Of Apocalypses and Pandemics
For once, it doesn’t matter in which part of the world you are living in right now, we are all breathing the same drama. If you are a Meditation Pro who wouldn’t allow the Ten Plagues to alter your chakras, wait until you enter a supermarket.
I thought the situation in my area (London) wasn’t that bad (compared to other cities in Europe). But, who decides how bad is the situation really? Scientific data or the people?
Two days ago, I visited a shopping centre nearby with the purpose of getting toilet paper and milk. There wasn’t any paper roll left in the store. At least, I wasn’t the only one looking at the empty shelves in absolute shock.
Luckily, there are a couple more local stores in my area.
After walking for 5 minutes to the second store, I found no trace of paper (neither loo nor kitchen) on the shelves.
And this is where my stress levels started to fluctuate. What If I underestimated the news? I started to lose my hope and got inside a Boots store in order to get some tissues “just in case” the toilet paper supply was over.
The paracetamol area was empty, as well as many other general medicines and sanitizers, including most of the hand wash.
Fortunately, the third store had a few packs of paper rolls in stock 🙂
After I got home, worried about the state of the world, my boyfriend asked me why I only bought one pack of toilet paper.
I guess I am an adrenaline girl.
Apparently, the store near his workplace didn’t have any stock either.
The following Saturday morning I went grocery shopping and the state of that supermarket reminded me of a clip from “World War Z“. No paper (of course), no pasta, no rice, no tuna cans… and a guy commenting out loud “this seems like the end of the word“, most of the eggs left were broken and then again, the hand wash aisle was empty.
Do the people buying all that food have any plan? As for today, we know we should avoid going to crowded places, travelling and staying out unless it’s necessary, but the stores are going to be open every day. There have been no commands about closing schools, and people will continue to commute to their respective jobs.
What really scares me is, what’s going to happen when things get worse?
This whole apocalyptic scenario has made me regret one thing: I should have binged more on apocalyptic movies when I could. Those “The Walking Dead” fanatics have some precious information about survival skills. Now, If shit hits the fan, I am one step behind 🙂
On the brighter side, I am happy I bought a bunch of antibacterial gels in Bath and Body Works during my trip to New York. Using them before they expired would have been like Mission Impossible 4 without all this chaos.
My lack of apocalyptic knowledge is haunting me. And all because I prefer writing about minimalism and self-development. We’ll see how those self-development skills help me next time I run out of paper.
I have no advice to give. My first impulse was to remember you guys to wash your hands and don’t panic, but I am just a girl with no rice, no pasta and little toilet paper. I wish everything was as easy as washing your hands 300 times a day.
I have also realized that, It doesn’t matter how bad the situation is, what matters is how bad people make it. For example, I am deeply curious about this obsession with buying non-essential items. I googled it. It is related to the fact that most people aren’t so scared of dying from the virus as they are of losing their first world commodities. So they stock enough for 2 lives.
There is one positive thing we can get out of all this lack of food and hand soap: funny memes, weird videos and altercations on the internet.
You can see people waiting outside the store the first time in the morning and creating stampedes as soon as these open their doors. Something to laugh about whilst eyeing the cloth you will need next time you hit the bathroom.
And yesterday I found this gem in my actual apartment building!
And I am sure there is more to come!
Tell me you experienced so far? Have you stocked enough of everything? Are people in your city going nuts?
22 Comments
Mario
Everything is just very scary out there!
Had to work with a temp who coughed and horked up phlegm all day yesterday. Stuck in a vehicle with her for an hour both days. Today she had to leave suddenly. Her son’s school said her son has a medical emergency. Worried. In the area of Tampa where 2 cases were confirmed.
Kiira Smith
I hope the cough was nothing too serious…but be careful just in case!
Emma Crawford-Nash
Great artcicle! I am also based in the UK currently (but not London like you) so it still doesn’t feel that big over here.
In the meantime:
U.S. Postal Service employee tested positive for the coronavirus.
https://www.wsoctv.com/news/trending/coronavirus-live-updates-singapore-has-98-cases-mexico-has-first-cases/P2G5NZWVNVHPPONFRFVLSVRZ2Y/
OMG!
Kiira Smith
Terrible…I’m glad everything is under control where you live 🙂
Hicham
Hilarious what happened on your building… these things really do show the ugliest side of people!
Kiira Smith
I agree!
