Unless you’re living under a rock (and even then you’ve probably got the memo!), you’ll know that we are living in the midst of the Covid-19 virus outbreak, more commonly known as the coronavirus. At present there’s no cure for it, and I believe that a vaccination is, at the very least, more than a year away. I have heard various things about the virus, including that it’s worse than pneumonia, it’s extremely contagious and it will hospitalise even the healthiest person if they contract it.
Clearly, it’s serious. It’s a grave situation, and it’s always sad to hear of death. It’s scary to see how quickly it’s spreading, and horrific hearing about people dying in quarantine, being stuck on cruise ships with no windows or fresh air, and being stranded in places that are already riddled with the virus, basically just waiting to catch it. I understand that we are afraid of the unknown and that we can’t protect ourselves against it; it’s a frightening thought.
But is there any need for people behaving like absolute buffoons?!
We’re told to regularly wash or sanitize our hands (which we should be doing anyway because it’s a general heath measure and disgusting not to – we’re right in the midst of flu season!), and to carry hand sanitizer at all times in an attempt to protect ourselves. But unfortunately the doomsday stockpilers have emptied shops of it all, so anybody who didn’t get in there first with their selfish head on has missed the boat. It’s a dog eat dog world guys, you should have been quicker.
Maybe it’s because I’m dealing with so many related queries all day everyday at work at the moment, that my tolerance for entertaining it is a lot less (honestly my title might as well be Coronavirus Manager), but I am so sick of the hysteria over it. People are losing their shit. I saw someone walking around Manchester yesterday in a gas mask. A gas mask. Where on earth do you even get one of those nowadays?! People are stockpiling pasta, rice, basic painkillers and the best one – toilet roll. Apparently, so many supermarkets no longer have toilet roll in stock because people have panic-bought it all. I don’t know about you, but I’m more concerned about those of us whose first thought wasn’t to go out and buy a lifetime supply of loo roll getting to a point where we’re using the toilet with nothing, and the health issues that will bring, than I am about contracting coronavirus. At least the stockpilers are safe in the knowledge that if they do happen to contract coronavirus and end up in hospital unable to breathe or move, that they will have their 50,000 rolls of toilet roll to protect them.
If there’s anything to make me despair about the future of humanity, it sure as hell isn’t coronavirus; it’s peoples’ greed and concern for only themselves and the apparent lack of thought for anybody else. Where’s the concern for the elderly neighbour who ventured out on their weekly trip to the supermarket and who is now unable to get their basic necessities because somebody has hoarded all the toilet roll and 300 bags of pasta they won’t ever eat? What about the people who are actually living with life-threatening illnesses or compressed immune systems who rely on soap, hand sanitizers and painkillers to stay comfortable and remotely healthy? It doesn’t even seem to be the people who may have reason to stockpile (ie those who will be genuinely housebound if the virus were to take hold – who have nobody to help them, reduced mobility etc.) who’s doing it! At least the people who are in good health, have never left the country or been near anybody who’s been remotely near anybody else who has the coronavirus, have enough soap and paracetamol to last them for the next 150 years.
There are people who have had and gotten rid of coronavirus, but the media doesn’t report heavily on those, because that wouldn’t fit the narrative. I genuinely believe if we educated ourselves, applied some common sense and didn’t give in to the mass hysteria, we’d get through this just like we got through all the other outbreaks over the years. I’m not saying people shouldn’t be concerned, obviously we should. It’s serious, contagious and in some cases life threatening. But instead of preparing for the end of the world and considering how to keep only ourselves alive, maybe we could all just calm down a bit, think about other people and prepare appropriately for a virus that may or may not even reach us as individuals.
Reflect and Introspect 