Tassy – Karachi, Pakistan
It has been an eventful week. The bad news is that my 79 year old father tested positive for COVID-19. The good news is that he is well and his symptoms are mild. He is quarantining by himself in a room away from my mother.
The news came as a shock to us as my parents have been very particular about staying at home and taking necessary precautions. The did venture out for a couple of weeks ago to the hospital as mum had an appointment with her cardiologist which was overdue. They believe she caught it there. They were both wearing masks but the virus has a way of creeping up out of nowhere.
I was talking to a close friend, who happens to be a doctor directly involved in helping patients suffering from COVI-19. Her view was that the virus is here for several years. It is not going to go away in a hurry and the sooner we get accustomed to living with it the saner we will be.
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| Doctors in Karachi |
Keeping that in mind I have spent much time reassessing how I want to make changes in my life to adapt to this new environment. I have been proactive in securing more of my yoga students to do virtual classes. I have also reached out to my old students internationally and have had success on that front.
This has given me a lot of encouragement and pushed me to take control of my life rather than just to ‘let life happen’. I have also decided to resume my private classes at home, and I have implemented strict operating procedures such as compulsory wearing of mask throughout the class by the student and myself, and maintaining a 2 meter distance, each student bringing their own mat and water bottle, and not touching door handles.
Since I only conduct private one on one classes and the yoga that I teach is for therapeutic purposes, not of the ‘sweaty’ or ‘power yoga’ variety, I think it should be safe as long as masks are kept on. I had a dry run this week with a student who is also a doctor (already operating stringent procedures in his dental practice). I now feel confident about the safety of my own classes hence I am hoping to resume my classes at home with a select few as of this coming week. Hurrah!
The doom and gloom however is by no means over. Pakistan is now in the throes of the pandemic. We are among six countries in the world where the disease continues to show an upward trend, closely behind Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Chile and India.
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| Cases are on the rise |
When I watch the news I see that the lock down has eased in many countries and life seems to be going about as normal for a lot of people. We seem to be roughly three months behind Europe and the US in terms of a peak in cases. The government had rushed to lift restrictions and reopen the economy after two months of closure. The World Health Organization has strongly suggested that we impose another round of lockdown, but the government is adamant that lockdown is not the way forward for us.
Some traders that are violating restrictions have been warned of heavy fines and closures, but life is as normal in many other sectors. A vast majority of the population roams around without masks and social distancing. In densely populated cities like Karachi, with 20 million people, this is something that cannot be enforced. Other than the closure of gyms, sports and recreation clubs, large-scale public events and wedding halls, it is business as usual. The price we will have to pay for this is sadly going to be a very high one.
Sally – London, UK
How am I doing? I feel like all I ever write is ‘fine’ every week but I am. I know there are people a lot worse than me, people that have lost family members over the last 80 days, people who’s parents are having cancer treatment whilst trying to cope with the threat of COVID so me getting bored of being at home with my family isn’t a real problem.
COVID-19 is still the big story in Britain but like the rest of the world, the death of George Floyd really shocked us. There have been marched and protests, some peaceful, some not, but they are getting the world talking about racism and reminding everyone that Black Lives Matter.
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| Protestors in London |
The main story that has been in the papers is how people can protest and still stay safe. Most protestors have been wearing face masks and gloves and observing the 2-meter rule but this still doesn’t stop certain groups of “people” calling them selfish and this is the politer of the words being used. The same groups of “people” didn’t complain when hundreds of people flocked to the beaches two weeks ago when we had a heat wave!!!
The Clap For Our Carers stopped a few weeks ago and I miss the feeling of being part of the community and seeing our neighbors, especially when we are still in lockdown. Although lockdown now has a new set of rules that I am not even going to try and explain as per usual our PM seems to make up on the spot without really listening to the scientists. It seems he is more concerned with the economy that peoples lives.
Hopefully the high light of the week will happen when we get together with friends to do a Zoom Escape Room (I have never done an escape room in real life so who knows what it will be like) but I have missed talking to my friends so if anything it will be a chance for a good catch up.
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| Escaping the lockdown...virtually |
Sunday was my dad’s birthday and another reminder that I have not seen my parents in so long. We have sent cards and presents in the post and will FaceTime but its not the same as being there and given them a hug. Then next week is Fathers Day so it will be the same again, although Fathers Day also means a celebration in our house as it will be my boyfriends second one with our baby.
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