Viral illness has touched lives in an unprecedented way
Someone asked me what I would write about this week. What else could I possibly write about? What else is consuming everyone’s every thought and conversation? What has recently dominated every newscast and email and social-media post?
COVID-19 has touched our lives in an unprecedented way. Why is this virus taking such complete control of our lives?
Just a few days ago, I was going to work, exercising at the gym, eating dinner out and meeting friends. Now I am worried about visiting my mother for fear of exposing her to unnecessary risk. I am working from home and my sons are no longer attending school or working. My plans to go to the museum to catch the Egyptian mummy exhibit were kiboshed.
Two events I planned to attend at the Pointe-claire library are cancelled, as are my plans to go to New York next month.
And that is just the beginning. A work conference in May is cancelled. A trip to Quebec City in June, my vacation in August and plans to visit Europe in the fall are all up in the air.
The stock market is nosediving and no one knows when it will hit rock-bottom.
How has this happened? Why is everyone panicking? Could it have something to do with social media? According to a recent report, there were over 19 million mentions about the coronavirus in a single day.
It is unfortunate that we can’t elicit this kind of furor about what we are doing to our environment, which is most likely a bigger threat to our survival in the long run, but I digress.
The infodemic and misinformation is spreading much faster than the virus. With the best of intentions, people often, unwittingly, are sharing rumours and fake news with their friends and families. Facebook, Google and Twitter are actively trying to remove content featuring magical cures and false claims. But social media was designed to be shared freely and it is winning the battle and dominating the information being circulated. The result is panic and crazy behaviour, ranging from outright xenophobia and fights over sneezing in public, to stocking up on items like Purell and, for some reason I can’t fathom, toilet paper.
Although I am feeling isolated at home, and exhausted by the seemingly endless onslaught of coronavirus updates, I know I shouldn’t complain.
Precautions are necessary to stop the spread of this potentially deadly virus and we all need to do our part.
I am fortunate to be able to work from home and not to worry about paying my bills. The biggest annoyances I have suffered so far are lining up for an hour to pay for groceries and wondering what to do with myself after binging on Netflix.
Unfortunately, this is not going to go away any time soon. So let’s all wash our hands while singing Happy Birthday twice and maybe find an online app to play Scrabble with friends and family.
Rely on websites such as Santemontreal.qc.ca for reliable information and perhaps keep a diary about all this fuss about a virus that will soon, hopefully, be a distant memory.
Suzanne Korf is a professional fundraiser who has worked for non-profit organizations for more than 25 years. She is a senior director of development for the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. She is a mother of two and a resident of Pointe-claire since 1991.