Life feels idle and unfair. Locking up where I live seems to never end. I was out jogging two days ago, when a friend shouted my name from across the street and that little gesture made my week.
I, like most people, long for human contact and experiences that don’t mean I always have to be vigilant to keep my two meter distance away from people.
COVID-19 is tiring and for those who haven’t been affected in some way or another, they probably still consider it an indirect threat since they made it this far without contracting it. Depending on your local guidelines, it may become socially acceptable to let you down. Seeing photos being posted online regularly of gatherings and social events makes it seem like it’s not serious. I think of all the ways the guidelines have changed over the months, how COVID has been politicized with some even calling it fake, how wearing a mask was not advised first because it seems counterproductive and how we’ve subscribed to a lot of tracking and sharing of data so to keep people safe. I reflect on the psychological impact this has on human behavior and how perceived vigilance can affect those around us.
This week to access shops here, you had to make an appointment. Although they are relatively simple and hassle-free and life progresses gradually, limitations are a common reminder that this is not over. While deaths and case numbers are increasing in Guyana, enforcement feels like a long shot and a scare behind the pandemic has disappeared.
Posters and pandemic posters
Most of us have probably developed a social bubble but even with social bubbles nothing is really guaranteed especially now as new COVID variants appear. If you have to get your social bubble assemblies, keep them off social media. Pictures can say a thousand words and in the midst of a global pandemic no one will read into it and say that they are probably all meeting each other but instead, people meet while they are be at home trying to reduce the spread. It breaks the social contract between citizens. It also influences carelessness.
Shame mask
Sometimes I tend to keep my mask on even when I’m on an empty street walking home from the city. I have become comfortable with it. When I forget to dress on – and this is rare – I feel guilt, because most people around me always do their part. I cannot begin to imagine the isolation that people feel when they are alone in self-defense, it can make you feel like you are over-reacting. Wear your masks even if you are the only one in the room doing so. Wear your mask even if you have had COVID and have fully recovered or had your vaccine. Neither of these things ensures that you will not become infected again. The basic guidelines regarding this virus have not changed. We will have masks for a long time.
Our individual behavior affects and influences those around us more than we can imagine. We may take some time to fully control this pandemic but the least we can do is try to influence one another in the best way possible.