Let me throw my two cents into the ring about the coronavirus. I honestly think that right now, the media is making us more fearful of it then we should be. It seems like everyday since it first sprung up, the media has been on top of reporting it and bringing up “the tragedy of the coronavirus”. You literally can’t go one second now without hearing about it or thinking about it. And the fear is what’s leading to so many people stocking up on toilet paper like a pack of hyenas rushing to get a bite of meat from its latest kill. As of right now, me and my family are doing okay and we’re doing whatever we can do to stay clean and keep the virus at bay. None of us have the virus yet and we’re all okay. We also make sure to always wash our hands, spray things we bought and used with Lysol spray and generally just keep ourselves and our objects sanitized. We’re all mentally fine as well but I feel the need to step outside every now and then because for me, spending all day inside is not something I want to do everyday.
Right now, it’s surprising that some people are still making the choice to not wear masks especially with the growing number of infected people in NYC. Yesterday, when I was stepping outside to stock up on some groceries for my family, I made sure to wear gloves and a mask. While my mask wasn’t an N95 respirator mask, I still wore it to stay safe. As I was making my way to the supermarket, reusable bag in hand, I passed a guy who muttered under his breath. “Yeah, like that’s gonna work.” Maybe he thought I wouldn’t hear him but I was so tempted to flip the bird at him as I was walking forward. The mocking tone in his voice really annoyed me and it made me a little upset knowing that he was fine with mocking me for trying to stay safe.
With the virus hitting hard, I’ve had to start taking more precautions and I’ve had to give up certain things. Thanks to the virus, I am making sure to wash my hands and keep my electronics and food stuffs sanitized whenever I can. However, that’s about the only upside I can think of that the virus has brought on me. Because the virus is spreading really fast in NYC, I have to give up a lot of things that I would normally do. For school, I’ve had to give up face to face classes (which I’ve grown to enjoy) and hanging out with my college friends. I’ve also had to give up Friday movie nights with one of my best friends from high school because I am worried about the virus. Other things like eating out, going to the gym and attending big events like Comic Con are also out of the equation because of the fear of the virus causing people to shut all those things down. I’ve also had to give up looking for work because my mother is worried about me working somewhere that’s open to the public in fear that I might get sick. I feel upset that I need to give up these things that I enjoy but if it’s only for the next 12-18 months (hopefully a vaccine is developed by that time), then I guess I can deal with it. I’ll just have to keep telling myself and everyone else that “everything will be alright”.
