Coronavirus: How Are You Feeling?

I am a Chinese living in Sydney Australia and my hometown is the epicentre of the coronavirus breakout in China, Wuhan, a city with 11 million people, a city which has been under shutdown for over 7 weeks now. My sister’s family live there. I am very concerned about them. When we’re talking about lockdown of Wuhan, it is not just schools, theatres, restaurants… They cannot even get out of their apartments! The groceries have been ordered online and delivered to the door. I worry about their mental health so I face time them very often. It is incredible how resilient they have been, I guess they have to. My teenage niece has been taking online course with her school every day which includes daily physical exercise at home. My sister has been recommending me lots of books and movies. Now things are finally getting better over there and they can see hope at the end of tunnel. Over here in Sydney, the numbers are increasing every day and people are panicking. If the people in Wuhan can get through this, we all can.

As a doctor in the Netherlands I am starting to get worried, since around half of the Dutch patients admitted to ICU’s is younger than 50y/o. It’s not just the elderly who are in danger anymore.
Schools are still open here and there are people at cafés and restaurants! Prime minister is discussing school closure today, but just that won’t be enough.
Let’s flatten the peak, people. Stay in as much as you possibly can, and leave groceries for the elderly on their doorsteps.

I just started working from home on Thursday which has been a huge relief. I work downtown in a crowded city with several confirmed cases and take public transportation which has been really stressful. My 13 year old’s school is closed for at least 3 weeks and she is worried about her 8th grade graduation in May (or maybe June now – they haven’t yet decided if they will extend the school year) being cancelled. My husband works alone and is mostly just going between home and his shop.

I am looking forward to all the time I’ll get with my daughter. She is very good company and it is comforting to have her close. I am looking at this as a time to do my civic duty and help flatten the curve, to be grateful that I have the privilege of working from home with no disruption to my income, and to take really good care of myself. I’m going to bed early, I’m going for walks at lunchtime (avoiding busy streets), eating healthy food. We plan on doing projects around the house, watching lots of movies and reading lots of books. As a family of introverts, this is hardly the worst thing that could happen to us.

I made my living by waiting tables for several years and I am thinking about people whose livelihoods are impacted. This must be terrifying. I was torn about avoiding restaurants but I do believe that it is for the greater good right now in these early days. I’m hoping that enough people practice social distancing to minimize the number of people who contract the virus. I’m hoping it doesn’t take too long for us to come out the other side.

Mostly, I’m trying to stay calm. This is all so stressful and surreal. I keep telling my daughter that she will tell her grandchildren about this. I am focusing on all the lovely stories I keep hearing (including in the comments here!) and the sense of camaraderie i am feeling everywhere.

Hi all,

It is so upsetting and uplifting at the same time to read through all of your comments. This is truly a global community!

I live in Vienna. Austria is affected and today started a “lighter” kind of lockdown than in Italy, but we expect the worst to come and thus a full shutdown (Austrian authorities seem to have learned from the Italian experience, and my best guess is they try to ease us in by allowing some shops and restaurants to keep open before they go for full lockdown a day or two later). No more flights to and from affected European countries, all but one border closed. As an 80s baby, all my adult life I’ve enjoyed Schengen and all the freedoms we have, living, studying, working and loving in so many countries of the EU. And now I can neither go be with my parents in Germany (they’re in their 60s and the virus has reached their village in the west of Germany), nor be with my Italian fiancé who’s stuck in lockdown in Rome. I remain in Vienna, terrified of what may come, and how long it will all take before we arrive at a new normal. The last flight we could have taken to at least be locked in together was days ago, we were hesitant. Now all is on hold – wedding planning, future planning, trying to get pregnant, all the happy things one can’t wait to do with The One, just being with each other – we are just trying to get through this, living in single households in separate countries, trying not to let it get to us and be there for those around us. The underlying anxiety is hard to deal with though. We don’t know how long this will last. Weeks? Months?

On the bright side, my friends and colleagues are a huge support. And the forever social-democratic city of Vienna is as expected taking care of its vulnerable, sick and elderly, just like the citizens showing great solidarity. It’s heartwarming and reassuring to see. I went to buy stuff in as many small businesses as I could in the last few days.

Also, as my beacons for mental health, the yoga and Pilates studios are closed – I just found that the Down dog yoga app, because of covid19, offer global full free access till 1 April! Go try. It’s soothing and the selection of classes is huge.

