In the last couple of weeks the whole world is united in a panic caused by the Coronavirus. First confirmed case of Coronavirus in Denmark was on 27th February. A man from Roskilde returned from his skiing trip in northern Italy. From that day on, every day, there has been reports about new cases. But life went on - more or less uninterrupted - until last Wednesday. On Wednesday, 11th of March, Denmark issued a warning for people who plan to travel outside of the country. But it was just a call for taking precausionary measures if people are traveling to countries with some reported cases of the virus. On the next day, 12th of March Denmark decided to shut down all public institutions and educational institutions from Monday the 16th of March - and has issued a recommendation to people to stay and work from home, if they can. At the same time there was a press release for people not to panic and to stay home if they can. Yesterday on March 14th Denmark decided to close all borders for at least a month, with the exception of heavy traffic. Also, all non essentials stores will be closed off from Monday 16th of March with the exceptions of supermarkets and drug stores.
Of course the panic started on Thursday 12th March. How will people not start to panic when the country is basically shuting down!? It is a clear sign of an extraordinary situation and that things from now on will not run as intended. That was the message that Danish government sent with the decision to close all public institutions. People will not wait until Monday to start panicking, they will start panicking immediately.
And it has been/still is quite a panic indeed. People started hoarding hand dezinfection gel, toilet paper, meat and vegetables. Despite the calls from supermarkets and the goverment that there is no need for hoarding, that the supply lines will be open and the stores will keep working and as long as people continue shopping as they usually do, nobody will be hungry and all assess will be clean. It didn't help. Videos of people fighting in the stores, empty shelves in the supermarkets, reports of thefts of face masks and hand disinfectants from hospitals... At the same time the financial sector, labour unions and employer organizations started preparing for the economy grinding to a halt. So yea, bussiness as usuall... not.
But that is only the beginning. There is still a lot of unknowns... How hard will the economy be hit, how long will it last, how many companies will go bust and how many people will lose their jobs? There is also the question: how does a nation of workaholics handle a lockdown? How will people identified by working handle not working? Yesterday I saw a serious article written by a couple therapist with tips for couples on how to handle the coronacrisis. Because, imagine, people will have to spend a lot of time together and with their children. The sad thing is that they don't know how to, because they are used to spending a bit of time together in between work and all the other obligations that they have while children are taken care of by the professionals. At least it seems so, if it is necessary for the couple therapist giving instructions on how to handle your partner and kids when you are all trapped under the same roof. The horror!
It is interesting times we live in and maybe coronacrisis will bring some longterm benefits with it. Maybe it will remind some of us how to just be with our loved ones, how to define ourselves with something that does not include work. Maybe it will also remind us how fragile our whole modern lifestyle is, if you consider that it is threatened by a simple virus that is a bit more dangerous than a flu.
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