Marcus
“The virus could lead to male infertility:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3878295”
But some people say this one is a fake rumour! Crazy
Kiira Smith
Wow, It’s the first time I read that…crazy!
Karla
It’s really crazy over here, I agree…
In my office, in London, we received an email from HR which inform us to report immediately any symptom related with COVID-19 so they will put you in self isolation home for one or two weeks – depending on the case (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/)
In the same email the HR informed us in case it happens, our sick days (5 in total per year) will be used first, thereafter SSP will apply.
The SSP is the Statutory sick pay UK government approved, on which you get paid £94.25 per week in case you contract COVID-19 and you’re forced to self isolating home.
A big part of my colleagues are saying even if they’ll have some symptoms they won’t be saying anything to HR since they cannot afford to stay home with a such low compensation, losing also all their 5 sick days; so basically they’re going to lie about their health status.
I don’t blame my office to follow the government directive and I’ve mixed feelings about my colleagues, since I can understand being deprived of their salary because the government decide to let the virus spread in order to get the ‘heard immunity’ is an oxymoron.
In France / Italy / Spain / Germany/ Norway etc etc, workers have the right to claim from 90% to 100% of their salary in case of COVID-19 isolation up to 3 weeks, or more in some of these countries.
This situation make me feel like living in a not fair country.
Kiira Smith
It’s impossible to live in London with the SSP. Such a difficult and dangerous situation…stay safe Karla!
Karen
How could you possibly deal with an entire crop of college graduates with a mountain of debt and no jobs to be found? There will be an over abundance of skilled, experienced labor dying to go back to work after this. College grads won’t have a chance and they still have insane loans to pay back
On another note… your article put a smile on my face today. Thank you
Kiira Smith
It’s an awful situation to be in…
Thank’s to you Karen, you made my day 🙂
John Malone
This really worries me… specially looking at the impacct this is having in the stock market… worse than 2008
The amount of people asking how to buy a firearm in the last week is astonishing. Normally they are all over social media toughting for things that they are shocked already exist and are upset they cant just “go get one”
Kiira Smith
What the hell are people thinking to do with those guns? They are making the situation look even worse…
Joe Hernandez
I am from Honduras.
First two cases were confirmed on Wednesday, March 11th. Our government knew almost two weeks before that this was coming and didn’t close any borders and still let international flights land in the country. That day, both cases were people coming from Spain and Switzerland. 5 days later, and we are up to 8 CONFIRMED cases. 4 of those cases are relatives of the person who came from Spain. We are in total lockdown. No school, no work, no bars, no restaurants, etc. Everything closed. You can only go out if you need groceries, medicines or medical attention. Scary part is that we only have 8 CONFIRMED cases so far.
Our healthcare is poor so we don’t know exactly how many infected we actually have. They are only testing on people that present symptoms, The government has confirmed also that the person who came infected from Spain held a baby shower with relatives and neighbors… We might actually have at least 500 infected in reality. We cannot afford to have that many cases.
Kiira Smith
Sadly the virus spreads very easily and sometimes people don’t even show symptoms…
Stay safe Joe, much luck!
Kaylee
I work at the HQ of a very large, long-established UK retailer. Including the factories and distribution centre we have on site there are around 6,500 people working here daily. We are all still at work with no measures other than increased cleaning in place. Absolutely no direction at the moment as to whether we need to work from home, yet in personal life I have ceased personal contact with all close family over 70, will not visit relatives in care homes and my partner (a nurse) goes to some patients in hasmat gear. It’s a really strange mix.
Kiira Smith
That’s a huge amount of people working together!
I hope at least they give you all masks and globes to work in…It’s good you are being so responsible and stay away from family members and people at risk, well done Kaylee!
Jay
I am sorry that you have been struggling with TP… People can be just incredible on occassions like these.
How naughty do you have to be to be out there stealing hand sanitizers from your own building!!!!!
Kiira Smith
I thought it was quite funny when I read the note, but it’s crazy!
Carmen
Seriously, so many people, myself included, live paycheck to paycheck. The financial fallout from this will be massive. People won’t pay their rent, businesses will close leading to unemployment. This is crazy.
I also feel like you, like I am so behind for not seeing all those apocalyptic tv shows, gotta chatch up with that now!!
Kiira Smith
Awful…It looks like we are heading into a recession…I don’t know for how long this is going to last, but something tells me we will have time to catch up!