Coping with the aftermath of Covid-19

Are we back to normalcy or life as we knew it will never be the same ?

Back in September 2019, when the first covid-19 case was detected in Wuhan, China, and people started freaking out, I thought it was a distant threat, I even reassured my mother in one of our daily calls that this so called Coronavirus will never reach Algeria nor UAE. It took me few weeks of denial before I finally realized that this highly contagious virus is real and it is spreading rapidly across the globe. The scary pandemic forced entire countries and continents to go into a total lockdown, new concepts and rules were introduced to the global citizens, our daily activities revolved around wearing masks, practicing social distancing and washing our hands or using sanitizers frequently, We were full of fear, we could only think about the worst which was our own death or the death of a beloved one due to the complications caused by the virus.

The impact of the pandemic on people's lives was huge, at the beginning we could only see it on both physical and mental health, then a significant impact was observed in economy when people started losing their jobs and whole businesses were closing or having to downsize or decrease the salaries of their employees. During the few first months the pandemic, I lived with the fear of getting infected, with me working at the surgical clinic of well known hospital in UAE, I was safe from losing my job or having my salary decreased but I was exposed to this deadly virus in a daily basis, until one night I felt the symptoms, and tested positive on the next morning, I got immediately admitted to the covid-19 unit at the same hospital where I worked, I knew that my coworker and bestfriend Petra got infected as well along with 04 more staff from the same clinic, that time, no one new much about the virus and as healthcare workers, we had to be tested every 72 hours, there was no cure, no vaccine, nothing, just some pain killers and anticoagulant shots for me.

After being discharged from the hospital, I had to stay 03 more weeks in quarantine because I kept testing positive even after the symptoms were subsided. I was locked in my own apartment without any human contact, all I had was a fish tank with few colorful fish swimming around, I also had a balcony that allowed me to see some life outside of the silence I lived in for weeks. I was weak, tired, anxious, stressed and so much scared of the unknown. I had plenty of time to reflect on my own life, friends, work, actions and much deeper things and realized that many of those have to be changed. In order to go back to work, I had to test negative twice within 48 hours, the trip to the hospital to be tested was the most tiring (back then, the antigen test was not yet available nor the vaccine). Though the trip in full PPE took 15 minutes, it still felt very long assuming that I may cause the infection of someone on the way if I am still positive as we did not know that we are contagious after one month of the infection.

The post-covid Farida went back to work traumatized, scared, confused and weaker than ever, but, I appreciated getting back to life. Within months, the vaccine became available, countries started reopening and commercial flights became available to several destinations. Many of the cabin crew who lost their job during the pandemic and joined the hospital as Patient Relation Representatives started getting emails to go back to their jobs and some the businesses were back in action. We cannot deny the significant damage the Coronavirus caused to society education, economy and health, we lost family members, friends, jobs, businesses and life savings, we suffered from both physical and emotional pain, we lived in fear for several months and all this will not easily go away.

We may not think nor talk about it as much, but this virus has changed the life we had before and even with it being not as scary as it initially was, I can see that we are different now, our consumer behavior is not the same, many economies are still suffering and this inflation and pending recession are linked what the pandemic did to us.

In April, 2023, I visited Seoul where I lived for few years and could see that it is not the city I left in 2018, I could see less people in the streets, even much less people in the movie theaters where it was really difficult to find a seat, many people were still wearing masks even though it is not mandatory but those who are not wearing it are now more into natural look, fashion has drastically changed and all the colorful elegant outfits are almost gone, high heels are not the trend now, people stayed home for so long, so, tight clothes are no more the favorite choice for them, you will see most people wearing comfortable clothes with sneakers or Crocs.

Whether this change is good or bad, I still see it as a huge one, with the layoffs during Covid and small businesses having the close, the whole social dynamics have changed, those with mortgages are forced to spend less because they have to keep their monthly payments with the increased interest rates...

The coronavirus pandemic had a profound impact on our lives and some of us are still struggling to cope with it's aftermath, we may value life more now knowing that it could be taken from us after few sneezes but the terror and damage the virus caused may not be recovered in years and we will have to deal with it for a while until it becomes a distant memory.