Things that Covid-19 will leave us forever

When we said goodbye to the first quarter of 2020, a new scourge suddenly became entrenched in our lives: COVID-19, a highly contagious and lethal virus that 13 months later keeps doing as it pleases in Cuba and the world despite supreme efforts against it.

We were happy then, with the usual shortages, headed by the imperial blockade, and we did not know it. We would usually show affection, move around, worked every day, and enjoyed good health in the broadest sense of the word... until a pandemic fell upon us.

Comparisons with previous hard times such as the Special Period of the 1990s, also very hard, abounded, but unlike the current ones, those times did not include the incidence and effects of SARS-Cov-2, the new coronavirus virus that has caused more than 600 deaths in Cuba alone.

Even if the government has joined forces with science and technology to prevent widespread contagion on the island, its outbreaks, as warned from the outset, are harsh realities. Despite the health protocols and preventive measures, recent—and accurate—mathematical forecasts herald an upward trend towards a rise in the number of people infected with an increasingly aggressive and lethal virus.

In view of such facts and the time elapsed, it is easy to conclude that the present state of affairs will live on. And even if control will prevail in the long term, this hard experience leaves us ways of life and behavioral habits likely to last.

It’s what has come to be known as the new normal, bound to make us go about our daily and working life showing due respect for the epidemic situation and the requested perception of risk. It’s not just about the fear of contagion and death, but also the real awareness that we must take care of ourselves and those around us in our homes, communities and workplaces.

Not for nothing has teleworking been embraced now and forever so that people can keep working and preserve both the vitality of their intellect and their salary. My experience in the matter precedes the appearance of the new coronavirus, because personal problems, in my capacity as the caregiver of my beloved mother, already deceased, allowed me to remain active, although from a distance. Thanks to this modality I was able to provide for both of us and hold on to my profession as a spiritual and economic lifeline in the midst of such a delicate situation.

This is a very valid option for the present and the future, and much as many fail to rightfully understand its value, at home we also work for a longer time—even in weekends and holidays—as we fulfill and overfulfill our plans and make contributions to the workers’ collectives.

The face masks, physical and social distancing, movement restrictions, as well as our UNCONDITIONAL respect of the health measures and our permanent awareness that our life and that of others depend on our actions are all here to stay too.

These are times of pandemic and, therefore, we have to change our way of living, thinking and behaving. These are some of the things that COVID-19 has bequeathed to us forever.