The world is reacting to COVID-19 with memes. Most people are taking it very seriously, and responding with some gallows humour. It’s interesting because I’ve not seen something like this in my lifetime but it seems such a human response to laugh in the face of it.

On the other hand there seems to be a collection of people who are just not interested in it, especially in the UK. There is a general belief that that UK strategy has been arrived at not necessarily because this can’t be contained, but because the British public will not accept the measures needed to contain it. Boris Johnson and the Conservatives (a.k.a. The Tories) have just won an election with a convincing majority in order to push through a Brexit arrangement that may or may not be totally devastating to the country’s most vulnerable people.¹ So we’re in a world where the Tories seem to be able to sell just about anything to the general public, but not widespread quarantine measures.

Whether this is true or not, anecdotally I’m hearing a lot of stories complaining about people who are not willing to quarantine or who do not acknowledge the severity of the situation. From a colleague:

My 75 year old papa with plenty of risk factors, upon hearing that the government might tell over 70s to self isolate, responded with “wit are they gonnae dae?”.

Another colleague:

My mum already tried to go to her keep fit class today and was like “wtf, I don’t know why they cancelled it”.

Which has led to graphs like this.

Some others are just not taking appropriate measures, leading to strife. From a colleague:

Had some idiot openly coughing without covering his mouth and it was a persistent cough. I said to him he should have been covering his mouth and he said I coughed down the way, as if this is acceptable! He then complained to his friend that I told him to cover his mouth when coughing, I told his mate that if I were him, I wouldn’t be standing next to him since he’s coughing away without covering his mouth.

People continue to panic buy, and the shops are struggling to cope. From a colleague:

Apparently someone in our local ASDA tried to buy two entire crates full of tinned carrots yesterday and spat on the security guard that was called to stop him when he refused to put them back. He’s now being done for assault and they’re trying to get the charges upped cause of the potential coronavirus spread associated with spitting.

As far as numbers go, no-one really knows anymore. The government advice changed from ‘phone 111 and isolate until we can test you’ to ‘isolate on any symptoms and only call 111 if you’re in really bad shape to reduce stress on the system’. They’re only testing people at the hospitals, which means no-one knows the actual numbers. The official number for Scotland is now 171 infected with still only 1 death. Glasgow where I live has the most cases with 44.

As I was writing that new numbers were released. Unfortunately the numbers now sit at 195 infected with 2 deaths. Glasgow now has 49 cases. This is somewhat how it feels to be in the middle of this; the situation is evolving rapidly and it’s incredibly hard to keep track. As I mentioned, these numbers aren’t exactly trustworthy either.

Graph from “Scotland Coronavirus Tracker” using data from gov.scot.

In terms of actual response from the government, current advice is:

• Everyone should avoid gatherings with friends and family, as well as large gatherings and crowded places, such as pubs, clubs and theatres
• People should avoid non-essential travel and work from home if they can
• All “unnecessary” visits to friends and relatives in care homes should cease
• People should only use the NHS “where we really need to” - and can reduce the burden on workers by getting advice on the NHS website where possible
• By next weekend, those with the most serious health conditions must be “largely shielded from social contact for around 12 weeks”
• If one person in any household has a persistent cough or fever, everyone living there must stay at home for 14 days
• Those people should, if possible, avoid leaving the house “even to buy food or essentials” - but they may leave the house “for exercise and, in that case, at a safe distance from others”

Schools continue to remain open, as does my son’s nursery. In terms of what we’re doing personally, after much discussion we have decided to continue to send my son to nursery but we are cutting back on pretty much everything else. In particular we have told my parents that they will have to be content with video calls with their grandson for their protection. My wife has cancelled a trip abroad to see her family, and the airline is actually being pretty accommodating with that. We both continue to work from home, other than the days my son is in nursery. As it’s in the same building as my work, and as the office is empty, I’ve just decided to work in the office anyway.

The big issue right now is trying to keep my mental strength up. Keeping track of everything is so hard, and it feels like people are preparing for the world to end. Suddenly you find yourself adding up how many days of food you have, and what you would do if the power went out. I worry about my parents and my son on an hourly basis, making it nearly impossible to get any work done. Right now all I can do is power on as if everything is fine and hope for the best. I had hoped that this journal would help me get it out of my system but it might just be making me more anxious.

The PM of Norway made a statement to children telling them it’s OK to feel scared. Honestly, I think everyone feels scared. I feel like the world will be a very different place in two weeks.

BBC News

Christ, there is so much more to say but I just can’t fit it all in. Canada has closed its borders. The Americans might finally be realising that their system is rigged against the poor. The water in Venice is apparently running clearly for the first time in god-knows how long because they’re all quarantined. There’s just too much going on to cover it all.