28 July 2020: Corona Crisis Update From The Black Forest

As expected the Belgian government introduced additional restrictions to prevent the rapid and “worrying” increase in coronavirus infections from becoming a full-blown second wave. From tomorrow, and for at least the next four weeks, social bubbles will be reduced to a maximum of 5 fixed people per household.  As of tomorrow, also shopping needs tobe done alone and everyone will be allowed to stay in a shop for a maximum of 30 minutes, telework is again strongly advised and one is required to register and leave contact details in wellness centers, sports classes and restaurants and pubs. The good news is that Janssen Pharmaceutica, the Antwerp based division of the American multinational Johnson & Johnson.  has started testing on humans a vaccine that it hopes will offer protection against the novel coronavirus. The tests will be carried out both here in Belgium and in the United States. The original plan was to commence testing on humans in September. However, research on the development of the vaccine is running ahead of schedule. At the risk of being accused of behaving irresponsibly and out of touch with the fact that a merciless virus is killing people around the world we decided to continue to enjoy long hikes in the Black Forest - Haslachschlucht, Black Forest, Baden-Württemberg, Germany