September 22, 2020 Pandemic Rant

September 22, 2020

I don’t exactly remember the first time I heard about a deadly respiratory virus that was beginning to ravage a part of China I had never heard about.

But I remember crying at some point. And I remember not long after getting the feeling that this virus’ arrival in Canada was inevitable; the sense of foreboding.

The clench in my gut when I thought of what might happen to all the Chinese shopkeepers whose faces I knew but whose names remained unknown to me. Wondering if their imports could put them at risk; knowing that peoples’ reactions to the virus most certainly would.

And I remember being told that school events were being cancelled. And realizing we would eventually be locked down.

But I never once imagined that it would last this long.