COVID - the saga continues
2020 has been a long year, and just about a quarter of it has passed. So much has happened this year. We are blessed that we are still able to connect and find our new normal, as there are many who don't or can't.
It was surreal. I, like many others, didn't think much of the news of the virus in China. A friend of ours was supposed to go to China early in February, and they did call off their trip. That, I thought would be the extent to which we would be affected. I don't remember a panic during the previous epidemics like SARs, MERs, and H1N1 but I do remember being aware. I do remember washing hands with more frequency (especially during the H1N1 epidemic). But that was it. My son did contract the H1N1 virus, but a prescribed round of TamiFlu was all it took to recover. Within 2 days of starting on his prescription he was back to normal, and just had to finish his dosage.
It was February. Wuhan was on the other side of the world. There were just a handful of cases seen in the US. and Europe. We were to go to Spain (Barcelona) in March for a week long trip over Spring Break. We continued to look forward to it. We were quite unaware of a microorganism that would make its insidious way into our lives and cause such havoc and upheaval. Covid019 is very different, requiring quarantines (like for Ebola), spreading dangerously, and taking hold of bodies.
There were videos (some derogatory) shared about the origination of the virus, and about the eating habits of people in China. Still we were a bit removed, as we kept hearing from this administration that the US was prepared for this, and it would go away. After all H1N1 was handled quite efficiently, and so the more recent Ebola scare. This should have been no different.
Then the information about the virus started rolling at an incredibly fast pace. So much so it was hard to digest. The number of cases in Italy was burgeoning at an incredible pace. Another friend was to go to Italy for spring break, and called off their trip. The numbers in Spain weren't high at all. Not at an alarming level. We were still poised for Spain. We were to go on the 6th of March and return on the 14th. We then started seeing people quarantined for 14 days upon return from some countries. We did not want the kids stuck especially since this was a last semester for both of them. At the end of February we talked through it and realized that it would be foolhardy to go to Spain. We then set about trying to cancel all reservations and fought to get our money back (that's a saga for another blog!). I was quite looking forward to this holiday. We chose to go for a shorter time to the Hill Country instead. It worked out eventually since a project go-live was scheduled, and so I needed to be at work. We will visit Barcelona another time.
We were, in the meantime, watching the amazing political see-saw with the democratic primary that turned so rapidly. The change between Nevada and South Carolina was amazing to watch. I waited until the South Carolina primary was done prior to casting my vote in Texas. It was a good thing I did because my initial favorite candidates had all dropped out by the time super Tuesday came around. This primary was interesting to watch. We had a lot of discussion on the better candidate. Decisions were made and cast and now it was a waiting game to see what the rest of the Country would do.
By March 10th, we knew we had made the right decision in not going to Spain. There were travel restrictions. We heard of people having to pay thousands of dollars to fly back from European countries. Websites dedicated to tracking then number of cases sprouted, the most prominent of them being JHU using arcgis. There was a sense of panic. If the virus was left unchecked it would cause massive devastation. Terms like "social distancing" and "flatten the curve" were trending. Stores were running out of supplies like bathroom tissues, kitchen towels, Clorox wipes etc. The panic was beginning to spread.
Memes, and pieces information were forwarded, an incredible array of news articles made their way into our lives. Hoaxes and misinformation was rampant. From "if you drink hot water it will kill the virus" to "Indian spicy food like rasam is the best defense" to "Darker skinned people won't contract the virus" etc. People in India sent messages such as "all the Indian customs such as removing our footwear outside the house, having a lavatory outside of the house, not shaking hands all are the best practices now" floated around. People took credit for ... being Indian. Some of these articles were helpful. Some obviously fake. It was a task to weed out the wheat from the chaff. Moreover, as people forwarded symptoms of contracting the virus, it was hard not to be a hypochondriac and feel like perhaps there were instances of contracting the virus. We were hyper aware of our bodies.
By mid-March companies had started to place a "work remote" policy for all except for people who could not reasonably complete their work outside of the office building. Downtown Houston quickly emptied out and became a ghost town. People got quickly used to working remote, and using technology available to meet virtually.
In the meantime, City governments caught on, and finally started placing shelter-in-place to stay-safe orders. No gatherings over 10 people were allowed. Until then we had continued meeting socially. We were still seeing friends (albeit being safe). All of a sudden, we could only virtually see each other. Physical distance had to be maintained. Life, as we knew it, changed. Colleges switched to online mode. The kids railed against their "ancient" professors who struggled to get familiar with Zoom (the app most colleges used for instruction).
Some stories, especially from New York were saddening. We already knew of people who contracted the virus. This was hitting close to our hearts. Names like Andrew Cuomo, Mike Dewine, Gavin Newsom, Jay Inslee etc. were now familiar names. Local governments had stepped up. These Governors were leading, forming a consortium, where help was seemingly absent. States that were late to the game, were hit later but harder. This virus was inescapable.
Social Distancing is a misnomer. It just meant physically distancing yourself. Tools like Zoom, Skype, and Hangouts were now in high demand. Zoom had a 40 minute cut-off (for non-commercial use). Different Apps worked differently. We quickly adapt as humans, and find the path of least resistance. In fact, where we didn't seek out friends and relatives in the past (it wouldn't bother us if we couldn't make it to a party because there'd always be another one), our weekends are now filled with these virtual meets with friends, family, extended family, using online tools. These tools existed before, but when we were told we couldn't physically see each other, the need to see each other arose.
In India things are quite different. The PM Narendra Modi got the population all toeing the line to a large extent. He had them clapping, chanting Om, turning off lights etc. People have eagerly fallen in line. The worry in society is apparent. Kerala, one of the Indian states has even managed to flatten the curve by imposing extreme measures of contact tracing and quarantine with adequate and compassionate support. This was effective. Kerala has the highest literacy rate, and this helped a lot. In India, they have the manpower to send health workers to check every household to conduct tests. Germany and other European countries used group testing, an effective and cost effective way of testing multiple people at the same time. The US, was sadly behind, with the most cases and most deaths. The worst, we are told, is yet to come.
The internet has been a savior. A world of isolation without the internet (a relatively recent invention) would have been desolate and depressing. This was done in the past however, when the Spanish Flu hit in the early 20th Century. I wonder how people managed. It would have been difficult I'm sure. Humor has also been a great medicine. Humorous posts have been a salve for the tired mind. I look forward to these humorous posts. Late night shows have changed the way they work. This way of living is going to be here for a while. There has been a paradigm shift.
The next worry is about the economy (it is tanking and a harbinger of a recession which, if unchecked could turn into a depression). We try to order in from local restaurants to keep those businesses up. We have become adept at using online apps to order groceries. In the meantime, some energy companies are hurting and are either cutting salaries, or laying off. Another worry is about going back. how would it be done without compromising the safety of people? Is it even feasible to go back before a vaccine is discovered? So many unanswered questions.
The saga continues...
Thank you for reading.
It was surreal. I, like many others, didn't think much of the news of the virus in China. A friend of ours was supposed to go to China early in February, and they did call off their trip. That, I thought would be the extent to which we would be affected. I don't remember a panic during the previous epidemics like SARs, MERs, and H1N1 but I do remember being aware. I do remember washing hands with more frequency (especially during the H1N1 epidemic). But that was it. My son did contract the H1N1 virus, but a prescribed round of TamiFlu was all it took to recover. Within 2 days of starting on his prescription he was back to normal, and just had to finish his dosage.
It was February. Wuhan was on the other side of the world. There were just a handful of cases seen in the US. and Europe. We were to go to Spain (Barcelona) in March for a week long trip over Spring Break. We continued to look forward to it. We were quite unaware of a microorganism that would make its insidious way into our lives and cause such havoc and upheaval. Covid019 is very different, requiring quarantines (like for Ebola), spreading dangerously, and taking hold of bodies.
There were videos (some derogatory) shared about the origination of the virus, and about the eating habits of people in China. Still we were a bit removed, as we kept hearing from this administration that the US was prepared for this, and it would go away. After all H1N1 was handled quite efficiently, and so the more recent Ebola scare. This should have been no different.
Then the information about the virus started rolling at an incredibly fast pace. So much so it was hard to digest. The number of cases in Italy was burgeoning at an incredible pace. Another friend was to go to Italy for spring break, and called off their trip. The numbers in Spain weren't high at all. Not at an alarming level. We were still poised for Spain. We were to go on the 6th of March and return on the 14th. We then started seeing people quarantined for 14 days upon return from some countries. We did not want the kids stuck especially since this was a last semester for both of them. At the end of February we talked through it and realized that it would be foolhardy to go to Spain. We then set about trying to cancel all reservations and fought to get our money back (that's a saga for another blog!). I was quite looking forward to this holiday. We chose to go for a shorter time to the Hill Country instead. It worked out eventually since a project go-live was scheduled, and so I needed to be at work. We will visit Barcelona another time.
We were, in the meantime, watching the amazing political see-saw with the democratic primary that turned so rapidly. The change between Nevada and South Carolina was amazing to watch. I waited until the South Carolina primary was done prior to casting my vote in Texas. It was a good thing I did because my initial favorite candidates had all dropped out by the time super Tuesday came around. This primary was interesting to watch. We had a lot of discussion on the better candidate. Decisions were made and cast and now it was a waiting game to see what the rest of the Country would do.
By March 10th, we knew we had made the right decision in not going to Spain. There were travel restrictions. We heard of people having to pay thousands of dollars to fly back from European countries. Websites dedicated to tracking then number of cases sprouted, the most prominent of them being JHU using arcgis. There was a sense of panic. If the virus was left unchecked it would cause massive devastation. Terms like "social distancing" and "flatten the curve" were trending. Stores were running out of supplies like bathroom tissues, kitchen towels, Clorox wipes etc. The panic was beginning to spread.
Memes, and pieces information were forwarded, an incredible array of news articles made their way into our lives. Hoaxes and misinformation was rampant. From "if you drink hot water it will kill the virus" to "Indian spicy food like rasam is the best defense" to "Darker skinned people won't contract the virus" etc. People in India sent messages such as "all the Indian customs such as removing our footwear outside the house, having a lavatory outside of the house, not shaking hands all are the best practices now" floated around. People took credit for ... being Indian. Some of these articles were helpful. Some obviously fake. It was a task to weed out the wheat from the chaff. Moreover, as people forwarded symptoms of contracting the virus, it was hard not to be a hypochondriac and feel like perhaps there were instances of contracting the virus. We were hyper aware of our bodies.
By mid-March companies had started to place a "work remote" policy for all except for people who could not reasonably complete their work outside of the office building. Downtown Houston quickly emptied out and became a ghost town. People got quickly used to working remote, and using technology available to meet virtually.
In the meantime, City governments caught on, and finally started placing shelter-in-place to stay-safe orders. No gatherings over 10 people were allowed. Until then we had continued meeting socially. We were still seeing friends (albeit being safe). All of a sudden, we could only virtually see each other. Physical distance had to be maintained. Life, as we knew it, changed. Colleges switched to online mode. The kids railed against their "ancient" professors who struggled to get familiar with Zoom (the app most colleges used for instruction).
Some stories, especially from New York were saddening. We already knew of people who contracted the virus. This was hitting close to our hearts. Names like Andrew Cuomo, Mike Dewine, Gavin Newsom, Jay Inslee etc. were now familiar names. Local governments had stepped up. These Governors were leading, forming a consortium, where help was seemingly absent. States that were late to the game, were hit later but harder. This virus was inescapable.
Social Distancing is a misnomer. It just meant physically distancing yourself. Tools like Zoom, Skype, and Hangouts were now in high demand. Zoom had a 40 minute cut-off (for non-commercial use). Different Apps worked differently. We quickly adapt as humans, and find the path of least resistance. In fact, where we didn't seek out friends and relatives in the past (it wouldn't bother us if we couldn't make it to a party because there'd always be another one), our weekends are now filled with these virtual meets with friends, family, extended family, using online tools. These tools existed before, but when we were told we couldn't physically see each other, the need to see each other arose.
In India things are quite different. The PM Narendra Modi got the population all toeing the line to a large extent. He had them clapping, chanting Om, turning off lights etc. People have eagerly fallen in line. The worry in society is apparent. Kerala, one of the Indian states has even managed to flatten the curve by imposing extreme measures of contact tracing and quarantine with adequate and compassionate support. This was effective. Kerala has the highest literacy rate, and this helped a lot. In India, they have the manpower to send health workers to check every household to conduct tests. Germany and other European countries used group testing, an effective and cost effective way of testing multiple people at the same time. The US, was sadly behind, with the most cases and most deaths. The worst, we are told, is yet to come.
The internet has been a savior. A world of isolation without the internet (a relatively recent invention) would have been desolate and depressing. This was done in the past however, when the Spanish Flu hit in the early 20th Century. I wonder how people managed. It would have been difficult I'm sure. Humor has also been a great medicine. Humorous posts have been a salve for the tired mind. I look forward to these humorous posts. Late night shows have changed the way they work. This way of living is going to be here for a while. There has been a paradigm shift.
The next worry is about the economy (it is tanking and a harbinger of a recession which, if unchecked could turn into a depression). We try to order in from local restaurants to keep those businesses up. We have become adept at using online apps to order groceries. In the meantime, some energy companies are hurting and are either cutting salaries, or laying off. Another worry is about going back. how would it be done without compromising the safety of people? Is it even feasible to go back before a vaccine is discovered? So many unanswered questions.
The saga continues...
Thank you for reading.
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