24 March 2020

Tuesday · three days before lockdown

Most South African political parties welcomed President Ramaphosa’s announcement of a 21-day lockdown. Spain reported that it had over 4 000 infected health workers. The United Nations (UN) announced that it would create a fund to support the global response to the coronavirus. New Zealand commenced its own lockdown after experiencing a 30% increase in coronavirus cases. In the USA, the governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak, prohibited gatherings of more than ten people in that state, and said that social distancing was the primary priority in defeating the virus. The UK entered its first lockdown.

Today I was kicked off the beach. The weather was beautiful and it was sweltering hot, so I thought it was a good idea to enjoy nature while it was still permitted. However, shortly after my arrival at the beach, I was approached by a member of the City of Cape Town law enforcement. He was incredibly polite and asked me to vacate the beach as all Cape Town beaches have been closed with immediate effect. Although the process was calm, it was startling to be removed from a public space whilst doing nothing wrong. I suppose this is the new reality.

* * *

Today, almost two years later, I finally got round to sorting out my matric books. It seems irrelevant to corona but it is actually not: one of our very close family friends is currently a matric student, who as a result of this lockdown, will not have class for at least a month (if all goes well). Needless to say, all of the matriculants are quite unnerved by the lockdown and their uncertain future. So, I decided to take my books and notes to her so that she has some sort of material to fall back on. While universities are already semi-online, no one knows how effectively the school system will be able to adapt to online learning. I also decided to take up an old money-making venture of mine again. The lockdown offers the perfect market to start selling school summaries as students will be desperate to get their hands on any helpful learning material. Apart from earning a little income on the side, I genuinely feel for these students. If learners from former model-C schools are under this much pressure, what about the schools without facilities to support online learning? What about the learners who depend on schools meal plans to be fed?

* * *

Not much to report today. Japan has finally agreed to postpone the Olympic Games. Rural dwellers are afraid that urban dwellers who want to return to rural areas before the lockdown commences will bring the virus with them. Limpopo will be doing screenings at toll gates to prevent the virus from going into the rural areas. The number of infected has now risen to 554 – the rapid increase in the number of infected persons is quite frightening. Hopefully, the lockdown measures work and will help flatten the curve. Consumers are still being urged not to panic buy. There are about 380 000 people infected globally.

* * *

My mother has been sick for a while now. This weekend our doctor came to our house because she was too weak to go to the doctor. He told us that she is feeling terrible because of her high blood sugar levels and gave her some medicine. We asked him if we should test her for the coronavirus. He said that it is not necessary because she does not have the right symptoms. She did not have fever, shortness of breath or a cough. My mother still demanded that she be tested and went with my father on Monday morning to have a test done. Yesterday morning I went to my mother’s room. She looked better and told me that she is feeling a bit better. While we were talking, the Department of Health called my mother to tell her that she tested positive for Covid-19. It was a big shock for us all because she had different symptoms. She had a painful headache, tiredness, vomiting and body pains. After we found out that she was positive we had to call everyone we were in contact with in this week because the chances are very high that our whole family might have the virus. Luckily, I only had to call two people. This virus just went from feeling like an apocalyptic movie to real life.

* * *

Today marks a very important day in my life: the day I received real independence. I finally got my driver’s license. Yes, it may be two years late, but nonetheless I still got it and I am delighted.

The day started off well. I remained calm and was very excited to finally get my license. An hour before I was scheduled to do my test, at 2:30 pm, there was a moment of panic at the traffic department, as one of the testing officers was informed that one of the people that she had tested earlier that morning may test positive for Covid-19 but is still waiting on their test results.

I panicked when I had heard this as I had come into contact with this testing officer earlier that morning and I started wondering if I had possibly touched any surfaces that she had also touched. I was also hoping that she wasn’t going to be my testing officer so that I didn’t have to be in a confined space with her in case she may have picked up the virus, because as we have learnt, the symptoms do not show instantly but rather after a couple of days.

* * *

I have realised that arts have such a soothing and wonderful role in this messed up world. What would we do without books, art, poetry and television in this lockdown? This is a good time to get to those things that we long promised ourselves that we would when we aren’t busy building our future. Quarantine is an opportunity to find ourselves again and to express the talents that we were blessed with but often cannot pursue in our rushed world.

* * *

It’s been a week since I started documenting my days in this diary, and so much has happened and changed during its course. My mother and I headed to the supermarket this morning, but much to my mother’s dismay, the place was packed with other mothers who had the exact same idea as her. I guess everyone wanted to prepare or the lockdown immediately so they could stay indoors for as long as possible, not needing another trip to the grocery shop for the whole three weeks by the look of it. People had trolleys full of the same thing and the store had signs indicating limits for certain products per customer. I found this amusing, because I suppose many took on the notion that “desperate times, calls for desperate measures”.

* * *

Today I woke at 11:00 am. I took a bath and had my breakfast of bread and butter. At 12:00 am, I went to campus to print some documents. Since the national lockdown has been implemented, I believe that I won’t have access to Wi-Fi and so I wanted to make sure that I printed enough hard copies to do my revision.

* * *

Panic shopping – something the president told us not to do, but which the majority of the nation did anyway. People are flocking to the malls. The traffic in Mosselbay was even worse than it is in December. Alcohol, flour, tinned foods and toilet paper were some of the first things to be sold out. The president could have said that shops selling necessities will also close and the outcome wouldn’t have been very different. […] Paranoia spreads even faster than corona, it seems.

* * *

There’s been a lot of talk of how, during social distancing, we should not mentally and emotionally isolate ourselves, and I have been wondering a lot about that. Even in my circumstances, not having had a phone, being away from res [student accommodation] and campus life, I already feel like a shadow of myself. I feel socially isolated from everyone. It’s a weird feeling. In feeling this way, I also feel guilty. I am part of the lucky few who even whilst in isolation have access to a lot of luxuries. There’s this weird balance I am trying to find whereby I do not invalidate my feelings of loneliness from my friends but also be aware of the fact that I am in a fortunate position.