We've been in quarantine for nearly a month now. One day, everything was normal, and then the next, my entire Twitter feed was consumed with talk of the virus. It seemed like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson testing positive was really a wake up call, but it still took the folks who aren't online as much a little while to catch up.
At first, there were still so many people in the streets. People clustered together, insistent that things would have to continue as normal.
Now, the streets are empty. We rarely even see cars drive down our street in downtown Toronto. At least 30% of people out and about are wearing masks, gloves, or both, but it's been over a week since I was outside for any longer than a quick walk around the block with Gus (the dog), so it could have changed in that time.
Doug Ford (Ontario premier) is still allowing construction, so we installed our air conditioner early to mask the noise. He's actually allowing construction 24/7 now because there's so little foot/car traffic on the roads. It's miserable, but thankfully the high rise going up next to us is still taking evenings and weekends off.
We are all so bored. So. Bored.
And meanwhile, doctors and nurses scramble to keep up. I try to limit how much of the news I consume, because it's so easy to overwhelm oneself with every update, but every day, a new firsthand account of hospital conditions in New York City comes across my feed. A few weeks ago, it was Italy, but that's old news now, even though they continue to have hundreds of deaths a day, their count is falling.
The US is in crisis now though.
I don't even know how to talk about it, to be honest.
I'm so grateful to be in Canada. And so scared for everyone we know back home.
The other thing I see coming across my social media feeds daily is new people whose family and friends are dead and dying.
NYC has a mass grave on some mass grave island. Hospitals have refrigerated semi-trucks parked to store dead bodies until they can be buried. Pregnant women are delivering alone. People hospitalized for other conditions are losing their one-on-one care as medical aides are ordered to leave.
A lot of people are eager to see cops arrest anyone violating quarantine or social distancing. Some people in the US have even been arrested on public transit for not wearing masks, even though the popular advice until the last two weeks or so was that masks are somehow more dangerous.
It's been... awful?
Everything is awful? Like. The most awful.
Ben lost his job just over a week ago, Thursday, April 2. We're so lucky that he's getting 3 months severance, we have a bit saved up, and they're also offering a lump sum of 5k. He has lots of interviews, and we're grateful he has a job that can be done entirely from home.
I've been cooking. Ethiopian food, flatbreads, crusty french loaves, roasted cauliflower, burgers, and onion rings when I'm craving fast food.
Some days it feels like the walls are closing in.
Some days it feels like we might able to do this.
We don't have a choice. We will get through this.
Yesterday, or the day before, Trudeau announced that "this is the new normal" until a vaccine becomes available.
There's no word on when a vaccine will become available.
Conservatives insist it will burn through the population and create herd immunity.
There's no concrete evidence that herd immunity is a viable option. There's a lot of evidence that it overwhelms healthcare systems and kills healthcare workers at a higher rate than the general population because of viral load.
I've been scared to be alive since November 8, 2016. Marginalized communities who are more vulnerable than we are have been scared to be alive since the beginning of time. 2016 just so happens to be when we woke up to it. I've never been this scared though.
I don't know how we ended up in Canada for this.
I'm so endlessly grateful for socialized healthcare, even when it's shit. It's still something. And it won't bankrupt us.
Anyway, I'll keep my thoughts here as things continue to unfold. I'm knitting and crocheting and sewing masks for us and our people. We started a tenant organization for our pre-war apartment complex. There are somehow still things to talk about, even though most days it feels like literally NOTHING is happening.
I'll be back. ❤️
At first, there were still so many people in the streets. People clustered together, insistent that things would have to continue as normal.
Now, the streets are empty. We rarely even see cars drive down our street in downtown Toronto. At least 30% of people out and about are wearing masks, gloves, or both, but it's been over a week since I was outside for any longer than a quick walk around the block with Gus (the dog), so it could have changed in that time.
Doug Ford (Ontario premier) is still allowing construction, so we installed our air conditioner early to mask the noise. He's actually allowing construction 24/7 now because there's so little foot/car traffic on the roads. It's miserable, but thankfully the high rise going up next to us is still taking evenings and weekends off.
We are all so bored. So. Bored.
And meanwhile, doctors and nurses scramble to keep up. I try to limit how much of the news I consume, because it's so easy to overwhelm oneself with every update, but every day, a new firsthand account of hospital conditions in New York City comes across my feed. A few weeks ago, it was Italy, but that's old news now, even though they continue to have hundreds of deaths a day, their count is falling.
The US is in crisis now though.
I don't even know how to talk about it, to be honest.
I'm so grateful to be in Canada. And so scared for everyone we know back home.
The other thing I see coming across my social media feeds daily is new people whose family and friends are dead and dying.
NYC has a mass grave on some mass grave island. Hospitals have refrigerated semi-trucks parked to store dead bodies until they can be buried. Pregnant women are delivering alone. People hospitalized for other conditions are losing their one-on-one care as medical aides are ordered to leave.
A lot of people are eager to see cops arrest anyone violating quarantine or social distancing. Some people in the US have even been arrested on public transit for not wearing masks, even though the popular advice until the last two weeks or so was that masks are somehow more dangerous.
It's been... awful?
Everything is awful? Like. The most awful.
Ben lost his job just over a week ago, Thursday, April 2. We're so lucky that he's getting 3 months severance, we have a bit saved up, and they're also offering a lump sum of 5k. He has lots of interviews, and we're grateful he has a job that can be done entirely from home.
I've been cooking. Ethiopian food, flatbreads, crusty french loaves, roasted cauliflower, burgers, and onion rings when I'm craving fast food.
Some days it feels like the walls are closing in.
Some days it feels like we might able to do this.
We don't have a choice. We will get through this.
Yesterday, or the day before, Trudeau announced that "this is the new normal" until a vaccine becomes available.
There's no word on when a vaccine will become available.
Conservatives insist it will burn through the population and create herd immunity.
There's no concrete evidence that herd immunity is a viable option. There's a lot of evidence that it overwhelms healthcare systems and kills healthcare workers at a higher rate than the general population because of viral load.
I've been scared to be alive since November 8, 2016. Marginalized communities who are more vulnerable than we are have been scared to be alive since the beginning of time. 2016 just so happens to be when we woke up to it. I've never been this scared though.
I don't know how we ended up in Canada for this.
I'm so endlessly grateful for socialized healthcare, even when it's shit. It's still something. And it won't bankrupt us.
Anyway, I'll keep my thoughts here as things continue to unfold. I'm knitting and crocheting and sewing masks for us and our people. We started a tenant organization for our pre-war apartment complex. There are somehow still things to talk about, even though most days it feels like literally NOTHING is happening.
I'll be back. ❤️
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