COVID-19 sucks
But here are some good things that our situation has given us
Friday night drinks with the girls via Zoom.
I was having a Houseparty conversation with my university roommates the other day. With COVID-19 and social distancing in full force right now (#StayHome), like many people, I’ve been turning to different video conversation apps to connect with friends and family.
My McMaster roommates. We called our house the PimpShack.
During that PimpShack conversation, one of my roommates said, “Crazy that it takes a world pandemic to bring us all together.”
Since we graduated in 2014, there have only been two or three instances where the seven of us have all been in the same room. And with work, school, and people moving to different cities and even provinces, those few times always required weeks of heads up and planning.
But last week’s Houseparty conversation? That was organized in just a couple days.
Something about seeing all the sickness, death, and chaos in the world and being forced to isolate and slow down really makes you seek connection with the people whom you care about, even if you haven’t seen them in a while.
What a great thing to get out of such shitty circumstances.
This got me thinking, there actually are a lot of positive things to take away from this time.
It’s important to mention that I don’t personally know anyone who’s died or tested positive for coronavirus. So, I know that it’s easy for me to look at the world’s situation with a lighter lens than someone who’s been more seriously impacted.
But, I also know that we’ve been inundated with negative information. And while it’s important to hear that and to take it seriously, I don’t think that dwelling on the darkness—while it may get more clicks than the sunshine—is a very healthy thing to do.
So, I’m going to use this post to compile some of the positive stories that I’ve seen and to highlight some of the good things that I’ve noticed during this unique time.
People are strengthening and building their connections
I think that we should change the term social distancing to physical distancing. Because, while we’ve been staying away from each other physically, we’re definitely not staying away from each other socially.
Since this all started, I’ve had video conversations with my old roommates, girlfriends, immediate family, and cousins. In a short period of time, I’ve been able to organize internet hangouts that have been better attended than most heavily-planned, real-life hangouts.
And I know this is not unique to me. I’ve seen so many people on social media making a point of checking in and virtually hanging out with their loved ones, even the ones whom they likely wouldn’t have contacted had we been allowed to leave the house.
That COVID is bringing us together, man.
We’ve gained a better appreciation for essential workers
My sister Jade is an ICU nurse who’s exposed to people with coronavirus every day at work.
While she’s been a nurse for years now, I never paid too much attention to the stressful things she has to do for her job.
Now though, considering the times, it’s been impossible to ignore the work that she and all the other health-care workers do. While the rest of us are safe at home, they’ve been putting their lives at risk each day to care for other people, and we’ve all developed a much more significant appreciation for them.
My sister Tracey and I bought Jade these balloons from T.O. Balloons to thank her for her service during this crazy time!
All over the world, people have been cheering for health workers. This is Toronto.
This is in Italy. And there are so many more amazing examples all over the world!
As well, this time has made us recognize the worth of the other essential workers who’ve been having to head into work every day, despite everything that’s going on.
Before this, most people would have never thought about the huge significance of fast food employees, cooks, cleaners, delivery people, and grocery store workers. However, now that they’re being forced to leave their houses and put their lives at risk while the rest of us get to be safe at home, I think we’re realizing that their jobs actually are super valuable. Hopefully this time will result in these workers getting better pay and being bumped up to a living wage if they’re making minimum.
We’ve been gifted with time
For those who are lucky enough to be able to be at home right now, we’ve been blessed with so much extra time. Time with ourselves; time with the people we live with; time to learn things we’ve been putting off; time to rest, reflect, and recharge.
I’ve seen:
so many people learning to bake bread on social media;
people using this time to evaluate their happiness and make plans for positive changes;
parents playing outside with their kids, teaching them to ride bikes, and drawing motivational chalk messages with them on the sidewalk; and
the world take the time to indulge in hours of Tiger King—which has resulted in many residual wins, like awareness of the effed up big cat industry in the States, everyone bonding over ridiculous memes, and the reopening of Carole Baskin’s missing husband case. So, thanks, Joe Exotic!
I’ve been staying at my sister’s house, so that means I’ve been able to spend so much time with my favourite human in the world, my nephew, Carter.
In a way, coronavirus has forced our fast-paced lives to be on a rare break. And whether people are using this for self-reflection, to pick up a hobby, or to just chill, being able to have more time can certainly be a blessing.
Our planet is doing better
Not only are many humans getting a break, but so is our environment!
You may have seen pictures of how the canals in Venice are looking so much cleaner now that there are no motorboats in them, or that air pollution and CO2 levels are down now that fewer cars are on the road.
OK, apparently these changes are only temporary.