Sending lots of love from Vienna! And virtually an abbraccio forte forte alle italiane. Siete sempre nei nostri pensieri.

What a beautiful bunch of humanity gathered together here. Thank you CoJ team! I am in western Canada where schools are being told it is unnecessary to close – while other provinces are closing schools for several weeks. My leaders are choosing to be irresponsible global citizens! It feels wrong to me. I am thankful Spring Break starts today…. maybe they will come to their senses and extend closures.

I am also a primary school teacher – and little kids can be SO GROSS! Talk about germ spreaders! Ah!

As awful as this is, I am thankful to feel as connected as I do to the rest of the world. We are in this together.

I scared. Not necessarily of getting sick personally (although that is a concern) but how the health care system will cope, how the vulnerable will survive and how businesses will survive. My husband runs a small architectural practice – he will be heavily affected by this , how will he pay rent, his staff, drum up business? How will so many small businesses cope? The economic fall out will be enormous.
I’m in Melbourne Australia and I believe daycare is days away from shutting. How I will cope parenting with two small kids at home in a small premise?
As an aside thank you Jo- this blog is needed more than ever when I’m sure many like me need connection more than ever when we can’t go about our ordinary lives .

Hi, I live in Belgium and things have changed so quickly the last past days… I am sooo tired. Normally I’m not an anxious person, but this has got me confused. Form last week’s ‘its just the flu”, to this week: ok, I’m not scared to get sick, but for the sake of the others, I won’t go to that workshop & lecture &… I had planned, to wednesday: we were asked not letting grandparents get the kids form school, to yesterday all of the kids hobbies got cancelled & events got cancelled and then today they announced the schools close next week… Well then, I guess we’ll just teach our kids ourselves & work part-time, my husband & me, and just rest and sleep a lot. Hope for my father to not get sick (he has cardiologic problems). Hopefully get a walk in the woods in the weekend…

This unexpectedly got very real and close to home in the last 24 hours. First there was one confirmed case at our local synagogue, then a second (and the individual concerned had been at a community party this week). All of a sudden – the synagogue, creche attached (where my kids go) are all closed, and now the schools in the area which have children from the synagogue are also closed. I have a cough, so to be safe I’m working from home in the next few days.

I’m now realising what a privileged position I’m in – I have a job with a salary which I can do remotely. We can afford things like home deliveries etc., and we don’t have health issues (I have family members who do) who put us a greater risk. Just thinking of those who aren’t in such a position, and if there is a way in which we can help. I’m trying to see if there is some kind of outreach programme for the older members of my community who are now isolated, if maybe rotas can be drawn up to bring them food.

I work for a global company and in addition to being worried about my parents, vulnerable populations, what’s-going-to-happen-next, I have been thinking about how to prep my team (all early-mid 20s) how to work from home for at least a month and still feel connected, supported, and energized as possible.

This morning, we received a video from our teammates in Mainland China and Hong Kong with their lessons from working from home for going on 7 weeks– it was set to a super upbeat song and featured hysterical clips of them doing home “workouts” and dancing, deeply creative WFH desk setups, dozens of adorable new deskmates (and interruptions) in the form of adorable babies, children, dogs, and other pets, and so many other fun, silly, and heartwarming ideas. It ended with “we’re all in this together — from your team in Mainland China and Hong Kong.”

It made me tear up– one, full of gratitude that we have jobs that we are able to do from home (we are so privileged/lucky).

But two, and most of all, it reminded me of one of my favorite lines from East of Eden — “but I have a new love for that glittering instrument, the human soul. It is a lovely and unique thing in the universe. It is always attacked and never destroyed.” I can’t imagine how scary, stressful, and taxing the last 2+ months have been for my teammates, but it is such a small light to think that they’ve made a tough situation as fun as they possibly can, and when hearing about our US team, thought to make something so seemingly simple and silly as a gift, hug from afar, and piece of encouragement that truly made my day.

It is a good reminder that though this is a terrifying time, we are hardwired as humans to take care of each other.

I’m 36 weeks pregnant. I am anxious about delivering, about my newborn’s safety, about being able to get formula should she not latch (it’s been sold out the last two times I’ve tried to buy it this week). My husband and I both teach in elementary schools that haven’t yet closed, and that makes me feel like we are at an increased risk of exposure.

