COVID-19 in Poland
Coronavirus. Much has been written on this subject in the past few months. However, many important questions still remain unanswered. How exactly does the SARS-CoV2 virus spread? Will a vaccine be invented? And if so, when? Can we avoid second waves once restrictions are lifted? How bad will the economic crisis be? Finally, could COVID-19 be a wake up call for humanity to start caring about the planet? Is it a warning that the earth is giving us?
Most countries have decided to introduce very strict lockdown measures, but some, most notably Sweden, went a different way - only ban large gatherings, keep the economy going, leave it to the people to do the right thing. They call it the ’long-term approach’, claiming lockdown is unsustainable in the long run, so might as well not bother with it at all. Instead, promoting infections at a reasonable pace is expected to achieve herd immunity without overloading the health service. But what about recently emerging data suggesting that people who have recovered from COVID-19 don’t have immunity to the disease? Does that mean herd immunity can only be achieved with vaccines?
Anyway, enough with the hypothesizing - what we really want to achieve with this post is to record how the pandemic progressed in Poland and how it affected us personally. Note that we only arrived here on the 12th of March - eight days after the first case was confirmed (a middle-aged man who came from Germany on a bus). What was supposed to be a weekend getaway turned into a one a half month stay (and counting). What this gives us though is a rare perspective of observing the build-up to the European outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK, followed by experiencing a lockdown in Poland.
March 12: Arrival in Poland
What surprised us most upon arrival to Poland on a Thursday evening of March 12 was the awareness of the severity of the situation. To give a little context, at the time, UK had 596 cases with 10 deaths, while in Poland there were 51 confirmed cases and 1 death. In the UK, coronavirus was dominating news coverage and everyday conversations, but life was pretty much as usual. Sure, select companies started introducing remote work, some students stopped going to lectures, occasionally, you’d see a person wearing a mask on the street. But majority was flooding the pubs, making plans for the weekend, visiting elderly parents or going to a museum. We even went for our friend’s birthday in a fully packed club in London the weekend before.
In Poland, though, social distancing was very much on the agenda. Forget going out with friends, playing 5-a-side football or attending an exhibition. Moreover, on the 12th of March, two seemingly unrelated events occurred: the first coronavirus-related death in Poland and the announcement of COVID-19 as global pandemic by WHO. Perhaps as a reaction to that, Polish government acted quickly.
March 13: Bars and Restaurant to Close
The next day, it was announced that all bars and restaurants are to be closed with immediate effect. Moreover, from March 15, borders were to be reinstated, foreigners not allowed to enter Poland (and Poles entering quarantined for 14 days) and all commercial flights from and to Poland stopped.
Pawilony, usually a bustling party area in the centre of Warsaw, felt deserted on a Friday night, 13th of March. The few bars that remained open were far from being filled to capacity. Majority of their customers were foreigners, perhaps visiting Warsaw for a weekend, not yet aware that their stay will not go according to plan.
Probably the last beer sold in this bar…
Some restrictions were introduced for 10 days, others were supposed to last a fortnight. However, naive were the hopes that life would go back to normal after two weeks. All the measures were further extended, and new steps to prevent the disease from spreading were gradually added.
Last time meeting friends (in person)
End of March: Lockdown intensifies
Queueing to enter a supermarket - not something you’re used to do
Towards the end of March, several new measures were introduced:
- Limit on the number of people allowed to enter shops (3 people per till)
- Maximal number of passengers on a bus or a tram (equal to half the seating spaces)
- A slot for over-65s (between 10 am and noon) mandated in shops
- Number of people attending masses limited to… 5 (regardless how big a church holding the mass is).
- Oh, and you can’t leave home unless you have a good reason (exercise doesn’t qualify as such), and if you do go out, you should maintain a 2m distance from everyone else (including your walking partners, say).
- But the most controversial ruling was a ban on entering parks, beaches, boulevards and forests (that last one was deemed unconstitutional by Polish ombudsman).
Below is a photo from the last bike trip we managed to do before it became illegal.
