Day 11 LockDown

6 April 2020

1655 cases
Recovered: 45
Deceased: 11

Today is number eleventy eleven of lockdown. I saw this interesting graphic with 12 representations of emotions during lockdown. Some days I find myself productive, other days I feel as if I am drowning. I haven’t reached the imaginary friend yet, but we might just get there. I am spending an abnormal amount of time having full conversations with my pets. Today, I feel like nr 10. I just want to huddle under my duvet and ignore the world. People are going completely bonkers.

It was raining today. I am a pluviophile – I love the sound of rain. It calms me, and reminds me of when I used to live with my grandparents, and believed that the rain came from friendly angels, pouring water down from buckets in the clouds. In case this makes people think I am certifiable, I was about 6 or 7 years old at the time. Yet today I could find no pleasure in the rain. I wondered about our informal settlements, and how people were coping. I believe tonight the temperature will drop to 8 degrees Celsius. That is very very cold. Cold weather means fires to keep warm, fires in communities where people practically live a hands width from each other means a recipe for disaster.

It is only a few days more, then it is Easter. Traditionally a time for families to get together and spend quality time with each other. Every year I’ve planned an elaborate Easter Egg hunt for the twins, and this is the first year they’ll actually be able to understand the message of Easter. It is important for me that they learn about the value of compassion this Easter. Understanding that even though they have so much, there are people who survive with so much less in a world turned upside down and full of fearmongering and insecurities. Yes, we are also afraid (and I hope we are hiding it effectively from them). But fear doesn’t solve anything.

The latest social media fail is the covidiot who released a video claiming that the Covid-19 testing kits are infected. There was an isolated batch, and the kits were destroyed. Even more fake news: no, there are no helicopters spraying coronavirus chemicals. All this just means that people are even less likely to allow themselves to be tested, and this during a time where we should all work together to rid ourselves of this virus.

I feel like I want to arrange a protest (just me of course, because social distancing). I want to carry a placard with a very large message on it: NO MORE FAKE NEWS!