
Has Aiolos, the mythical god, unleashed his violent storm-winds?
According to the story, Zeus granted Aiolos the power of the winds - he could control their rise, their fall, their shift, their strength, their destructive force. Aiolos had the power to wreak havoc on the world.
Aiolos kept his storm-winds locked away in the caverns of Aiolia, the floating island where he lived. He only released the winds when the gods commanded him to destroy a target of their fury – be it a vessel, an island, a people.
Odysseus visited Aiolia. When it was time for Odysseus and his men to leave the island and
After a 10-day voyage, the shores of Ithaca were in sight. However, the men, believing that the bag from Aiolos contained riches in gold and silver, tore it open, releasing the treacherous winds which blew them off course, created a storm, and they ended up back where they started – on Aiolia.
This time, believing that Odysseus and his foolish, greedy friends must be cursed by the gods, Aiolos, refused to help them.
Will the winds, the fury of the gods, our own folly - keep us from reaching our destination? Just when our first goal is in sight, will recklessness, idiocy, self-indulgence, greed cause us to veer off course and end up worse off than before - stranded, without help?
Will we ever reach our Ithaca? And if we do, what will we find there? What will be lost? What
will we discover?
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