A bike ride to Otwock and along Świder river is one of a fun thing to do while in Warsaw
eEaster
No surprise then that Easter was not business as usual. As Polish tradition has it, every year on Easter Sunday, families gather for a festive breakfast, featuring eggs, bread and sausage (at a minimum) that had been sacred in Church earlier that morning. Great cakes, such as sernik, makowiec and, most importantly, mazurek, are also served. Monday is off, so celebrations last two days in total, majority of that time spent sitting at a table, negotiating with your stomach the amount of food it will digest for you.
This year, however, confined to their homes, some people decided to skip celebrations altogether; others persevered with festivities, perhaps connecting with their families on Skype or Zoom. Unfortunately, cakes (if any) didn’t taste so sweet, duck wasn’t as juicy, żurek (traditional Polish soup) lacked flavour. Ok, food was still good, but you get the point - it didn’t feel right.
Having said that, encouraged by good weather, we had a little outdoor family gathering; maintaining distance and without grandparents’ participation). In fact, it was when cycling to attend that meeting that the idea for this memoir arose. As a result, we took some pictures on the way.
April 16: Face Coverings Compulsory in Public Spaces
Soon after Easter the lockdown reached its peak. Once it was announced it would soon become obligatory to cover your face outdoors, mask-making became a side job for many. Interestingly though, as it got warmer towards the end of April, perhaps emboldened by the masks, more people took to the streets and Warsaw started resembling its normal self (expect for face coverings). Small bars and restaurant started to reopen, social distancing-friendly outdoor terraces were being created.
April 20: First Signs of Lockdown Easing
On the 20th of April parks and forests were reopened, which marked an important first step in returning to normal life. Encouraged by nice weather, even more people started going out to the street, exercising, walking in parks. Limit on the number of people in shops was increased and the queues disappeared. More people would wear the masks on the necks rather on their mouth and nose. Still, Wendy got told off by a random woman on the street for not wearing a mask for a few minutes. It ain’t easy being looking Chinese these days. (As a matter of fact, the regulations stated that those with breathing difficulties are exempt from the obligation and Wendy struggles with hay fever)
One-table terrace with take away pizza, falafel wrap and wine hidden in plastic glasses
Early May = Social Distance Decreases
We kept discovering new restaurants to take away, even drank some rakija shots in a Greek tavern. Small non-essentials shops were now open: clothing shops, games shops, etc. We met family, even got the chance to meet the grandparents and go for a weekend getaway to the countryside, Jauka, to breathe from the city center where the sun was shining and river walks were bustling of people. Also, good time to work the home-grown crops!
Very soon → Blueberries, tomatoes, lettuce…
May 10: back to the UK!
Time in Poland was well spent, but after two months the urge to go back home was too strong. Unfortunately, going to the UK was not as easy as hopping on a plane in Warsaw and arriving in London two hours later. Apparently, Polish authorities think the way to stop coronavirus is to isolate the country for as long as possible and let as little people in as possible. That could have worked on the 1st of January, but now… Anyway. We considered driving all the way at some point but dropped the idea - too much hassle and substantial risk of something going wrong. Instead, we decided on a journey that combined all major forms of transport:
- Train from Warsaw to Rzepin (a city in west Poland, near a border with Germany)
- Taxi from Rzepin to Słubice
- Cross the Polish-German border on foot via a bridge connecting Słubice and Frankfurt an der Oder
- Driven to Berlin by a friend who picked us up on the other side of the bridge (thanks Marin!)
- Fly to London with the comfort of an empty airport and an unusually non-full Ryanair plane.
Hands up if you ever crossed a border on foot
Better world awaits on the other side?
In Berlin, you couldn’t tell there’s a pandemic going on. Well, some restaurants were closed, other served take-away only; but who cares if you can get a delicious, just-out-of-the-oven Lahmacun from a Turkish man and a bottle of cold lager from a späti.
Strolling around Charlottenburg
Airport was rather empty
Social distancing was not enforced on the airport bus
Overall, the journey was smooth and the airports, as well as public transport in London, REALLY empty.
