Plus tri

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Dear Nenad,

The tiredness you write about I recognize very well. We did not yet have time for proper resting and also our days have been very full. However, going on holidays is still a question mark. Last Tuesday the Dutch government announced that it will change the travel advice for many countries on June 15 from ‘orange’ to ‘yellow’. Italy has now changed to yellow which means that in principle we could go. However, as we want to go by car instead of by plane, we have another issue: France, Switzerland and Austria are still orange, so we cannot pass into Italy. We hope that this changes fast, so that we can finally visit our house there.

Serbia is also still on orange (and Montenegro is the only European country which is red, probably because Montenegro does not want us in). Orange means you can only travel if it is absolutely necessary. The problem is that health insurance does not pay out if something happens to you and you go to an orange country. So I hope that the status of Serbia will also change fast.

This week we had some discussions with respect to the anti-racism demonstrations which were being held. Whereas everyone has solidarity with the subject of the demonstration, the amount of people and the distance they have during the demonstration was an issue. Too many people came to the central square of Amsterdam and the mayor was heavily criticized for not calling off the demonstration. She said she was afraid that it would have led to riots, but now we will see in the next 2 weeks what the result will be. The number of cases and deaths more or less now stays on the same level, we do not see a strong decrease anymore.

The cat looks very nice and curious, I had never even heard of a tortoiseshell cat, but as I understand they bring energy and good luck. Just what is needed in this period ! How did you decide to get her ?

Yesterday we celebrated two birthdays: my mother in law and my father. With my mother in law we at least managed to get flowers delivered in Belgrade and had contact by video. My father we visited for the first time since the start of the corona crisis. Of course taking into account the 1,5 meter distance, which was strange, but at least we saw each other.

It was good to see him, although he has been struggling for over a year with a resistant bacteria and basically Dutch doctors have no solutions anymore, other than continuously giving anti-biotics, which make him very tired. He probably caught the bacteria during an inguinal hernia operation in the hospital. Last week there was an emission on Dutch television on the application of bacteriophages for these cases, for which there is a lot of experience in Georgia. Experiments with phages have also started in the US and here in Delft, but the same people of the Dutch State Health Institute that have decided about corona here have decided not to allow it yet.

From the documentary on TV it seemed that it was more the fact that it comes from Georgia (where they have experience since the 1920’s) which stops it than the lack of proof. We have now contacted the institute in Georgia to see how they could help us (travelling there is not an option now).

Let’s see where the next weeks will get us, we are ready to travel and come over to drink wine as soon as they change the rules !

Stay healthy ! Robert

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Dear Robert,

That travel map with color-coding is interesting. Could you give me a link? It would be necessary for people to understand that.  There is too much discussion connected with political intolerance. It could be interesting for the people here to know that not only Serbia is red for Montenegro, but Holland as well. I must admit that it is quite strange since I have seen that Montenegro gave permission only to countries from where they expect to the biggest number of tourists. Obviously, Holland is not oriented towards that part of the Adriatic coast.

That distancing you are writing is something that I sincerely think is important. But here in Serbia, the situation is strange. No distancing, just a rare people have a mask, and we have a small outbreak again, which means that we doubled positive in spite we reduced testing. The worse situation is in Macedonia. They had curfew this weekend as we had in the past. I think that the election, which will be in two weeks, is dictating the epidemiological situation. It is going so in the opposite direction that I was yesterday at a DJ party in an open space but packed with more than 200 souls in one boat restaurant. In general, I don’t have anything against it, but some balance should be maintained. Now we are looking more like Sweden, and probably herd immunity will be developed. Our epidemiologist has introduced the IgM test, which should show if somebody had the disease in the past. And just when I applaud to that, they don’t do it. My cousin (like we said, sister from an aunt) had symptoms of Covid. She was examined, but the doctor didn’t like to test her but gave her azithromycin. Except that it was against any medical logic, the drug is potentially toxic, and there is no sense to take it. She didn’t take it. Now she is better, and doctors could have the wrong impression that therapy was successful.

In general, the health system didn’t recover. Many hospitals dedicated to Covid treatment now are recleaning to start a regular job. And patients are waiting. Bizarre situation every disease had a long waiting list, and now three months people haven’t been treated what’s happening with them. Nobody is interested. What kind of people are we? If we don’t care about each other, we deserve everything that’s happening to us.

I saw unrest all around the world dedicated to the tragic death of George Floyd. You could imagine that we are not demonstrating, not only that some political parties are quoting “White lives matters.” That is showing at least two things. That we don’t understand what is happening in the world, and that fear is living among the people. For me, it is the most striking scene it was kneeling of Bundesliga football players. Since I know how rarely they do show political gesture, I am surprised, and I like they explained what they think unanimously.

Regarding bacteriophages, I know only basic facts, but I have excellent friends in Georgia, and maybe I could help with information. Please tell me if I could help. The same thing we should have done with your mother in law. Since they are here, maybe you could say to me whenever you need any assistance. I mean it as better that I bring the flower then delivery guy.

Anyway, I am sure that we will meet soon.

Cheers, Nenad