Written by: Anna Marešová
A week ago I was rolling around in my head and a little on paper topics about women, about MDŽ, about fulfilled and unfulfilled dreams and such girl talk. Before I could finish writing it, the globe turned and an incredible change took place. I have a bad feeling that the old days are over. We will probably say that there is a period before the corona virus and after it. A new epidemic, which we were used to watching from a distance, came mercilessly closer, despite all our humor and belittling. And that's because it affects all of us.
The government is taken aback and constantly defends itself. The characters are fully and unambiguously shown. Could something have been done about it sooner? I guess it worked. Did the government have enough information? Maybe she had. Would we have believed them a month ago that it was this serious? I have no idea. Now it is the way it is. The streets are half-empty, shops are closed, communal entertainment is canceled or postponed. Children and youth are not in schools. Parents struggle with homeschooling. We are at home and we go shopping as much as possible. Those who have to, or rather can, go to work and then go home. We suddenly have time. Time for each other. In the background of all this, of course, is the stress of what may or may not come - the end of the pandemic. Here I am thinking, but who will know that it is really over?
I have no idea either. There are various predictions and charts and assumptions. But when the trucks with the ordered masks will arrive, no one knows either. One such trait seems to me to be manifest. The government somehow does not know how to work collectively. I would probably send them to team building so that they could sew some masks. But I confess that I was also in such a bubble until today. Traffic is limited everywhere, borders are closed, I walk, and only from work and home, and I can do things that I never have time for. Actually, such a variation of normalization, I can think of. Stretch out on the couch and play Major Zeman. And I kind of think it's actually kind of funny how we're all kind of the same.
No one goes anywhere, is in no hurry. I think this is a good experience for us who are always in a hurry. The feeling that I'm missing something somewhere, that I'm going to miss something, just disappeared. It is also, of course, a test of relationships, both partner (I think that for many people it is very unusual to spend so much time with a partner without the possibility of escaping for a beer or yoga), family (I have the feeling that the older generation paradoxically does not take it as seriously as, for example, my peers - pensioners who freely move around the shops without masks or at least a scarf over their mouths) and work (for example, compliance with hygiene rules). This works in our studio, we even have our disinfectant mixed in. Well, and then I also decide that I can endure it like this for two or even three weeks.
But what then? What will happen then? Does everything stop? Or will we die? Is it even worth continuing what I'm doing? Will it even work? What will this do to my small business? Will anyone be interested in erotica?
Then I think that maybe more than ever, and that maybe the cup has even more meaning in the future. But my drive stops, just like everything around it. It's hard to talk about anything other than the virus. On the other hand, like never before, we all have something truly in common. Then I also observe how individuals react to the situation, whether on the networks (from running on the "treadmill" in the kitchen on spring-watered tiles) or alternative solutions for summer cafe windows to solutions for importing food from rohlík.cz or a series of endless jokes, gifs, hints and forums that fly through all channels, because what else to do but have a phone in your hand and do just kidding.
Other information is unimportant. Disappears. And I would say that nobody really cares. (except for some stupid robbers who will abuse it and steal, for example, a closed Slaughterhouse!) Well, we're all in it. That's what I find interesting about it. I think people show their true faces. Celebrities are taking pictures and urging people to be considerate. In masks. We also have masks at work. Our swisscotton team Whoop·de·doo. Because first put on the mask for yourself, then for the other person, I read somewhere on Facebook.
And then I got a modest request from my sister, if I could share the information that they have in ÚHKT critical shortage of masks for staff. That everyone there actually falls "on their face" because they have reduced status, they follow the same groups week after week so as not to cross paths. And that in the evenings the staff sews their masks. The management even asked them to do so. They need up to 1,000 masks a day. And now they put about a hundred of them together. And they need them NOW. They can't wait every day for a truck or a plane with those millions of pieces.
And even though there is talk everywhere that there aren't masks, but they will be, it's kind of far-fetched, and that sewing is perceived from afar as more of a Czech DIY. You can sew one or two for yourself. But when in reality millions of them are missing, it is an unimaginable number.
What would have seemed absurd and far-fetched to me a few days ago is today a reality. A harsh reality. Those who deserve the most thanks - health professionals who care for cancer patients in this case - do not have protective equipment. And this is how it is now in all healthcare facilities. As much as social networks sometimes annoy me, this time I'm happy for them. First of all, we challenge those who are bored at home to start sewing and wear masks they have made for us. And then it occurs to me that for two or three days we can do sewing in the studio too.
Hello, this is globalization!