Coronavirus: A Bad Dream?

Another day during the Coronavirus Pandemic, and the kids are still home from school for a 4-day weekend.

Taiwan has so far avoided a national lockdown. The growth of new COVID-19 cases in Taiwan is steady, at nine new cases yesterday. Enforced quarantines on the sick seem to still be working. Citizens are wearing masks in public places and standing in lines to get their weekly allotment of masks. Restaurants and business are still open, as practical measures are in place to keep the risk minimized.

Staying at home, letting our kids be weaned on a steady diet of XBox, YouTube and Netflix seems unreasonable and irresponsible at this time, so we decided to take our dog out to find a scenic nature area to enjoy a walk. We drove our scooters to explore a forested area in Guantien District of Tainan City. There was plenty of space to stretch our legs without needing to get too close to crowds. Most of the hikers did have masks on. We enjoyed a fresh pineapple chopped up by a local farmer for NT50 (USD$1.67) before we strolled in the shade for about an hour. It was a pleasant little side trip. On the way home, Johan treated us to take-out dinner from Dan-Dan, a famed friend chicken restaurant chain.

After leaving the fresh air and wide-open spaces and arriving home to our protective, little cave, a sudden claustrophobic feeling came over me. It felt like I was in a bad dream, one where the dreamer loses control of everything, raising anxiety levels and ultimately leading to depressing thoughts. I wondered how everyone's lives changed so drastically, so quickly. I felt fortunate to be in Taiwan, where the changes have been moderate, but I felt empathetic pains for my friends and loved ones back in the USA and in other countries. Why do I long for this all to be a dream that I can just wake up from? I want everything to go back to normal! I haven't had this feeling since 9/11, when the events quickly reshaping the world seemed so eerie and justifications seemed so irrational.

I scanned through the deluge of international news, searching for any positive developments to share. It is depressing reading about other people's suffering, and seeing the rationality people are willing to give up in response to their fears. Even more depressing is seeing how friends of mine, who cover a wide spectrum of races, religions and political views, are criticizing each other and pushing each other further apart, during a crisis that should have people coming closer together in order to overcome it effectively. It makes me wonder if all of this is just some big, global-scale bio-social experiment? Or perhaps, I will wake up soon and hug my family and share the horrible dream I just had.