Mannequins with face masks

Diary of a digital nomad trapped by the coronavirus pandemic in Sofia, Bulgaria. 21st of March.

Saturday night. 21st of March. 36 new cases makes this the worst day since the state of emergency was declared.

Today, the government of Bulgaria approved another series of measures, including the prohibition to stay in parks or overly crowded places, and also a time frame (8:30-10:30) reserved for elderly people to do the groceries, go to the pharmacy, etc. It also bans people from going outside except for work, doing the groceries or buying medicines.

I think they are taking the situation seriously here. Props to Bulgaria. Even if that means that we won’t be able to go outside without a justification. Going or getting back from work does not apply to us, so that only leaves us doing the groceries as a proper excuse. More scary is the fact that you can be asked for your Bulgarian ID or a residence permit to verify your address. As digital nomads, we don’t have any of that. We are in an AirBnB apartment.

Thankfully the supermarket is one street away.

While streets seemed certainly empty, you could still see some people riding a bike or going for a walk with the kids.

So overall a nice day, not as dull as I had expected. I managed to stay busy the whole day and even relax a little bit.