Written on: 19th March 2020, 03.27 (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Last week, we all thought everything was going to be normal, we didn’t take the global virus seriously. I saw people at university booking flights (because the tickets were so cheap) and teachers planning the next week’s curriculum. Most people thought the virus was just like a normal flu.
I saw life go on as normal, but of course with people washing their hands more and keeping a bit more distance. People said “See you next week!” and I said “Well… Maybe… I hope so!” and we said our goodbyes.
Little did we know, that was only the eerie silence before the storm.
Then, suddenly, on Wednesday evening of 11/3/2020, the prime minister of Denmark declared a shutdown of Denmark and afterwards people started hoarding food, sanitizing equipment and toilet paper. It was hard to realize what was happening, it felt like a movie. Still does.
I was planning on going to school, to work and taking my driver’s license test – it has all been cancelled/rethought/postponed.
My brother is working in the hospital and so is my mom’s boyfriend – I can’t believe how brave these people are in the midst of all this. Doctors will have to make some hardcore judgements in the next months.
Entire countries are on lockdown and halting business. Closing their borders. All events are cancelled and so is work, school and social events. Stock market is plummeting and we will probably have a recession. It’s like a patient on life support and we’re just getting started, two weeks behind Italy.
New York Times has written that “...as of Tuesday evening, at least 7,866 people have died, more than half of them outside mainland China… infected people have been detected in at least 142 countries” and on 13/3/2020 WHO announced that Europe had become the new epicentre. Thanks to the heroic Dr. Li Wenliang, Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi for discussing the virus and warning the public about the communist party’s violent censorship (and then tragically dying and/or going missing).
We have seen the virus overwhelm the healthcare system greatly in other countries like China, Italy, Iran, France, USA, Austria and it’s probably only gonna get worse.
What many people fail to understand is 1) You can have the virus without having symptoms, 2) It is very easy to spread and catch the virus and 3) The healthcare system does not have enough equipment, beds or staff if many people suddenly start getting seriously ill.
I heard that Denmark only has like 1000 respirators in total, which is not enough, and I feel scared for the future, though I am not yet panicking. I’m trying to adjust to this new state in our dimension. Seems like this large scale containment has never been tried before.
I look at people with great contempt when they go out to party, socialize, date, chill, act unhygienic etc. because they could be seriously harming others without realizing it – just because you can’t see the consequences immediately doesn't mean you’re not a catalyst.
We are all potential vessels for killing our sick and our elderly. And not only old people die, we have also seen people in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s die from this virus.
That person you talked to has talked to five other people and that item you touched has been touched by dozens. It’s just like that “burned matches” image people have been sharing, it’s so easy to understand. I honestly think a police enforced curfew will be implemented because some people do not listen to science at all.
BBC did a good experiment with mobile phones and GPSes in 2018 to see how fast illnesses could spread if every person could infect 2-3 people and just travel as usual – by the third day 85% of UK was infected.
Bill Gates warned us in 2015 that the world was not ready for the next pandemic, but that we could be, if we took big precautions and combined the military with the medical and biological measures. I do not think we are ready now even though we’ve been warned many times.
I used to play the game Plague Inc for years and was stunned by how quickly it spread and how realistic the outcomes were (curfews being implemented, airlines and harbours shutting down, economic market collapsing, politicians falling ill, more money given to research etc.) – I never thought I was going to live in such a scenario. It feels dream-like and very brutal and honest. I also saw this in the movies Contagion (2011) and Outbreak (1995) which fucked me up.
Material things are fragile. Societal constructs are fragile. World economy is fragile. When shit hits the fan, people are not so kind, rational and civilized anymore.
Also interesting to see the world act like introverts. What if the world was like this?
No need for anything, no buildings, no entertainment, no social life, nothing to buy or sell… Really scary to see, it looks like a Chernobyl ghost town. Such a strange social experiment to witness. It’s so devastating to all the business owners and to our culture.
I do think some positive outcomes could come from this, though, such as:
- More people working from home and having less unnecessary meetings and transportation time + generally getting a smaller public sector in Denmark
- More e-learning and web exams being had which could open up knowledge greatly (as YouTube already did many, many years ago)
- More research being done before the next pandemic + people taking pathogens, hygiene, cooking and vaccines WAY more seriously
- Better safety nets being implemented for privately owned businesses and companies
- Fewer working hours and shorter workweeks in general being had, as we find out what work is not truly needed/effective, so that we can have more quality time with families and loved ones instead of working all the time
- More research going into growing/making cheaper food and better food preservatives
- Being less dependent on China, who has been the global production star for a long time now with terrible freedom of speech as well as human and animal rights + China banning the unhygienic wet markets (which are the culprit of several outbreaks)
- People realizing how fragile many things and constructs are and coming together to fight one bad thing instead of fighting over politics, money, culture and religion
- More research going into robots and AI which could help us deliver food and medicine (and maybe transport individual people too)
I do not know what started this virus, if it was nature or some sort of bioterrorism, like Bill Gates mentioned as a possibility in 2015. It doesn’t matter right now, because we still have to deal with it either way.
All I know is to keep my distance and stay home. And I think you should too, even if “the weather is nice” and your friends are bored. The bubonic plague took 200 million lives, smallpox took 56 million lives and spanish flu around 50 million lives. Daily Mail writes “Scientists say the 'scale' and 'lethality' of the coronavirus is on the scale of the H1N1 influenza strain that sparked the Spanish flu pandemic over 100 years ago”.
We need to take precautions before it’s all too late and we lose millions of lives. People have said “Acting extreme now will only be seen as inadequate later on” and Vox’ YouTube video brilliantly pointed out that “To slow the virus down, you need to act like you already have it”.
We CAN prevent some of this. Act now – stay home, stay clean and stay distant.
Thank you for your time.
