Life On Hold.

OK, it's official. Society has been put on hold here in Finland due to the Corona (COVID-19) virus.

For the first time since the end of WWII the Finnish government has declared a state of emergency and activated emergency power legislation which has severe restrictions on peoples freedom to gather and move freely. Two basic freedoms that are the basis of our democracy.

The government has banned gatherings of more than 10 people and closed down museums, theaters, libraries, swimming pools and other public services.

This has been don in an effort to reduce the spread of the infection. At this point we are not looking at stopping it, but to reduce the peak so that our health care system can handle it.

If your country is taking similar actions, please abide them. By reducing the peak of infected people the people who get the worst symptoms can get all the help they need from health care. There's no need for panic, but the disease needs to be treated with utmost respect.

Now for myself this means that I'll likely soon be taking my day job home as I work for a city government and all non-critical personnel are ordered to work at home if possible.

I'm not really worried about myself but I am worried about my elderly parents and relatives, so it's important to do our best to avoid being in physical contact with people in risk groups.

I'm counting my blessings as I do have my online business to fall back to and I have a stable job. Many people are worried about their jobs and companies are already going bankrupt because people aren't using services. The economic impact will be devastating.

I'm sad that we will very likely have to cancel our 4 month trip to Europe this fall because there are bound to be aftershock effects and limitations of travel. But this is a small price to pay for safety. I'm grateful to live in a country with a very effective health care system and government that takes this threat seriously.

But now is not the time to feel sorry for ourselves. Now is the time to look after the less fortunate and ensure the safety and order of society!

For my site I've noticed a huge drop in my traffic on the website that recently had over 500% of growth.

I guess I hit a lucky keyword like I suspected. But I'm also wondering if the pandemic is affecting traffic a lot. I would guess people are Googling different things than normally in times like these. Have you had fluctuations in your traffic?