The Coronavirus / Covid19 pandemic of 2020 has been happening for about 16 or so weeks now having started hitting the news around December 2019 when first cases started to be reported from China (Wuhan). I was (I think) vaguely aware of some news reports but didn't pay it a great deal of attention at that time; had other priorities like work, family Christmas etc. In fact most of the media attention at that time was on our growing sense of global ecological disaster. Big parts of California and Australia were on fire at the time with horrific out of control bushfires laying waste to vast areas, decimating livelihoods and wildlife - nature demonstrating to us all how truly powerful and vengeful she can be - shattering the narrative that humanity is in control.
Let's be honest, we hear about disasters and health scares from time to time in faraway places but in my, admittedly quite limited, experience of life - mainly living in sleepy Cornwall in the UK - it doesn't have a big impact on me personally. Sure I have sympathised with those affected and sometimes contributed to fund raising efforts to help out, but all the while there has been no threat to me or my family and friends directly.
I think I registered that this was going to be a biggie when I heard about the Chinese central government putting Wuhan into a "lockdown" state. The measures they were taking seemed extreme and the fact that this was being widely reported seemed out of character for a Government which isn't known for transparency. It struck me that in order to take the measures they had taken things must have got pretty bad and the situation must have become out of control at a local level.
Still though the international response seemed non existent. Other governments weren't imposing any controls or doing any visible preparations.
Well fast forward to now and the situation certainly feels very real. As of yesterday the UK Government - generally a promoter of individual freedoms and liberalism - has imposed a shut down of pubs, cafes, restaurants, leisure centres, gyms etc and implored us all to stay at home and avoid contact with others "Social Distancing". The UK economy is literally being shut down in front of our eyes. Only 7 days ago the talk from government was all about creating "herd immunity" amongst the populus - basically if enough of us got the virus then it would crrate a more resillient population. They changes tack on that when some modelling showed that this strategy would create hundreds of thousands of additional deaths and overwhelm the NHS.
We know it's a serious respiratory disease and have heard that the majority of people who get it only have "mild" symptoms. Older people and those with pre-existing health conditions are at significantly heightened risk. These are our Mums and Dads, Grannies and Grandads.
The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced an unprecedented set of measures to attempt to cushion the blow for the millions of individuals who will be out of work as a consequence. The government is proposing to pay 80% of peoples' wages while their employers are forced to close.
I have spent the last 5 days working from home - whilst I am accustomed to working from home from time to time it is the first time I've had such an prolonged spell. I've reached the end of the week feeling quite cooped up.
Most people I meet seem aware of and respectful of the "social distancing" etiquette. The streets are quite deserted. I walked into town earlier to buy some veg and an elderly couple apologetically crossed the road when they saw me coming "sorry I hate this don't you". A slightly different reaction later today when out for a cliff walk in Falmouth when an elderly lady "tutted" as we approached, gesticulated for us to keep away from her and muttered at us. My guess is that the torrent of news now bombarding us all had left this lady terrified of being in any kind of proximity to others (we didn't get very close to her at all).
My music lesson tomorrow morning is still on but most events are now being cancelled. Panic buying is taking place in supermarkets and supermarket staff must be at their wits end.
The NHS is anticipating being "at capacity" within 2-3 weeks from now, with a peak of cases predicted sometime after that.
We watch and wait and hope that this doesn't become as bad here as it has been in China and Italy but the signs aren't encouraging.
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