Locked down…continued

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Seems like 2020 starts off as a novel written by Stephen King !!

In Italy there have been 230 555 cases to date with 32 955 deaths, the peak being 919 deaths on Friday 27^th March out of a population of 60 million people. My personal opinion is that the population of Italy is predominantly elderly so the odds were stacked against the majority in the first place which inflated the numbers. Social distancing is not something Italians practice as a rule, so in order to override the natural tendency of hugging or kissing each other on the cheeks or shaking hands to greet each other, television was full of not so subtle ads imploring the population to maintain their distance from each other and avoid the will to get up close and personal. I don’t understand the popular habit of smoking in Italy. I watched in morbid curiosity as a woman working for the Red Cross’ mask got sucked halfway down her throat with each inhalation as she gasped for breath. Then to my utter horror, she left the party she was talking to and lit up a smoke !! Non capisco !!!

I wanted to share a list I found that interested me remembering how this unprecedented time during COVID19 unfurled itself.

This is what the world was like in March and April 2020.

Gas prices at a record low – oil prices went into the negative for the first time in history.
School cancelled till who knows when.
Mums and dads home schooling their children.
Self-isolating measures a must.
Tape on the floors at grocery stores to help distance shoppers 2m (6ft) from each other.
Limited number of people inside stores, therefore line ups outside the store doors.
Non-essential stores and businesses mandated closed.
Parks, trails, entire cities locked up.
Entire sports seasons cancelled.
Concerts, tours, festivals, entertainment events – cancelled.
Weddings, family celebrations, holiday gatherings – cancelled.
No masses, churches are closed.
No gatherings, so no funerals for those that passed on at this time.
Don’t socialize with anyone outside of your home, so grandparents missing their grandchildren.
Children’s outdoor play parks are closed.

Shortage of masks, gowns, gloves for our front-line workers.
Shortage of ventilators for the critically ill.
Panic buying sets in and we have no toilet paper, no disinfecting supplies, no paper towels, no hand sanitizer.
Shelves are almost bare from greedy panic-buying in certain countries.
Manufacturers, distilleries and other businesses switch their lines to help make visors, masks, hand sanitizer and PPE (protective equipment).
Government close the border to all non-essential travel.
Fines are established for breaking the rules and a police presence is seen around the deserted towns. At its peak, the army gets called in to increase the presence of the law.

A compulsory declaration completed and signed to go outside of your home. Stadiums and recreation facilities open up for the overflow of Covid-19 patients.
Barely anyone in the street or on the roads.
Learning how to make masks / sanitizer at home with what we have (vodka and liquid hand soaps) many videos on YOU TUBE of how to make a mask out of your husbands boxers and socks for example – straight out of the clean washing pile, they neglected to add.
People wearing masks and gloves outside.
Essential service workers are terrified to go to work.
Medical field workers are afraid to go home to their families, some could not even hug their wives or children during the lock down times.

Not enough space for the deceased, mass graves being established around the world especially in South America.
Townships unable to comply to regulations back in South Africa, no running water, overcrowding a basic way of life.

No alcohol or cigarettes were sold in South Africa during the first few phases of lock down, nearly caused an uprising of the people. Black-market sales of cigarettes and home-brewing and -distilling.

A touching post that a father I know posted talked about children doing their matric year in South Africa and what this lock down meant to them.

“Stand Strong Class of 2020❤️

If there’s a matric learner in your life, give them a hug and pray for them. To them, the cancellation of school is not a vacation. It’s time they don’t get to spend with their friends the last few months before they matriculate. They’re anxious, realizing they may never be able to walk the halls for the last time, play their final sports season, have a proper valedictory, turn university applications in or attend their matric dance. They are sad they may never take the stage or the field for their games, or theatre productions. They’re nervous that they may not get to write their final exams and not receive that certificate they have been working hard on for 12 years. They are scared that Wednesday, March 18, 2020 may have been the last day of their matric year with so many things left undone. Show them support and love them during these hard times.

They came into this world in the days of 9/11 and they are graduating high school during a pandemic. They’ll be our strongest generation yet.”

The Good News :

Some of the funnier notes I made about the lock down were: many employees were only able to work from home so Zoom calls and Skype calls were all the rage for meetings. A couple of employees had not thought about their location for such calls and some buck-naked people were seen walking around in the background of the video, one guy even got caught on national TV with a bouncy naked mistress walking to the bathroom in the background of his video call – he is subsequently separated. A school Zoom chat was on the go and a sleepy student didn’t realise (or perhaps he did) that his camera was on and was walking around in the background in his birthday suit, much to the amusement of his class mates who were trying to warn him – clearly his mute button was on too.

People must not cough near you, they must cough far away, so if you hear someone coughing, tell them to far cough !!

Life right now in Italy has eased up considerably, we are in early June and businesses have gone back into operation. Restaurants, bars, hairdressers, beaches all our stores, banks and the world at large has resumed its march forward. Travel and tourism is still a question mark, no country seems to be certain of how and when this will progress. One can feel the sigh of relief as the owners generate much needed income and my heart goes out to the little Mom and Pop stores that are so apparent here in Italy; they certainly need the business to survive in the long term, our support is crucial.

The Bad News:

I am so saddened to see that we as a human race have not seemed to learn anything that will benefit us or the planet in the future. I see litter once again on the pavements and streets, this time masks with elastics and latex gloves that will choke our animal kingdom when they end up in the oceans and landfills. I see so many cigarette butts on the ground, thoughtlessly ground out by careless feet. Our behaviour has not had the awakening that we had hoped for when things were left shiny and clean while people were locked away. It seems we will continue where we left off and bring about the next pandemic with no regard for what Mother Nature was trying to tell us. It’s our own fault.

Jane Goodall one of my mentors, once again, sums up my feelings well:

“We have brought this on ourselves because of our absolute disrespect for animals and the environment,” she said. “Our disrespect for wild animals and our disrespect for farmed animals has created this situation where disease can spill over to infect human beings.” “If we do not do things differently, we are finished,” she said. “We can’t go on very much longer like this.” War and violence also fuelled the destruction of nature, she warned, and so did our overweening consumerism and urge for “stuff that we accumulate”, as well as our diets.

“We have come to a turning point in our relationship with the natural world,” she warned, saying there was only a small window of opportunity to make drastic changes before facing disaster. “One of the lessons learnt from this crisis is that we must change our ways. Scientists warn that to avoid future crises, we must drastically change our diets and move to plant-rich foods. For the sake of the animals, planet and the health of our children.”

The time right now is surreal, Italy is generally back to ‘normal’ the nerves prickle with a little apprehension of what lies ahead of us with a possible second wave and the uncertainty for a lot of families as to how they will cope with their particular situations, I have a lot to be grateful for and say my thanks every day.