Let’s talk a bit about the hot topic of the moment, Covid-19. I want to reflect a bit with you about this subject.
I never thought the coronavirus would have this impact in the world. Neither anyone else did. When I first heard from this virus was in January. Yuling (my friend) mentioned the situation was getting complicated in the China and the economy, commerce, schools have been on lock down. I honestly thought it was something happening in China and that it could never massively touch our countries around the world.
It turns out, I was TOTALLY wrong, as many of us were. When I first started seeing the news, I really thought it was too much of a buzz; Then I saw people running to the supermarkets in Europe to buy hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and few days later the numbers explode in Italy. The US closed the borers with China, Europe, and the rest you know. The world is lock down at home for an undetermined time.
I am now in my second week at home and as boring and unproductive as it is sometimes, it could be worse. I, as many others, have the chance to work and study from home. When I think of the bigger picture of my situation, the stress and anxiety rise: This virus has completely STOPPED the world and I wonder every day, every hour, every second HOW I AM GOING TO FIND A JOB NOW?
I, like many others, was about to close deals with companies that are now in a very uncertain situation. Having put all my savings into a master’s degree that I will have to finish online, not taking the full advantage of it and having limited job opportunities due to the uncertain economy are just one of many direct consequences of this virus. But that’s life. Very hard times are ahead but also times were creativity, engagement and new opportunities will appear. I have hope that things will fall into place, in time (that’s what I hope).
I make this point and how much of an impact this virus can be to my personal life because from the little I have seen; this virus has arisen even more racism. YES, it is true that maybe China did not communicate as early about the virus to the other countries but most of the contagious characteristics were not known initially. For a time, it was thought that the virus could not be passed from human to human. I see racism towards Chinese and the animal markets. But come on. There are animal markets everywhere in the world. Having animals in these conditions is maybe something we should just abolish everywhere in the world. Right? Attacking China and accusing the country to have created the situation is not going bring lives back. Getting together to find solutions is the only way to solve the problem.
In Portugal, I see how much effort people are putting to go through this together. Doctors prescribing medicines online for free, influencers producing even more content to entertain people, football clubs giving money and equipment to hospitals, local governors lowing the water bills for everyone, young people doing grocery shopping for the elder people and most important, scientists getting together to help the country to protect physicians and getting more tests available. No, it is not perfect, but we see hope in every good action to create a better world and get out faster from this lock down situation.
Here in the US, a lot of people prefer seeing as the Chinese’s fault and the country that has created several viruses. It is true that other viruses like SARS originated from China but analyzing these facts and preventing future viruses from appearing like Coronavirus. This is something to do after. First, we need to get together, heal the sick people and then start working on getting the economy back. We can’t just continue our life over 100 000 infected people only in the US. That is just not possible. Let us heal first.
My only hope for this lock down is to allow us to talk to people that may need us, to say I love you to the ones we often forget to say, and most important, to connect with ourselves.
Hope this post gave you a different perspective of the virus.
Daniela
Photo by CDC on Unsplash & Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash & Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash