Life So Far With COVID-19

To a fault, I find myself living in this blog like a protective bubble. But in a matter of days, my bubble got punctured by the realist of life.

It was back in mid-January when the COVID-19 first made its presence on worldwide media. The disease back then was still contained within China, with a few leaks here and there in some countries but nothing overly serious then. The only immediate member of my family who was affected was my dad at Shanghai, who had to be self-quarantined like every single citizen in the city, while I was going on with my normal life. It is now the middle of March, and I am transcribing this entry at home in Canada, under self-isolation just like my dad used to a month ago as mandated by our government. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a pandemic. Officially, COVID-19 wasn’t just China’s problem anymore. The very next day, Western University was one of the first institutions to have shut down almost all operations. No more classes. No more exams. No more club activities. Go back home, the president recommended in the email.

Even just a month ago, COVID-19 felt like a distal problem. I did not wash my hands regularly nor did I use the hand sanitizers religiously, just like I always have. I waved off the symptoms as trivial and easily recoverable. I kept studying as I did for my upcoming exams and worked hard with my colleagues to organize events in order to wrap up the year. One of the first moments when I finally understood the sheer gravity of COVID-19 was when the NBA immediately suspended their season following a player testing positive for the virus. This was the first reality check that the virus has finally infiltrated the other half of the world. Like a domino effect, other major sports league followed suit. Then movie releases became delayed. Elementary and high schools closed down. Talk shows continued but awkwardly so without a single audience on set. And finally, the same protocol percolated into my life. I am now at least a week into the so-called practice of “social-distancing”, adjusting to a purely online curriculum and dealing with a complete uncertainty about the future.

This blog has served as my personal escape from reality ever since I started it. In fact, I have made a conscious effort to separate my actual life away from my passion for anything related to movies. But now, it’s clear that this is impossible. In the past days, I have turned sad, disappointed, and stressed that my own protective world became punctured by the realist of life. It has become impossible for me not to think about COVID-19, which has now become a matter of life and death. It has been 10 days so far since I left the university campus, and already my mindset has transformed and so have my behaviours. Especially my behaviours. First off, I have only been outdoor once (for a run). Second of all, when I do, I cannot leave without a face mask on and an alcohol spray in my pocket. But it’s worth noting that I see no one else around my neighbourhood doing the same things. When people see me with a mask on, I can’t help but sense their glaring suspicions towards me. Based on the typical purpose of a face mask, they probably think that I have the virus. In truth, I don’t (hopefully). But the more days I wear the mask outside, the more uncomfortable I get because it’s almost like being persecuted for doing what I feel is safest for me.

The motto that I religiously follow is “better safe than sorry”. Yes, face masks don’t protect the wearer from contracting the virus, but it IS better than nothing. Even during this national emergency, I think people are still being complacent to an extent. I still see neighbours getting up close to each other and kids going to public playgrounds. What drives me even more nuts is this video here showing absolutely irresponsible students from Queen’s partying on the streets during St. Patty’s, despite clear instructions from law enforcement not to do so. Similar things have happened at my university, where many celebrated the cancellation of classes by going out to drink with friends while I sat idle in my quiet room, shell-shocked by the massive turn of events.

The president of my university said “over its 140+ years, Western has faced several moments of adversity, but we have not experienced anything quite like this before. We’re in uncharted territory.” The COVID-19 outbreak is historical, or more accurately, a historically serious event that is currently affecting quite literally everyone on the planet physically, mentally, and socially. As Bill Gates warned us 4 years ago, we were not ready for something like this. Only those who can afford medical tests are getting clear assurances while the rest of us are simply waiting for symptoms to appear, and not to mention the lack of personnel and test kits. These predicaments are simply inexcusable in my opinion when I see my home country South Korea setting up medical tents at every corner to get people tested and their results ready in a matter of a few hours, while in Canada, it takes days to complete the same process. When Canadians go to the hospital with symptoms, they are just told to return back home and self-quarantine for 14 days without prescribed medications or vaccine shots because they don’t exist yet. As we speak, the North American healthcare system is getting exposed. To make matters worse, some people in the community are not following the proper protocols. A pandemic as evaluated by WHO calls for extreme measures of protection. What we are doing so far may flatten the curve, but with the current behaviours, we may not flatten enough or in time to go back to our normal lives.

I cannot take the word “COVID-19” out of my head even if I tried to. The word has now become associated with too many things. However, I can’t ignore the fact that my transition to online learning has been lackadaisical so far. I can’t ignore the fact that I didn’t have the chance to properly say goodbye to all my dear friends and professors. And I certainly can’t ignore the fact that things may just start to get worse. The soaring number of cases in Ontario is already trending in a pessimistic direction. In fact, I’m starting to believe the media was right. This outbreak has been and should be treated as a mass hysteria. In the past months, people including me refused to acknowledge the gravity of the situation by making comparisons to annual flu deaths, by treating it as a mere political tool by the liberal media to “bully” President Trump to the corner, or by pointing to the mild symptoms of the virus. But all this was before WHO declared a pandemic, and before all normal functions of society has completely shut down. We have been wrong about our early evaluations and there is still a mountain-heap of things we need to do for the health of our society. We have to give into the seriousness of the situation and take social-distancing to more extreme levels, which is guaranteed to make our normal lives difficult whether people like it or not. Still, I will continue to maintain my cautious behaviours however long it takes. At least on my part currently, that is all I can do.