- by Shea Angus
I am currently in Day 7 of my 14 day quarantine. My friend’s mom had been in contact with the first confirmed case of COVID-19 to hit Bruce-Grey. Before this was known, my friend and I had gone out for dinner to celebrate another friend’s birthday. I felt like I was safe under the circumstances (brief contact, nothing close or physical).
However, I live in an apartment building owned by my 70 year old Grandmother who
was away on vacation still (before all this craziness happened) and for her sake, I wasn’t going to take any chances.
At the top of this article is a graph showing the current spike of cases we are experiencing in Canada. To put it plainly, we are not doing enough to flatten the curve. What does that matter? If we don’t flatten the curve our hospitals will be overwhelmed and our most vulnerable are the ones at increased risk. This includes our seniors, children, and people who are already ill.
I have been rather shocked to see the lack of responsibility by not only many people my age, but people of all ages who are not taking this seriously. It seems that there are very few people operating in the middle-ground between “This isn’t a big issue” and “Buy all the toilet paper we can!” I encourage everyone to please join me in this middle-ground of doing the socially responsible thing and AVOID LEAVING YOUR HOME!
I understand the burden this can have on people. I feel the pain of this isolation financially. I recently launched my own business at the start of this year and had committed to that full-time. I’ve had to cancel meetings and it is even more difficult to find new clients, as many other businesses are facing the same squeeze that I am. I still have student loans to pay on top of all my bills, though there seems to be news everyday about those.
None of that stress weighs on me like the thought of potentially hurting someone I care about however, by unknowingly transmitting this virus to them. Just by coming home that night I potentially put my family at risk including my mom, dad, brother, and then anyone they subsequently came into contact with before we found out the news. I found out the news late Sunday night but luckily opted not to go to a party that I was invited to on Saturday night because I was concerned about the consequences of that.
I will put this as plainly as possible. Is this party, visit, trip, or whatever you are considering worth putting yourself at risk? Is it worth putting your parents at risk? What about your younger brothers or sisters? Nieces and nephews? Grandma and Grandpa? The answer to all of these questions should be an obvious no.
One person in South Korea is responsible for 80% of their cases of COVID-19. Don’t be that person. Please practice social distancing and stay home. Think about how many people you see in two weeks. Imagine if you infected them all with a virus you didn’t even know you were carrying yet. Don’t think that taking time off of work is a “dramatic response”. Not enough people are. If we stay calm, stay home, buy only what we need, and allow for others to do the same, we will get through this and countless lives can be saved.
Use this time to pick up a hobby you always wanted to try. Text or call someone you miss and haven’t spoken to in a long time. When I faced a similar sense of isolation when I moved to a new city, I found my love and passion for movies, try that! Host a Netflix Party (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/netflix-party/oocalimimngaihdkbihfgmpkcpnmlaoa?hl=en) and watch a movie with your loved ones from afar. Learn to cook. Read a book.
Don’t look to others to fix this problem, look inwards and make sure you are doing your part first. If we all do that, this won’t be a problem for much longer.
