I’m not ok.
I organised an event for 80+ colleagues on 3rd of March, and while it is unlikely that someone got infected there it is not impossible.
I have been ill since even before the 20th of February.
I went to work because I was deeply involved in the organisation of said event and had additional deadlines to meet. (One for a +150 person meeting scheduled for 30th of March, of course canceled since.) I shouldn’t have. But I’ve been ill on and off since August, especially since November when a relative died and I was with them - so, I didn’t pay to much attention to that.
I met my brother around the 20th of February after he just returned from a business trip to China, visiting several provinces which weeks later were shown to have had > 1000 cases at the point. We didn’t know at the time. I didn’t know on the 3rd of March. I learned afterwards and went through a personal hell because I feel like I could and should have known. And because I am an IDIOT going to work while being sick.
My brother himself and his family were later tested negative - which is a particularly good thing, since my niece is immunosuppressed.
However, he still goes to work, and is refusing to forgo his social contacts. Hence, his ex-partner refuses contact with my niece. (And I thank her for that.) Discussions with him felt like discussing with a Reichsbürger, conspiracy theories mixed with logical thoughts and overshooting “logic” at the same time. Crude mixture.
No, I am not ok.
Also, I’ve been at home since the 12th of March after looking at the numbers and comparing effects of the lockdown in China across provinces. I am having discussions since then, with my superiors and peers. I tried to convince them that meetings should not be held, the last having been held only a week ago.
I am still trying to get my employer to do proper communication. But they won’t, due to regulations and (frankly) incompetence. For example, I still don’t know if someone at my work has contracted SARS Cov2 or has fallen ill with Covid-19. We are now mostly working from home, which isn’t really possible because we don’t have the equipment (no PCs, VPN overwhelmed, etc., etc. - I could rant about this all night. I’m technically inclined and a sibling is working in IT at a comparable employer, so I know about systemic incompetence when I see it.)
I’m on sick leave until yesterday, Friday the 27th. Will need to go to work on Monday, after calling and probably seeing my physician. Will try to do work from home, but don’t know how, really.
Also have to take care of my family.
Bonus: two weeks ago my landlady raised the rent, my contract is running out in September and the new contract I should get hasn’t been issued, while my employer is bound to save money as of last week, of course. And my partner is layed off as of June.
Finally, add some biological knowledge, some statistical knowledge and some general insights (among others, in politics due to personal contacts).
Oh, did I say finally?
A close friend of mine is a doctor. Three kids. One with special needs, a baby not turned one. They are on parental leave. Which is going to be cut in the next two weeks, as they told me, so they pre-emptively called the clinic and asked them to be put on the tail of the list. Their youngest is not one year. But they can do the figures, as can I, and know that they are going to need every single hand they can get.
Oh, and another close friend of mine is in quarantine. Sat beside someone who was tested positive later during a workshop. Met three more close friends some days later, all parents, drinking Corona together because they all knew that some kind of lockdown would be coming and they didn’t know when they would be able to see each other again.
FFS. They are all in self-quarantine, and the one I spoke to was sick last week. Whole family, in fact. Not tested, yet, since no known direct contact to someone who is sick.
ETA: oh, yeah, and catching up with BB BBS and the US news makes me really, really anxious. Got friends in the US. Wanted to visit. Scrap that.
We won’t recognise our world in six months time. And more likely than not, the pandemic will last for not 18, but about 36 months. I can’t imagine what will happen in a week from now, but I can run a statistical model on the numbers.
