It’s amazing how quickly things change. In the space of a week we are somewhere else, what we care about, what we act upon. A fortnight ago seems the distant past, another world considering the maelstrom of events. We lived with endless opportunity and unlimited possibilities. You could go anywhere, get anything or even be anything you wanted.
Back then Covid-19 was a distant roar, something other people cared about but now its on the back door. The number of infections mushroom at an unprecedented rate.
Two days ago I served a customer who said ‘ That’s taking it a bit far isn’t it?’ (in regards to my wearing a mask and gloves). The next day the government closed the shop along with hundreds of others as part of its shutdown measures.
Attitude among people seems to vary from paranoid to slacker than laissez-faire and so do opinions reinforced by the unrelenting media with its 24 hour news cycle. Nothing else is newsworthy. Hoarding food a week ago seemed out of touch but nobody laughs now. In the states people are taking destiny into their hands stockpiling guns and provisions.
If it were a nightmare it would end but in reality there is none in sight because there is no vaccine. A virus from bats that jumped the species barrier (?). Thousands of fatalities a day. Makeshift hospitals and morgues. Mass shortage of medical staff and supplies. Automotive companies manufacturing ventilators. Liquor distilleries reassigned to making hand sanitizer. Ships unable to dock with hundreds of infected passengers. Enforced social disruption. Trillions of dollars dumped in the economy as prop up measures. Crashing stock markets. Economic chaos. A certain recession.
Maybe I should write a movie review but to be honest, truth really is stranger than fiction. I guess you could watch Contagion (2011) on Netflix starring Marion Cotillard and Matt Damon.
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