Thingadailies #whatever: Fear of the Unknown

We had begun hearing about the novel coronavirus out of Wuhan, China sometime in December, or early January. It felt remote and only vaguely unsettling since it was happening on the other side of the world. Of course, we were concerned about this new virus and how quickly it seemed to overtake the population there and how vigorously it was quarantined by the regimental government. But it wasn't anywhere close to mind.

Eventually it began to spread outside of the bounds of Wuhan, making it's way via travellers to other Asian countries (Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, etc) and becoming more frightening with the climb of infected and dying people. But it still wasn't top of mind.

March began with cheer and countdowns to vacation. As soon as the first case appeared in Edmonton on March 6th, things began to shift noticeably. When the spread began to effect countries such as Italy and Spain, the numbers took on a more pallid hue, and governments here began to pay closer attention.


I bought travel insurance for our trip, not wanting to get caught in Mexico without good help and watched on the news as Covid19 (CO-coronoa, VI-virus D-disease, 19) really started to come to our conciousness and people began to hoard groceries (Toilet paper!) in anticipation of 14 day quarantine periods.

I really wanted this to be overhype on the news but not really effect our daily routines. And, after all, Alberta was a low risk place and we were flying to Mexico, which was also a low risk zone. But I was beginning to pick up a tinge of fear.