Hello, and thank you for providing this outlet to share our stories. I find not many people in my social circles are willing to listen, either out of fear of covid, or out of fear of having been wrong all this time.
The lockdowns had an immediate effect on me. I have a seated lifestyle and consciously joined a gym to counter health effects of constant sitting. I am by no means a fitness fanatic and go there to move my limbs around and have contact with another human being face to face. Both my physical and mental health suffered as a result of lockdowns when gyms were the first to shut down. My joints are creaky, my muscles are tense, my sleep quality is awful, and I drink more wine now that I have nowhere else to be.
My province just announced their third lockdown not long ago. On April 1 they went on camera to scare people into compliance, and right after the Easter long weekend, on April 6, they announced the new lockdown. This lockdown surely was decided long before April 6, as gov’t does not work weekends, and added insult to injury – how dishonest they were in their April 1 announcement. So, restaurants and gyms are shut down again, and for some reason, libraries. Libraries must be the party central of covid super spreader events! But liquor stores stay open: they are “essential”.
But what bothers me most is the breakdown of social bonds. People are taught to view one another not as fellow human beings but as potential disease carriers. It breaks my heart to see families, with littles ones, all fully masked when they are out by themselves in a wide open park. People jump out of the way, cross the street or would rather walk in the mud, than walk past me on a shared path. I often see a daycare worker on my walks, who wears a mask and a face shield, followed by a gaggle of toddlers. Okay, these are the conditions of her employment, but why did she have to pick a shield with reflective coating? She looks like a freaking Robocop, and that’s what the kids see all day. Will they be able to recognize a human face at all?
My own parents would rather not see me for their fear of covid. My mom’s birthday is approaching, and she said, well, you can visit if covid cases are not very high and you haven’t been out too much. She’s near 70, and she stays indoors all the time, seated, never exercising, cancels her regular medical checkups, and stresses over “cases” all the time. Of course all of this has a negative effect on her immune system, and ironically, she is more likely to have severe consequences from covid, if she ever catches it. Both my mom and my dad cheer when new more severe restrictions are announced, and they openly welcome jail sentences for “dissenters” (as happened to a church pastor in Edmonton, Alberta). Sad part is that they lived most of their lives in the Soviet Union, having immigrated to Canada later in life, so I thought they’d recognize a totalitarian government when they see one. As it turns out, when the gov’t says, “it’s for your health”, all critical thinking is suspended.