A Coronavirus Letter

Hello. Some of you will probably relate to this. For you I want you to realize and remember that we all feel the same way. Other people are experiencing things in a different way. I certainly am not diminishing their experience. There are also those that don’t quite understand. I hope maybe you might see things from a different point of view.

It’s the morning and I am waking to get ready for my day. First comes the self assessment. How do I feel? Is that normal fatigue from being tired? Is that cough just allergies? Does my chest hurt? Am I running a fever? This is everyday now. This is stressful.

Once I feel confident enough that I am “well” it’s time to head into work. It is one of those “essential” jobs. It is a job where social distancing is basically impossible. We have to work together and less than six feet from each other. You just have to do your best to distance yourself as much as you can and respect each other. Other steps have been made as time has gone on in trying to help prevent the spread such as a cleaning crew that cleans continuously and the fact that drivers are not allowed in the building anymore. I see this as a good thing for both us and them.

Yet working day in and day out I wonder more of when I will get sick rather than if. Maybe it’s me being cynical, but it’s hard not to when you see how many people disregard the stay at home directives or the social distancing recommendations. My wife and I were leaving a store with a guy inches behind us without caring. Those types of situations make me wonder what about the people who work in our building. So yes I think in terms of when, not if. I end up looking at those around the building as I encounter them wondering if they are infected. Or if they aren’t infected what are they doing to prevent themselves from getting infected.

Worry is king of the land right now. I worry about those I’m around. I worry that I’ll get sick. I worry that my wife will get sick. I worry about my daughters. Both my daughters work in “essential” jobs. The one that lives with me at a grocery store and the one in another state delivers food. We can only limit our interaction with others on a very small level. That’s why I hope those who can limit their interactions even more.

I worry about my parents who I haven’t seen in over a month though they live five minutes away and I would see them at least once a month if not more. Now I’m not even sure when the next time I see them will be. I will not risk their health because I miss them.

This pandemic is something none of us have lived through before. We don’t know when it will end and what the end results will be. We don’t know the implications to human health will result from this. We especially don’t know how this will affect mental health.

What we do know is that we will return to some form of normal. My hope is that there are more of us to return to this new normal than they expect. The only way this will happen is if we stop thinking about ourselves and think about others. Even on the selfish level why would you want to catch this virus or any virus for that fact, but as I said more importantly we need to think of others. We can’t be selfish now. The more people you are around the more likely you’ll get sick and never know it which means you can then spread it to those of us who don’t have much of a choice but to be out there doing what needs to be done so that live can still move on even if it’s at a snail’s pace. Stay home. Social Distance when you must go out. Stay healthy.