In general, I am anxious about having enough supplies to survive the newborn haze and provide for my family (I have a two year old, my husband, and my brother in law in my house). So many supplies are sold out.

To top things off, my MIL was diagnosed literally yesterday with late-onset lupus, making her one of the high-risk immunocompromised. I am so worried that either my husband, myself, or my two year old that she watches will contact the virus and be fine, but unknowingly pass it on to her during the incubation period.

A week ago, I felt informed but fine. Today, I feel an overwhelming amount of anxiety and this unspeakable weight. It is hard to feel hopeful in this exact moment, but I am trying to create space for optimism.

Hi Cup of Jo team :) Thank you so much for creating this space. I’m based in Thailand for work at the moment and my folks are in California and D.C. I’m honestly feeling quite rattled for them and I do feel quite helpless that I can’t do something to protect them. Even if I flew back to the States now, I would most likely be putting them and others at higher risk. It’s helped to call and text every day to make sure they have enough of their medication and know that they’re avoiding crowded areas. I’ve also talked about it openly with my boss, colleagues, and friends, and it does provide some relief. Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. Feeling a lot less alone. x

My 75-year-old dad, who has some undiagnosed mental issues (occasional delusions but mostly lucid) is not being as vigilant as the rest of my family, and this stresses me out. Trying to convince him to wash his hands as soon as he returns home and to not take public transportation (to Manhattan of all places) has been a challenge. He is diabetic as well. He lives near me, with my mom, and she is constantly having to disinfect doorknobs and things in her own house.

Typically they watch my kids after school, and now with our school closing next week I don’t feel great about them staying there while my husband and I work from home. But of course mostly I don’t feel great about him out and about since he and my mom are older.

I work in retail (big box, big corporation retail – Target ain’t closing for anything) so I’m honestly super stressed. It was BANANAS busy today – lines all the way to the middle of the store – so people are most definitely not staying home and it’s making me sad and anxious. I have insurance – as a team lead in guaranteed my hours – but a big portion of my team does not. People are being careless by panic shopping, and we’ll be the ones to bear the brunt of that.

I said to my boss about how I was seeing people say the best way to stop the spread is to stay home from work and I was like “HA HA I work big box retail guess I’ll just die then.” He agreed that he felt the same – that corporate offices are going to start closing, but we’ll still be at Target, on the front lines I guess. :/

These feel like surreal times. All schools/daycares in my county are suspended for 2 weeks, so starting tomorrow I will be working from home alongside my 9 month old and 4 year old. My workplace (corporation) is being very accommodating and encouraging people to work remotely. I am so very lucky to have an Au Pair who lives with us and who can essentially take care of my kids while my husband and I work, but I know for the vast majority of people this is hugely disruptive. Honestly though I think it is the best thing we can do at this point- extreme social distancing- because we can’t even know if we have the virus! On Valentines day I suddenly came down with something terrible- I had the chills, aches and pains, and a horrible cough. I then got pneumonia. These are textbook symptoms for the virus. Thankfully now I am recovered, but I wonder did I have it? Did I unwittingly spread it? I asked my doctor- and she was like “Probably not, but its possible.” I will never know- it was impossible to be tested.
I am so mad at our government here in the US, I look at other countries way more prepared than we, and I feel like our government failed us. Hardly anyone is being tested- how can we contain it? We are relying on state and local government now to lead the way.
Ultimately for us this will be an inconvenience. Really, I lose sleep at night thinking of my parents, who are both in their seventies and living in the East Coast epicenter New Rochelle. They are finally starting to change their behavior- avoiding large group meetings and public transit into Manhattan- but it has taken numerous phone calls and nagging on my part- they are so set in their ways. I am so scared they will contract it and it will be devastating.
Wishing everyone hope, grace and patience as we ride this storm out.

i live in northern italy, quite close to the very first outbreak in europe. following the government provisions, we cannot leave our homes and when we do (just to buy some groceries) we wear surgical masks: realizing that i was not able to see other people’s faces has probably been one of the hardest moments these days. nevertheless, all over the country children have begun to hang banners at the windows – colorful rainbows with the writing “andrà tutto bene”, meaning “everything will be fine”, and i’m spotting a handful of them outside my terrace right now. andrà tutto bene, i do believe that.

“it’s not us who built the sky” – m. gualtieri