Only a couple of days ago, we could laugh about it – oh, it’s only like having the flu, I’m stockpiling books and chocolate…
I’ve gone from thinking, ‘It can’t happen to me…’ to thinking, ‘If it happens to me…’ to thinking, ‘When it happens to me…’ in a matter of days.
There have been 21 deaths in the UK – and even more worryingly, 10 of those happened in one day, yesterday. Spain is on lockdown for 15 days. Jet2 has cancelled all flights to Spain and the Balearic islands – in fact some flights were turned back in mid-air. The US ban on flights from Europe has been extended to include the UK and Ireland.
I’m very concerned that the UK is out of step with the rest of Europe (although – why should that surprise me?) Which approach will be best in the long run? Who knows. In the meantime, I have to admit to feeling somewhat helpless.
I rang my parents yesterday, just to check on them. I speak to them every week anyway, but I thought I should just check that they were coping with it all. My father pointed out that they’d lived through the war and therefore would be fine. I’m not sure that living through the Second World War actually confers immunity to Covid-19 – but at least they’re not panicking.
What am I doing? Well, I’m still going to work, but I’m no longer shaking hands with clients. I wash my hands when I get to work, at the start of my breaks, and again when I get home. We’ve started disinfecting the phones, mouses etc, and we have hand sanitizer on the desk.
I went to the supermarket a couple of days ago, so I’ve got plenty in for a few days. Going forward I think I might do the shopping early in the morning, so as to avoid people as far as possible. When I was there on Friday there was a woman blowing her nose, and she really didn’t look well. Under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t have noticed her at all, but these are not normal circumstances – I discreetly turned and went the other way so as to avoid passing too close to her.
It’s natural to think, ‘If I need to self-isolate and I’m not going to be able to go out for two weeks, what will I need?’ Maybe I should buy a bit more bread and put it in the freezer. Or I should buy a bigger than normal bag of potatoes. Or dare I say pasta. Some tins. When does buying a sensible amount of extra food ‘just in case’ turn into stockpiling?
I haven’t been to the gym for 4 days. I think I may just give it a miss for a while.
And I’m only going out at all if I need to.
On a slightly brighter note – we’re all washing our hands like billy-o, and everything is being washed and disinfected, and we’re avoiding close contact with each other as much as possible. Won’t that mean that we’re not only reducing the risk of contracting Covid-19, we’re also reducing the risk of contracting the other forms of corona virus that we’re all familiar with – the common cold and seasonal flu? And likely other diseases too?
When this is all over and we look back, it’ll be interesting to see if we have actually all been less prone to these illnesses over this period.
The big questions are now –
How long will these measures last?
and
Will they work?
And I think the answer to both of those questions has to be – we don’t know, and we don’t know.
But it only stands a chance of working if we all do it. Do what you gotta do to stay safe and well lovely people. And call someone, anyone, just to see if they’re OK.
If you’re in the UK you can check out the number of confirmed cases in your area here –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274
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