3 weeks of nationwide lockdown are behind us.
2 of said 3 weeks of lockdown my province was put under even stricter measures called quarantine. To say it was a difficult time, would be an understatement. Yes, I know I live in a country that acted faster as many others. That in our country, we are lucky because our healthcare system hasn’t collapsed.
Truth be told, it’s not over yet and I doubt it will be over anytime soon. So, I spend my days researching and reading up on the latest treatments that are being developed. Vaccines the brightest minds of the world have been working on. But it all is just passing time. Why you ask, simple – because I can only read about it, read and hope one will work.
News 24/7 and the Fake News that keep on coming…
I have come to loath the news. Not because of their devastating nation due to the virus. But because I have started hating the inherent BS so many put out. If fake news every were a problem, it is now. I have restricted myself to only read specific papers/online editions from certain trusted news agencies. In that sense, I created a media lockdown for myself – only good news agencies get in these days.
My brother, who works in a major factory and being part of a big WhatsApp group of co-workers, keeps sending me incredibly disconcerting mass-messages of “what the virus is”, “how to treat it” – so on and so forth. I shudder to see people believing that something like “taking a scolding hot bath will kill the virus in your body” can cure something that has already caused so much grieve. I know, the need to find comfort is big these days, I long for it too. Truth is, we are a long way away from the comfort of a vaccine – which in the grand scheme of things is what we need most to find a way back to reality.
Government
I know, not a great many are writing about this subject… simply because it is a dangerous territory to write about especially in this lockdown climate. However, I rather want to be honest on here and write about the thing, that take up most of my mind these days and our Austrian government is part of that equation. Am I happy with how they acted – the answer would be YES and NO. Maybe not in equal parts but it’s true. I hate the way we as a population of nearly 9 million are treated like little disobedient children.
Press conferences are held on the daily, often misleading information is put out; laws are changed by what feel like the hour. I know from fact, this is not easy – but I know the number of mistakes happening here, should most definitely not happen. We as a nation should not be told one thing only to be told something completely different 3 days later.
3 weeks ago, at the start of the nationwide lockdown, we were told what we must achieve. We were told we must be plateauing to be on the safe side – and for days now, we are plateauing. Yet, we just recently were told, it’s not good enough. We have started to flatten the curve and we did it and yet, it is not good enough. If you get constantly told what to do, and you do just that under severe restrain and after you manage to achieve it you get told “sorry but it’s just not good enough” – you lose faith in the system.
Quarantine Life
For someone used to daily walks, it was the hardest thing to leave the house only once a week for a grocery shop. We here in Tyrol were legally prohibited to even go for a short (isolated) walk. Yes, that is right – I have the decree in my hands and under Paragraph 4 Section 1 of said decree it says, “Prohibited from leaving ones Residence apart from work and primary care”. What can I say… scary times. We turned into a full-blown police state. It felt like a martial law was put were our human rights ones were and it felt incredibly scary.
I know, a great many used this time to be on Social Media, but truth be told, I didn’t fell like “now is the time to grow my audience”… I didn’t even feel like posting anything, so I basically cancelled all my scheduled uploads indefinitely because I simply didn’t want to post. In these past 3 weeks, I posted one thing and I had a hard time finding the right words myself. I’m grateful for everyone who has gone the extra mile and produced additional content, so people had videos to watch, posts to read and pictures to like.
Priviledge
I know, I’m lucky, I live in a safe country and I know things here could be much worst. Our neighbour Italy is at the brink of collapse, France and Spain are headed that way too. Yes, I know the virus will be here for a long time. It will be in every country and it will look different for everyone. In that sense. I don’t own a big fancy house with more money in my bank account than I could every want for, I still know the privilege of living in a stable country. A country that does try to look out for their citizens. If for nothing else in this crisis, I have been thankful for that and I wish, every country could be this lucky.
Dear Reader, I know one day it will get better, one day, we will have a vaccine and one day we shall meet again. Don’t lose hope even if your situation is dire, it will get better one day.
Sidenote:
I currently follow Doctors Josef Penninger’s work incredibly closely. He and his team have been working on a treatment (not a vaccine) for basically this virus for the better part of 15 years. I will link a very fascinating interview with him down below (it’s in german).
Agenda Österreich Interview with Josef Penninger
In case you fancy something to get your mind of things, watch a movie… here are some ideas for you:
