How is my life going during coronavirus?

I am a master student at TalTech in Tallinn currently. I would like to share the changes in my life during COVID-19 pandemic. As the coronavirus hits Estonia and the Estonian government has declared an emergency situation and, as of 17 March, closed its borders.

The COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed my life. In terms of studies, instead of having face-to-face classes, during the pandemic I have to switch to distance or online school. When I used to go to the university and studied in the library. Now almost all of my classes are online. Honestly, in the earlier stage of the pandemic outbreak, it was very hard for me to adjust distance studies since I never had this kind of experience before.

I was scared of going outside and talking with people as well. I always stayed in the room. And I also decided to reduce the number of times to go to the supermarket. For example, when I have to go to the grocery store to buy food, I always try to avoid the crowd and keep distance with people. One of the hardest things for me is that I could not hang out with my friends, which made me very upset.

I believe that Estonia is doing a good job to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Based on the news from ERR

Estonia’s infection rate doubled over the past week but the country still has one of Europe’s lowest rates of coronavirus. Many European countries saw a decline in infection rates last week, but they still remain high.

Last week, Estonia’s 14-day average was 91.7 per 100,000 people but this week it has risen to 166.5 per 100,000. It is no longer the second lowest in Europe and has moved up to sixth place.

The countries below Estonia — according to each county’s reported data — are: Finland (53.2), Ireland (128.8), Iceland (129.3), Norway (141.4) and Belarus (147.4).

Andorra (1,362), the Czech Republic (1,275) and Belgium (1,105) have the highest rates of infection in Europe, data shows, although all three saw a decline in their 14-day averages.

Infection rates in Iceland and Ireland have been declining for two consecutive weeks.

Looking at Estonia’s neighbors, Latvia has an infection rate of 211.3, Sweden 497.1 and Lithuania 614.4. All three countries’ averages have risen over the past week, with Lithuania’s climbing the furthest. Last week the country introduced a lockdown. Russia’s official figure is 187.2.

Deaths per 100,000 inhabitants are highest in the Czech Republic (27), Belgium (22) and Slovenia (19). Coronary mortality rates are lowest in Estonia, Finland and Norway — in all three had 0.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks.

Travel restrictions on entering Estonia from Monday, November 16 remain largely unchanged on the previous week, with arrivals from virtually all countries — including all European countries — having to self-quarantine for 10 days. As with last week, arrivals from Estonia’s nearest European Union neighbors, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania, see some exemptions, for instance if transiting.

As of Monday, November 16 the period of mandatory self-quarantine for 10 days is lifted for arrivals from the EU/EEA area if that country has a 14-day reported coronavirus rate lower than 50 per 100,000 inhabitants.

However, in practice, as every EU/EEA country has a rate higher than this for the past 14 days — though Finland’s rate is only fractionally above this at 53.8 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people — arrivals from all of those countries must quarantine when arriving in Estonia.

I believe that everyone is trying to make the situation better. For example, keep social distance, wear masks and avoid going crowed places. Although COVID-19 is still a big challenge for thousands of people, let us work together to overcome it.

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