DESPITE the times we live in, some of us continue to live through different levels of denial — conspicuously displayed in statements like I won’t get it or if I get it, I’m sure I’ll be fine or if I get it, I won’t infect anyone or I’m immune to the virus.
It is possible that everything we hope for will actually materialize — that we won’t fall ill or if we do, it will be a mild case and we will recover and by some stroke of a miracle, we won’t infect anyone. Or that we will never get the virus. But this would be the best-case scenario.
Best-case scenarios don’t need preparation. Worst-case scenarios do.
Covid-19 is real, highly transmissible and can be fatal. And as the best scientific minds in the world frantically work to find a cure and develop a vaccine for Covid-19, we continue to fight the invisible enemy by staying home, staying healthy and staying clean.
For how long will it be necessary for us to make personal sacrifices that impact our incomes and our relationships? No one really knows.
All we know is that while the measures we take today exact an economic as well as psychological toll on all of us, they are crucial for the preservation and protection of public health and safety. All we know is that we can’t sustain a complete lockdown for long. All we know is that we need to contain the virus soon.
And yet, looking into the future when lockdowns are lifted, even in stages, it is not likely we can just take off from where we left, pre-lockdown. A life post-lockdown will be a life of caution. Despite our desire to live a “normal” life again, we won’t return to former norms anytime soon.
It is unlikely that we will abandon the measures already embedded in our lives. We will continue the frequent hand washing, hand sanitizing, disinfecting. We will continue to wear masks for some time. And coughing and sneezing in public will never be socially acceptable again.
When shops and restaurants re-open, I doubt if there will be a deluge of shoppers and patrons. I doubt if people will rush to the malls. I think they will continue to plan their trips to the outside world (aka beyond their gates) and avoid unnecessary contact with people. The more sensible ones will “wait and see” 15-30 days after the lifting of lockdowns to see what happens.
Till then, we will continue to physically distance, choose remote communication over face-to-face meetings, take a sabbatical from non-essential travel, struggle to stay fit in our sedentary lives, dream of the wind, the water and the waves, stay home and find new ways to live.
It’s a hard truth to bear but while I believe we will survive and thrive; I doubt if we can go back to the world we left behind. We can resume living but we cannot return to our former lives.