"New Normal"? | COVID-19 Pandemic
Welcome to 2020! It's been 4 months and already so much has happened. There's been deaths felt all around the world, rumors of a World War 3 beginning, and the historic event that we're all living through at the moment - The COVID-19 pandemic.
photo from https://www.qualitrolcorp.com/covid-19-update/
This pandemic hit the United States in late February, early March, and boy did it hit hard. I was on Spring Break when the news of the first confirmed case in Minnesota was announced.Soon after that, spring breaks were extended, residence halls gave students the option of express check-out and news of a possible airport shut-down was reported. I would have been stuck if I didn't leave immediately. In the span of 1 week, I was told to pack up my dorm room, and come home.My classes would have to be continued online, and I would have to leave my friends. It was an even more unfortunate situation when I arrived at the airport. Without warning, the airline had cancelled one of my flights and had no other flights out. For a solid hour and a half, I was sure that I was going to be stuck in a foreign country with no family and no place to stay.
Luckily for me, it all worked out. I was able to buy a ticket from a different airline and came home. I followed all guidelines for self-isolation and quarantine. Now I am on my last few days of self-quarantine and have still shown no symptoms of the virus. However, even as my 14 days of quarantine are coming to an end, I am still not allowed to leave my house or interact with others unnecessarily.
Currently, Belize is under a State of Emergency. That means that no unnecessary movement or gathering of people is permitted. Bars, Nightclubs, Dine-In restaurants, and other places are completely shut down. Tourism has effectively come to a stand-still, as international and local airports are shut down and the borders are not allowing anyone, including Belizean Nationals, to enter the country. A curfew has even been put into place; from 8p.m. to 5a.m. the only people allowed on the streets are essential workers (doctors, nurses, police officers etc) who must carry with them proof of their work. If you break curfew, police officers are allowed to arrest you without warrant, and the consequences are a fine of $5,000 or 2 years in jail.
Even at non-curfew hours, the unnecessary movement of bodies is highly discouraged, meaning that schools, and workplaces have turned to alternative means of delivering their services,going almost completely online. If you must leave your house, you are encouraged to wear some sort of protective gear (using it properly) and stay at least 3 feet away from others at all times.
Everyone is calling this the "new normal." as we are unsure of when this is going to end, it could be in a month, or this pandemic could span the rest of this year. We just don't know.
And it's terrifying to think that the world could be brought to a standstill because of a virus. Our little country only has 7 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1 related casualty (at the time of writing this) and we are seeing Belize almost completely shut down. It's an appropriate response to keep the Belizean people safe, but at the same time it causes panic. Rumors flying left and right, people buying resources en-mass, condemning those who have contracted the virus, having no sympathy for those who have no real way of getting help, no empathy for those who are under different circumstances, etc. I would loathe to think this is our "new normal."
I can't speak for anyone else but since I've come home, and subsequently been confined to my home, I've been feeling less than ideal. The loss of routine has been hard on my mental health, and it's not easy to inject my school routine into my home life. My motivation has been metaphorically thrown out the window, and the seemingly worsening state of the world makes me wonder what the point of waking up in the morning is. I've been thrown into a depressive episode, so I'm not coping as well as I'd like to, but I'm slowly coming to understand that though we do not know when this will end, it surely won't last forever.
photo from https://www.dawn.com/news/1542423
This isn't the "new normal." There is going to be a time, (hopefully it's sometime this year) when this all becomes history. Just a point in time that we lived through. At some point, we will be able to go to the park without fear of the invisible. We'll be able to go to the grocery store and not wait 15 minutes to get into the store because of social distancing rules. At some point, this will all be over. Of course, some practices will carry over (I'm sure we all know the correct way to wash our hands now, and to stay home if you're sick) but this will soon all be a thing of the past.
For now, there's not much that we can do about the virus being out and about in the world. We leave combating the virus to the medical professionals (and thank them for it!! They work hard so that we stay safe!); we cannot control what others do, but we can control what we do to protect ourselves. Use Hand Sanitizer when you don't have access to soap and water. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, singing the chorus of a song is a great way to gauge the correct amount of time. (personally, I like to rap Nicki Minaj's verse in Bottoms Up) Try not to touch your face, and if you must go out, wear a mask when going out to avoid spreading possibly contaminated droplets and keep at least 3-6 feet away from people at all times. For my Belizeans out there, please don't break the curfew or the State of Emergency; if you aren't an essential worker and can afford to do so, stay at home.
Stay Safe,
Chey
