My country Finland has declared a state of emergency because of COVID-19 starting today (March 18, 2020) until April 13th. I’m okay so far but I belong in the high risk group because of three of my chronic illnesses or their medications, and in addition I’ve been having a Crohn’s Disease flare since early January so I have been mindful already the last few weeks, and will continue to take as many precautions as I can going forward to avoid getting COVID-19.
Right now, I’ll continue to update sites and making wallpapers etc. as normal, but should I disappear for a bit, it’ll probably have to do with COVID-19 and/or Crohn’s Disease.
The nationwide shutdown of services is going to be weird – due to my illnesses, I don’t go out much because I don’t have the energy and my migraine is ofteen too bad or it would make it worse, but still! I’m used to going to the rehabilitation activity and talking to people, as well as to library every week and always having at least a few new books to read! Now I’ll have to resort of e-books, which is a huge relief that they exist! I think it’s also think it’s going to take a toll, staying home because I have to, not because I want to and not having face-to-face social contact. (I live alone).
My Mom is 75 and her SO is 80, so they’re both also in the risk group and they have some illnesses. I’ve been trying to talk them into either taking advantage of their neighbor’s offers to grocery shop for them, or to do grocery shopping via the internet and have them delivered home. So far, nope. They think they’re ok going to the shop in the off-peak hours ;/ I might be able to talk my Mom over to online shopping, but she said even if she did, her SO wouldn’t. He’s stubborn.
Also it’s kind of scary, being in a national state of emergency, when I think about it! The last time that was declared was WW2. So it’s a whole new thing. Although I did consider during the swine flu, remembering the bird flu and liking The Walking Dead and movies about epidemics, that it was only a matter of time until outbreak big enough to cause societal interruption would come along. So it’s not a total surprise, and I feel like I’m at least a little prepared, mentally.