But, maybe the current improvements will help people to realize that humans do impact the environment so much. Maybe our increased time hanging out outside (since there’s nowhere else to go) will lead to people gaining a new appreciation for nature. Maybe, since we’ve grown so used to chillin’ in the same sweats every day, we’ll learn to be good with what we have and feel less of a need to buy more clothes. Maybe employers will continue to let people work remotely, therefore, allowing them to spend less time driving their cars. Maybe, instead of going back to the way things were, we’ll all be more conscious of how we can help our planet.
It’s a lot of maybes, but your girl is hopeful.
People are recovering
Something that does not make me feel hopeful is that that everywhere you go, you hear about the wild number of coronavirus cases in the world. Of course, it is absolutely terrible.
But for the sake of this post, why don’t we take a look at the recoveries?
Currently in Canada, while the numbers change each day, 90 per cent of inactive cases have ended in recovery. And in the rest of the world, the majority of people who get COVID-19 are expected to get better.
As well, despite popular belief, it’s not just young healthy people who’ve recovered. There are numerous, adorable, badass centenarians who’ve beat this bitch!
Like this 104-year-old man from the States.
Or this 104-year-old woman from Italy: https://nypost.com/2020/04/06/the-104-year-old-italian-woman-just-kicked-coronavirus-ass/.
Or this 101-year-old man also from Italy: https://www.insider.com/unlikely-recovery-101-year-old-italian-man-released-hospital-2020-3.
Of course, you should stay home and take this virus seriously, but let’s also sprinkle some of these stories into our media consumption, yeah?
The political parties are working together
One thing that has really been warming my little heart is the way our governments in Ontario and Canada have been joining forces.
I was watching Doug Ford on the news the other day. He was at a press conference and was asked a question about the prime minister. In referring to Justin Trudeau, he said that he spoke with him earlier, that they were on the same page, and that they are working together to deal with this crisis.
Man, that made me so happy.
This is a crucial-ass time in the world, and I am so glad to see that our government leaders, despite being from different parties and typically having opposing views, have managed to put politics aside to come together to fight this virus.
https://north99.org/
There’s a solid understanding that we’re all in this together
Similar to our governments, I feel like most people understand that it’s not us against each other, it’s us against coronavirus.
The people I’ve encountered have largely been taking the guidelines that health officials have laid out very seriously. Plus, there have been so many instances of people going above and beyond just obeying the rules:
One of my mom’s coworkers (my mom is also a nurse, so bless her) mentioned on Facebook that face mask loops can be really painful on the ears. The next day at the hospital, someone dropped off 40 headbands that were specially made so that the masks could hook onto the headbands instead of onto the nurses’ ears.
Companies have been creating and often donating products to help meet demand for shortages. For example, breweries and distilleries like Labatt and Molson have been using their alcohol-making skills to produce hand sanitizer. Countless clothing companies like Eddie Bauer, Ralph Lauren, and Canada Goose have been making face masks and medical gowns to donate to hospitals. Car manufacturers like Mercedes, GM, and Ford have been making things like shields and ventilators.
I could honestly go on and on with stories I’ve heard about kindness during this chaos, but the bottom line is, we’re all in this together and people have been great.
Jeeze, High School Musical is timeless and always relevant.
OMG, we’re gonna be so grateful for everything once this is over
Health experts say that COVID-19 is going be with us for a long time and that we have months of distancing ahead of us.
While that can sound daunting, frig, imagine how great it’s gonna be when we’re able to be normal again! Imagine how good it’s going to feel to eat at a restaurant, to hit the gym, to sit on a park bench, to calmly go to a grocery store.
There are countless tiny little things that we used to take for granted that we are now missing, and when we finally get them back, shit, we’re going to be so grateful.
And, more importantly, think about the big things that we’ve been missing.
When this is over, we’ll have spent months living at a distance from our loved ones while being bombarded with terrible stories about sickness. When this ends, we’re going to be so unbelievably grateful for our health and for the health and love of our friends and family. It’s going to be amazing.
This time has and will continue to make us recognize what’s important, and when we’re through it, shoot, we’re going to be so bleepin’ grateful.
Carty’s like, “Man, Mama Katie. I love being roommates.” And I’m like, “I know, right?” And he’s like, “But I’m gonna be so grateful to see Mama Jadie and Lolo and Lola again.” And I was like, “Yeah, true.”
In the meantime, while we’re still in the thick of things, I hope that you be smart and stay safe.
Continue to stay home, sanitize like a mother, listen to health officials, be a cool cat or kitten, play on Houseparty with your old housemates, and look at the positives whenever you can.
We can and we will get through this, y’all!
What I’ve learned/some realizations:
Coronavirus sucks, but some good has come out of this chaotic time.
People are strengthening and building their connections.
We’ve gained a better appreciation for essential workers.
We’ve been gifted with time.
Our planet is doing better.
People are recovering.
The political parties are working together.
There’s a solid understanding that we’re all in this together.
OMG, we’re gonna be so grateful for everything once this is over.