The New Normal

By Akke Englund

November 4th, 2o20

Featured Image: Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

In these times of uncertainty, isolation, and stress, I decided I wanted to document my experience with the pandemic. This decision came after months of playing with the idea of documenting my experience with climate change and the crises that will be taking place in about ten years or so (if nothing changes sooner). I think we all realize by now that the conditions our Earth is under are not very good and that big changes are coming. I was thinking about this extensively during my first year of college when one of my professors changed his course from one that was supposed to be about English to teaching thirty students the complex nature of humanity and climate change. As time went on in this course, I thought about creating a comprehensive document of one person’s life through it all. When this pandemic hit, I thought “well, why don’t I do both and start right now?” This is the project that I have been working on for the past eight months and the project that I plan to continue to work on for the rest of my life.

The following are the first three entries I made, starting on March 17^th, 2020, about a week after the worldwide pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization.

 

March 17th

COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that is part of a group of viruses called Coronaviruses. The symptoms include coughing, fever, shortness of breath, and pneumonia. The virus is mostly affecting the elderly and those with existing health issues. Although the virus was discovered

in 1960, there is an outbreak happening here in the year 2020 with a new mutant of the coronavirus. The outbreak originated from Wuhan, China, where the doctors who were aware of the disease spreading were silenced. As time went on and people travelled, cases of the illness began being discovered in other parts of the world. The spread of the infection in such a rapid way happened because of 1) the contagious nature of the virus, and 2) because of the airline travel that was still being allowed. The situation has escalated very quickly since then. Right now, Italy is in complete lockdown, with all emergency services collapsed. The death toll in Italy has surpassed 2,500, and the death toll in China has surpassed 3,200. Spain is also in lockdown in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

Here in Canada, the atmosphere is one of constant anxiety. Seemingly overnight, the world began to panic. Governments are taking extreme measures to help stop the spread of the virus. Currently, our government is considering enacting the Emergency Measures Act in an attempt to access more resources to help our people. The Prime Minister’s wife is ill, and he himself is isolated from the rest of the world in his home. In my home region, there have only been 4 deaths, but people are afraid. There are some who do not grasp the weight of the situation and refuse to live with caution in this time of crisis. My university is on the verge of closing, with others in the region already being closed.

We live day by day, waiting for news. Every day, we wake up, turn on the television, and brace for the new numbers and facts. The worst is far from over at this point, and officials are looking to “flatten the curve”, which is to say, stopping the escalation of infected people and maintaining the numbers of those already infected until they either get better or die. Worldwide, the death toll is 8,000, and the infection rate is 100,000. However, most people have recovered with the world total right now at 82,000.

People are hoping the return of warm weather will help stop the spread of the illness, as the cold seems to aggravate it much like the common cold and influenza. For now, our lives will continue to be ones of caution, and it is likely the situation will get worse before it gets better.

 

March 22^nd

The situation has gotten worse. Iran has over 21,000 infections and many of the highest government officials have either become infected or died. The atmosphere around this situation has become more and more sinister.

I was laid off from work this morning. I don’t think I’m going to qualify for Employment Insurance because I don’t work enough hours. So, I won’t have an official income for a while. When I went to work yesterday, the mall was almost completely shut down. Only our store and a few others were open. My co-worker and I wore gloves the whole day and used lots of sanitization on our counter and debit machines. It was so quiet the whole day. Almost no one around. It felt like the apocalypse. We watched Netflix to pass the time.

My father was laid off earlier this week as well. His employer is worried about his susceptibility to this virus due to his age. This has been causing a lot of stress for my mother, who is now the main breadwinner of the household. She works in the hospital as a nurse on the front lines of this crisis, and we are all on edge about the situation. Someone was tested for the virus in our hospital last week, and my mother said they were placed in a four-bed ward with other people, which was not a good idea if they turn out to be ill. There is also word that someone is in quarantine in one of our hotels here in town. They came from tour buses that are for some reason still running.

My mother has been panicking about this since the situation got worse. She has been stressed about my father, who has a cold she contracted a couple of weeks ago. She has been lecturing our family non-stop for about a week now, wiping down everything my father touches, insisting on the government-recommended 6-foot distance between ourselves and others when we go for walks around the neighbourhood. She is especially worried because of her job. If she falls ill with anything, even if it isn’t the virus, she will be off work for two weeks and then our family will be in a worse financial situation.

Tonight, my mother went to the grocery store for some supplies for the week to find that all the staple goods had been cleared out in a panic. There were hardly any frozen vegetables, no flour, sugar, salt, or any other staples. Soap has almost been cleared out as well. I fear we may have a shortage on our hands soon. One of my peers emailed my Gender and Women’s Studies class the other day, expressing his concern over local food banks and homeless shelters running out of supplies to such a degree they had to stop giving out the one meal a day they were giving.

College was cancelled mid-week and we have since moved to online classes, which is stressful because new schedules are being made by the day. Everyone’s inboxes are flooded. My sister’s public school is on spring break right now, but they announced that classes are cancelled for the rest of the year

Stress is very high right now. People are scared. At least I am.

 

March 25^th

My mother is getting tested for COVID-19 later tonight. She has developed a new cough and because she is a front-line healthcare worker, she needs to prove she doesn’t have the virus in order to work. Tension is still very high at times, though I think people are getting a little more used to this new way of life.

I’ve been extremely stressed lately because I’ve been having to navigate a new school schedule at the same time all these papers are due. Plus, any assignments we have are going to be worth a lot more of our final mark to make up for the absence from classes and lack of face-to-face interaction.

I learned yesterday that I do not qualify for Employment Insurance because I don’t have enough work hours for the unemployment rate in the region. The government is issuing special incomes to people though, regardless of work hours. I guess I’ll find out soon if I qualify for this.

It’s been interesting to see how the world suddenly responded and continues to respond to this crisis in relation to the climate crisis. It’s almost bittersweet to see how fast the world can come together and agree on the best thing for humanity, keeping in mind that everyone else is just as scared as you are, and pulling through for others around us anyway. But the sad part of this is

that we could have done this a lot sooner for the climate if we had really wanted to or had gotten as scared as we should have been back when people first found out what was to come. Now the time has run out and we are left with such an unimaginably daunting task that it seems easier to give up on our Mother Earth and die with her. I know that this is pessimistic, but it’s what it feels like. I personally think that once things get really bad, we will have a similar response to what we are seeing now with this virus, but even more so. I know humans want to live. Deep down, we all want someone to value our infinite viewpoints and experiences, even when we say and think we do not. I know we will manage to make it through and be able to reinvent our lives just as we are now, not because we will necessarily start caring, but because humans are unique in their ability to see the full value of their lives without relying on a survival mechanism. Things will get really bad though. I know this, and this is why I write. I don’t have a choice but to live through something that was created before I was. Why not make art while I’m living it?