Three weeks into lockdown, we now know we’ll be so until the end of April (but my assumption is until June 1st, as gatherings are already banned until then, and then an off and on of measures until a vaccin). The doubling rate of positively tested cases has gone from 3 days to 8 days since the introduction of measures, even as testing numbers have grown (though still are limited). Hospitalisation numbers, and specifically ICU admissions are seeing lower growth, a sign that the curve might be flattening as intended so ICUs won’t be overwhelmed (the number of ICU beds has been doubled in the country to build up a buffer for the expected peak later this month, and neighbouring German hospitals are also taking in patients). These are all encouraging signs, yet three weeks into lockdown with some four at least to go, I think mental health is currently a key thing to watch. The second half of last week I felt deflated, having done what first could be done to ensure my family and my company are as ok as currently possible, but not being able to take a break mentally or carve out some personal time. Around me I hear stories that echo that.

This week I

• Worked from 6am every morning to have a block of focused time
• Did some reporting and desk research for the EU high value data list project
• Had a morning of conference calls with the EC about the same
• Did the weekly catch-up with a province, for which we are implementing an open data publishing platform
• Did the March invoicing
• Discussed and planned next steps for bringing a client’s Digital Transformation team on one page concerning monitoring, measurement and indicators in a data driven decision making context
• Had a session on reorienting our work on circular economy for a client, now that the experiments we initiated have stalled. We were gathering data about left-over food in the client’s office restaurant, but of course it is closed now. Decided to dive deeper into the ordering process of office lunches instead.
• Took Wednesday afternoon off, to help me find a way to take a break, and promising myself to take Monday off as well. That permission to myself cleared things up considerably already. Like how planning a trip apparently has the same happinness benefit as planning it and actually going.
• Finally took the first step of the Linqurator project I thought up and made a planning for last December. A first database structure is now in place. Will next load it up with my Delicious export to have something to work and test with.
• Created a small plugin for E’s site, to provide some specific functionality around her RSS-feed, that won’t be overwritten by a WordPress update or a theme change.
• Enjoyed the first true spring day in the garden, with E and Y, and taking an early morning walk, to the neighbourhood bakery/coffee-place. They are open for things to go.
• Ordered three pancakes to go at the neighbourhood pancake restaurant Y likes to go to. They’re now closed other than for take-away. Of course it makes no real sense to order out for pancakes at 12E each if you can bake them yourselves very easily too. But it does make sense to try and keep the local restaurants you appreciate afloat in these times.
• Had an all-hands online hang-out and drinks to celebrate the first full year of our colleague S as part of our team.
• Started to read some non-fiction works. Finally!

This week in…..1800*
This week in 1800 Ludwig van Beethoven led the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.

An orchestra playing Beethoven’s 9th in the open air. Image by Francesco Cirigliano, license CC BY.

(* I show an openly licensed image with (almost) each Week Notes posting, to showcase more open cultural material. See here why, and how I choose the images for 2020.)